Critical Thinking and Leadership: A Reflective Essay (MGMT20135)

This reflective essay examines the student's learning journey in the MGMT20135 course, focusing on the development of critical thinking skills. The essay highlights the benefits of critical thinking for effective decision-making and leadership, emphasizing the importance of clarity, reaching quality conclusions, and utilizing various thinking strategies. The student reflects on the challenges of moving from automatic thinking to critical thinking, the practical application of tools for getting clarity, and the significance of self-awareness. The essay further explores the role of conclusions, innovation, and the influence of decision-makers in the process. The student concludes by committing to applying the learned concepts, including the ten tools for clarity, deductive reasoning, and seeking feedback to enhance self-awareness. The essay underscores the practical implications of critical thinking in both personal and professional contexts, with references to key course materials and concepts.

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CRITICAL THINKING REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Student’s Name
Course
Instructor’s Name
Institution
City (State)
Date

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Critical Thinking Reflective Essay
Critical thinking is useful for the success of organizations as it essential for effective
decision making. In this course, MGMT20135, we have covered various issues related to this
concept including its benefits and how to think critically, get clarity, and reach quality
conclusions. The six-week course has challenged me to use the right thinking strategies and
perfect my decision making and leadership skills.
In the first week, we got into groups and watched videos that address the benefits of critical
thinking. The first video gives some information that can be considered misleading, and in our
groups, we started to discuss whether the public is often misled in the same way. Opinions were
divided so we decided to use critical thinking techniques and noted that most commercials are
often misleading. This lesson challenged me as I realized that critical thinking helped us to have
a clear understanding of the problem and reach highly accurate conclusions. Besides, we had a
richer variety of explanations (Nelson & Quick, 2013). Therefore, I now appreciate the need for
people in groups, organizations, and individuals to use critical thinking as it has several
advantages
At the same time, I was challenged to learn that most people prefer automatic thinking to
critical thinking. In video two, it was evident that most people who seek solutions for complex
and urgent problems prefer the automatic method, which appears to save much time (Nelson &
Quick, 2013). I learned that the preference for automatic thinking has been responsible for many
of my failures as it offers a weaker foundation for decision making than critical thinking.
In the second week, we used the ten tools for getting clarity to make a decision on the
findings of a report that mobile phones pose a great risk to public health. This exercise was
important to me as I got to learn practical approaches to getting clarity, which is a core

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component of critical thinking. In the past, I thought thinking hard and for a longer period would
help decision makers to get clear. However, I found that decision-makers have to empty their
buckets, carry out in-depth inspection, find out reasons behind the premises, and consider the
consequences of their actions (Nelson & Quick, 2013). Further, they need to find out the need at
hand, use anticipatory thinking, and consider other factors that can influence the decision. The
other tools that can help them are the ingredient diagram, vision, and the thinking coach. When
we used these tools, our conclusion on the health matter was based on a strong premise, which
made it possible for us to reach consensus.
Additionally, I got to know the exceptional contribution of the thinking coach. I picked
this concept as wanted to know the contribution of that ‘expert’. In most cases, I avoided
involving people in my decisions. I learned that the coach objectively gets people to think by
asking open-ended questions (Naiditch, 2016). Apparently, we hardly think creatively unless we
are challenged to do so by thinking coaches.
The third week’s lesson on conclusions is also important to me as the concept determines
the quality of the final decisions. Critical thinking depends on clarity that is vital for solving
problems. I learned that if I need to reach the best conclusions, I must consider the
circumstances affecting the problem creatively and consider as many ideas as I can from a
variety of perspectives. Besides, I should take into account my limitations and their potential
effects on the process. This process is used for creating strong premises, which is involves both
inductive and deductive reasoning. Premises that are based on deductive thinking are always
easier to believe than inductive reasoning (Naiditch, 2016). The former is relies on logical
reasoning. For example, one may say after it has rained heavily that there is no dust outside.
Anyone may be able to believe that conclusion based on the prevailing weather. In the case of

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inductive reason, one relies on factors such as assumptions. For instance, if it rained the previous
day and people were not able to go to work and, weather reports indicate it will rain tomorrow,
one may assume people would not go to work again due to the rains. The thought may not be
factual. As such, I have learned to make many decisions based on deductive reasoning and take
great care when I have to depend on inductive reasoning.
I was also pleased to learn the factors that come together to help people make conclusions
based on inductive reasoning as the information are necessary for understanding the merits and
demerits of the reasoning style (Naiditch, 2016). The factors are facts, observations, experiences,
beliefs, and assumptions. So, the type of component that one uses may have an impact on the
premise and eventually the conclusion.
In the subsequent week, I was attracted by the concept of self-awareness as I learned it is
the key to success in almost anything in life. In the past, I considered that one can succeed in his
or her career by getting feedback from peers and implementing the suggestions to foster the spirit
of teamwork. However, I learned during the week that nothing can replace self-awareness as if I
do not know myself; I cannot make the right decisions. People can use the opportunity to
manipulate me. The video on this subject helped me to appreciate that successful leaders are self-
aware (Naiditch, 2016; Nelson & Quick, 2013). I discovered that self-awareness enables leaders
to position themselves appropriately and do what is right. However, I also learned that knowing
self is a life-long process, and leaders need to seek feedback from others, reflect on their feelings
and behaviors, admit their mistakes, be aware of their emotions, and take the right scientific tests
often to continue improving their sense of self-awareness.
Further, the Johari Window came in handy as it has helped me to understand my
relationship with myself and people in my surrounding. I learned that I am fairly self-aware as

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many of my behaviors and skills are known both to me and other individuals. However, there are
others that my peers have always known about me, but I have never known them. I am currently
working on perfecting the positive traits and limiting the impact of the negative ones. Further, I
discovered that I have several hidden traits as well. I know some things about myself that no one
else knows, and I am now exposing the virtues and values that I wish others should know.
According to the Johari Window, I also have unknown facts about myself (Naiditch, 2016;
Nelson & Quick, 2013). I cannot do much about them, but I will always engage in new,
unfamiliar activities to awaken the qualities where possible.
On the fifth week, I was pleased to learn the concept of conclusions and innovation, which
provides information on how people can think outside the box and come up with creative ideas.
The lesson covered the hierarchy of conclusions that include impossible and outside-the-box
thinking. For one to successfully use the outside-the-box model, he or she must have the mental
and attitudinal capacity to think outside the common boundaries that most people use to reach
conclusions (Naiditch, 2016). As such, I have learned that I must build premises that go beyond
my assumptions, facts, observations, experiences, and beliefs to be able to make outstanding
conclusions when both common reasoning does not work.
Abductive thinking was also covered in detail in the same week, and the concept won my
admiration given that it appears to have a close link with inductive reasoning (Naiditch, 2016).
Experienced professionals rely on abductive thinking, making it difficult for them to accept
thoughts to emanate from outside-the-box thinking. I have learned that we can avoid it by
accepting fresh ideas.
In the sixth week, we learned about the contribution of decision-makers in determining
the quality of conclusions. The concept is important to me as it gives me various ways of making

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great decisions. I learned that if I am the only person in charge of decision making and will take
responsibility for the outcomes, it is easy to reach quality conclusions faster. However, this is not
always the case in many settings as there are other authorities that approve the decisions of other
leaders (Naiditch, 2016; Nelson & Quick, 2013). As such, I must learn the skills for persuading
and influencing others to adopt my proposals to avoid confusions at the workplace during times
for decision making.
In addition, I learned that whether decisions are time-dependent or not also influences that
speed at which people reach conclusions. For organizations to reach the right conclusion faster, it
is important to provide reasonable deadlines (Naiditch, 2016). Since most decisions in businesses
need to be made within a short time, leaders in the corporate world must be prepared to follow
the ten tools for getting clarity to develop strong premises to be able to make decisions without
wasting time.
In conclusion, the MGMT20135 has equipped me with the requisite skills for critical
thinking, which is what managers need to make quality decisions. I have been using automatic
thinking, but given that critical thinking can help me to get a clear understanding of situations,
quality decisions faster, and richer variety of explanations, I will try to use the latter option most
of the time. Critical thinking requires decision-makers to spend some time on getting clarity, and
I will use the ten, simple tools to do this to avoid reaching dead ends or making mistakes. In
addition, I learned that I have been using inductive reasoning to make many decisions and that
this model of thinking can be subjective. As a result, I will ensure I rely more on facts than
beliefs, experience, observations, and assumptions when using the thinking model. Whenever
necessary, I will also think out-side-the-box to solve complex problems. Besides, I will continue

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to invest in activities such as seeking feedback from peers to improve my self-awareness, which I
have learned is the most self-empowering action I can take.

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List of References
Naiditch, F. (2016) Developing critical thinking: from theory to classroom practice. Lanham:
Rowman & Littlefield.
Nelson, D. L., and Quick, J. C. (2013) Organizational behavior: science, the real world, and you.
Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning.