Mgt 350 Week 2 Team

Thinking and Decision Making
Brandi Browning, Erin Heck, Alberta Nick, Cassandra Underwood, Linda Pater
MGT/350
December 17, 2012
Karin Allen
Thinking and Decision Making
“Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions.” This is a quote from an author that is unknown. This quote explains how important decisions are to the working people. Supervisors, team members, and customers are all making decisions. Decisions on how to sell a product are made by employees and managers. Decisions on which product to buy or whether the product is worth the money are made by consumers. People make decisions every day ranging from orange juice or milk for breakfast to which pitch will I sell at this meeting. People’s decision making skills can ensure success in a company or failure. Learning all of the steps and details for decision making is important to know to increase revenue.
Emotions
Emotions are often involved in critical thinking and in decision making, but emotions should not be the basis of decision making. Emotions are instinctive so they are strong in decision making and hard to overcome. Emotions can be stronger than rational in making a decision, but one must consider emotions and the impact they will have on the decision. If one is very emotional their critical thinking abilities decrease dramatically, and they can lose focus and control.
On the other hand emotions play a part in critical thinking the two types of thinking is entangled. They are both methods of decision making, once one has derived at a solution they must ask themselves how they would feel about the choice. When people use logic and reason in making a decision he or she also has emotional reasons for accepting it. Emotions are a part of life it is how people control these emotions that determines the success of the situation. An example if a person is offered a job with another company and a promotion with it, they would analyze and evaluate the benefits of taking the job the advancement, the increase in pay you would weigh your options once you have made your decision this is when the emotions come in. There is leaving a familiar place and coworkers to go some place that everyone is a stranger and, this is unfamiliar ground
In critical thinking you must have the ability to check your emotions. When you are highly invested in the situation and, you are emotional it is difficult to accomplish positively anything. Emotions are vital for creativity and creativity is important in problem solving. You have to limit your emotions in your thinking process or you could over analyzing an over resolving the problem. Emotions are about feelings instead of thinking such as fear, love hate, and anger. Critical thinking involves analyzing, and evaluating information. One must be logical, precise, fair, and accurate. Bottom line is emotions hinder the critical thinking process and clouds one judgment.
Scientific Method
We are discussing three different types of critical thinking, there contrast to one another. There is a vast difference in the emotional method oppose to the logical and scientific methods. Emotions can cause one to make imbalance decisions, which logic is using reasoning consistently when coming to a conclusion. The scientific method is one of the formalized logical processes that may be use in critical thinking.
When trying to determine a solution to a problem there are many different ways you can begin to address it. As was already discussed a person can use their emotions in helping to solve a problem. Another form of problem solving can also be determined by using the scientific method of problem solving. Critical thinkers are people who try to exhaust all scenarios before making and informed decision. This is true when using the scientific method to solve a problem. When using the scientific method to solve problems one must use a list of steps to help determine the best possible solution. The first step is to identify the problem. The next step is to find the purpose, meaning what is the final goal that is trying to be achieved. The third step is forming a hypothesis; this step is where a person would consider the different variables that may affect the outcome of the decision. Next, a person would want to examine the procedure in which they plan to expedite the solution. During the procedure step, a list of what will be carried out is a good idea to formulate so that there is not a miscommunication. And finally the result step where one looks at the solution and determines if the final solution rectified the original problem and adjusted for problems that may occurred along the way.
Workplace Issues and the Scientific Method
Work place problems come in many different forms and the problems are not only problems between two or more co-workers. A work place problem can be a personal problem of an employee that begins to affect the employee’s job. An example of using the scientific method to find a solution to a problem could be an employee who is behind on child support and is being pursued by an outside agency to collect unpaid money. This happens all too often in many businesses. First the employee and supervisor would identify the problem which is that money is owed from the employee. Next, the purpose would be that it is the employee’s legal obligation to pay the money in a timely manner. The next step would be to follow the procedure in place to begin either garnishing or voluntarily allotting money from the paycheck. The supervisor and the employee would discuss how much and how often the money would be taken and how to accommodate both parties involved. Lastly, the supervisor would counsel the employee on keeping up the agreement so that involuntary action would not have to be taken. The scientific method that many of us have learned about in science has also been a great help in solving everyday issues.
Logical Thinking

Logical thinking is a process that allows an individual to use reasoning as a way of solving problems. It allows him or her to have structure by finding the relationships of each factor, which corresponds with the solution. Logical thinking allows an individual to think about the problem, possible solutions, and the outcome before reacting off emotions. This process gives individuals the ability to be creative with his or her thoughts, simply by researching the facts before making the decision. Also dealing with logical thinking allows an individual to brainstorm ideas by possibly seeing which scenario would give the best results after making a decision.

Logical thinking builds from the concept of critical thinking because individuals analyze his or her thought process, which provides criteria for the possible solution. Therefore, the article states “In order to understand reasoning, an individual should pay attention to the thoughts, and language of a person.” There are times individuals do not listen, which can lead to a major misunderstanding in communication causing conflict. Encouraging individuals to make decisions based on his or her emotions, which can result in bad decision-making. However, to make logical decisions a person has to be open to suggestions. He or she must understand his or her way is not always the right way.

Therefore, analyzing three different types of thinking styles is important because an individual must know which style is best and most effective in problem solving. Nevertheless, logical thinking stands out because it provides concrete methods, which give individuals the ability to think for themselves. In every aspects of life logical thinking is important because individuals should think before reacting on any problem. The facts should be present and emotions should be left out; therefore making the decision based on logics and facts.

Conclusion

A decision can make or break a person in the workplace and in his or her home life. Whether it is a problem that needs brain storming or the scientific method people have to solve their problems following an order and logical thinking process. Sometimes emotions should be left out of the decision making process and other times it should be included. Using facts instead of hear-say will increase likeliness of accuracy. One piece of advice for decision making is get creative and think outside of the grey area or box. Creativity brings possibly and options to your problem that needs solving.

References
Audiblox. (2000). Logical Thinking: A Learned Mental Process. Retrieved from http://www.audiblox2000.com/logical-thinking.htm
Nordquist, R. (n.d.). Critical Thinking. About.com. Retrieved from http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/Critical-Thinking.htm

References: Audiblox. (2000). Logical Thinking: A Learned Mental Process. Retrieved from http://www.audiblox2000.com/logical-thinking.htm Nordquist, R. (n.d.). Critical Thinking. About.com. Retrieved from http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/Critical-Thinking.htm