Critical Thinking and Managerial Decision Making.

Critical Thinking and Managerial Decision Making
Reflection

Introduction
Critical thinking is something that is an essential part of our everyday life. We make several
decisions. We make some decisions on a day to day basis. While we make certain decisions
on a longer term arena. This course has been effective in helping us understand the
importance as well as the process of decision making. Most important thing that we have
learnt through the course is the different ways of thinking, communicating, reaching
conclusions and even has helped me in making a self-development plan for myself
(Antonakis & Day, 2017).
There are several facets of critical thinking that I have been able to learn through this course.
It was a 9 week module and this report highlights upon my specific learnings from five most
important weeks of the course. I have also tried to mention how the learning has impacted me
as well as how can I employ the same in my everyday life. Most importantly, I have been
able to reflect upon myself through this course and look back upon my learning. Not only
was I able to revise through the whole course, but also I was able to understand how I can
implement these learning practically in my behavior and attitude (Cameroon & Green, 2015).
Topic 1: Automatic vs. critical thinking
During the first week I had learned the difference between automatic thinking and critical
thinking. The very first thought I had while studying this topic was the realization that I have
always resorted to automatic thinking in every aspect of my life. Through this course I have
been able to learn that critical thinking is a very purposeful method that can be used to
accelerate the thoughts behind every day thinking. This helps in the decisions that one needs
to make on a daily basis (Crockery, 2018).
I also learnt about argument, argumentation and understanding the premise and conclusion
for critical thinking especially that defined by Kallet. I came to realize that arguments are not
always disagreement between two people. The idea is to always put forward a set of ideas to
depict that the conclusion is correct. As a result of this topic, I have started focusing more
upon deploying critical thinking as opposed to automatic thinking that I used to do earlier.
For example, during a project, if I feel that I am not comfortable working with certain
members of my team, I prefer having honest communications with them in order to ensure
the efficacy of the project. Earlier I used to simply ignore them or contribute less. However,

this critical thinking helped me in keeping the project in the bigger light and ensuring the
success of the project (Doppelt, 2017).
Topic 2: 10 points of clarity
I learned about the ten tools of clarity within the second week of association with this course.
These ten tools have been identified in order to attain clarity out of any situation.
1. Emptying your bucket. The first step to clarity is to always empty all your thoughts
and not allow the blockage of judgment and stereotype cloud your thought(Eriksson
& Fundin, 2018).
2. Inspection: The second step involves inspecting on the present.
3. Understanding the why: In the third step, understand why the situation exists.
4. So what: how the situation can impact.
5. What is the need
6. Anticipatory thinking: Anticipating the situation in a manner to make the most of it.
7. What else: What else can be done
8. The ingredient diagram: make a mind map of the entire situation (Grant & Smith,
2018).
9. Vision: Draw a clear vision that you wish to achieve through the situation
10. Thinking: Think back on the entire process and make the most of it
Understanding the ten points of clarity has firstly helped me understand the importance of
clarity of having clarity regarding everyday situations of daily life. This allows me to make
better decisions. For example, whenever I face any kind of conflict in my life, I now tend to
understand the issue and gain clarity over the same. This helps me reflect upon the conflict
efficiently and also address it in a manner that is helpful in the longer run.
Topic 3: Logical Reasoning – inductive
During this week, I learnt about logical reasoning, inductive, appreciating the underlying
premise, 5 components of the premise, and the process of coming to a conclusion and the art
of influencing as well as persuading. I understood that one of the processes of logical
reasoning is deductive logic. Herein arguments are deductive in nature (Hornstein, 2015).
The truth of the argument is assured by the truth of premise. However, not all arguments