Critical Thinking Application Paper

Critical Thinking Application Paper

The average mind is thinking all the time; after all, that is a function of one’s brain. Much of the thinking the average person does is unstructured, partial, and typically biased based on what he or she knows. In daily living, we indulge in simple thinking; thoughts gathered from memory, routine, habit or repetition. Critical thinking, on the other hand, is the disciplined thought process of deeply understanding, analyzing and evaluating a problem, situation or process, resulting in a higher level of quality output (Paul and Scriven, 2009). In the workplace, any business will thrive and benefit tremendously if all employees are engaged in critical thinking. In many cases, the skill of critical thinking is developed and carried out in the workplace. This paper will provide an example from personal experience of applying critical thinking to a work-related decision, and discuss the importance and benefits of critical thinking in the decision-making processes.

United Parcel Service is the world’s leading packaging and shipping company; I have been a ground-hub supervisor with the company for the past 12 years. This job consists of managing workers assigned to loading belts, using time management skills, and making decisions small and big when problems occur. Each shift is given a time limit to load a certain amount of packages for the day; in the occurrences of a belt jamming, packages overloading, or employees falling behind on time schedules, it is my duty to use critical thinking to gather the different choices to fix the problem and choosing the best option for the problem to be resolved in a timely manner. For instance, if a belt overloads and shuts down, packages back up and lose order. As the supervisor, I must use critical thinking skills to reorganize packages based on beginning and ending locations, dates, and times. Making the process more difficult is making the decisions on how to rearrange the loading dock...