Critical Thinking and Business Decisions Essay -- GCSE Business Market

Critical Thinking and Business Decisions Our basic concept of critical thinking is, at root, simple. We could define it as the art of taking charge of your own mind. Its value is also at root simple: "if we can take charge of our own minds, we can take charge of our lives; we can improve them, bringing them under our "self-command" and direction (McCall and Kaplan, 1990)." Of course, this requires that we learn self-discipline and the art of self-examination. This involves becoming interested in how our minds work, how we can monitor, fine tune, and modify their operations for the better. It involves getting into the habit of reflectively examining our impulsive and accustomed ways of thinking and acting in every dimension of our lives and business. Many various "Forms of Thinking" affect the way we rationalize problems and situations. We could approach a problem by utilizing the forms such as in "a logical, scientific, persuasive, or creative fashion (University of Phoenix, 2000)." The way we approach a problem or situation can be and is very important. In addition, all that we do, we do based on some motivations or reasons that are forces which influence our ways of thinking. However, we rarely examine our motivations to see if they make sense. We rarely scrutinize our reasons critically to see if they are rationally justified. "Some of the forces that influence are thinking can be gender, culture, ethnicity, religion, race, economic status, ethics, etc (University of Phoenix, 2000)." As consumers, for example, we sometimes buy things impulsively and uncritically, without stopping to determine whether we really need what we are inclined to buy, whether we can afford it, whether its good for our health, or whether the price is competitive. As parents, we often respond to our children impulsively and uncritically, without stopping to determine whether our actions are consistent with how we want to act as parents, whether we are contributing to their self-esteem, whether we are discouraging them from thinking, or from taking responsibility for their own behavior. The two examples above, illustrate how we could have used a "scientific form of thinking" to come to a conclusion but the "force", whatever it may have been, that influenced that way of thinking, was very strong. The same remains true in business as it pertains to our manageria... ...en seriously, it can transform every dimension of work life: how we formulate rules, how we relate to our employees, how we encourage them to relate to each other, how we cultivate their speaking and listening skills, as well as their decision making skills. Of course, we are likely to make "Critical Thinking" a basic value in work only insofar as we make it a basic value in our lives. "Therefore, to become adept at contemplating critical thinking, we must become committed to thinking critically and reflectively about our own lives and the lives of those around us (Shermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn, 2000)." We must become active, daily, practitioners of critical thought. We must regularly model for our employees what it is to reflectively examine, critically assess, and effectively improve the way we live and think. References Morgan W. McCall Jr. and Robert E. Kaplan, (1990). "Whatever It Takes, Realities of Managerial Decision Making," (New Jersey: Prentice Hall) Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn. (2000). Organizational Behavior. 7th Ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. University of Phoenix, (2000). Critical Thinking: Strategies in Decision Making. (Module) MGT 350.

A comprehensive protection plan

The primary objective of drawing a comprehensive protection plan is to enable an individual or an organization to survive or avoid a disaster (security threat) and therefore continue with his/her normal daily activities smoothly. To be able to achieve the above, one has to fully access the existing vulnerabilities in relations to the present, and predict future trends. As such therefore, comprehensive protection planning is tedious, complex, and requires careful and proper strategizing. In order for the plan to be relevant, both the security agent and the client have to make sure that, the plan is adhered to, up to the dot.Protection plans are not a two-month project neither is it a plan that once completed one can forget about it. The plan must be maintained, and tested regularly to gauge its efficient.Any security protection plan has to be systematic so that in the end, security threats can be avoided. The following steps need to be followed in order to come up with a comprehensive protection plan. 1) Plan description; this involves things like; (I) Pre-planning, which deals with the understanding of the immediate environment of an individual or an organization. (ii)Vulnerability assessment:- This concentrates on activities which can reduce the possibility of   a disaster occurrence.(iii) Disaster impact:- A detailed study should be carried out to determine the outcome, should a disaster occur.(iv) Definition of tasks:-this deals with the real course of action should a disaster occur(v)Plan development:-during this phase, recovery plans are tackled and clearly documented.(vi) Testing phase:-the above plan is now   put into real test so as to gauge its feasibility and if possible alternatives are evaluated.(vii)Maintenance of the plan is a very critical phase as   it determines the success of the whole plan should a security threat take place.(viii) Implementation of the plan:– this is   the most important phase of a comprehensive protection pla n since the plan will be of no use if it will not be fully implemented. As such implementation includes the following; defining the plan approach, identifying plan implementers, and modifying the plan when need be.The next step, number (2) plan objectives, which as said earlier the main objective of security protection plan is to enable an individual to survive a disaster and therefore carry on with their duties. As such, it requires critical operations trough out the course of plan. These critical operations can only be achieved by establishing of clear objectives.The objectives to any protection plan includes the following; (I) provision of safety to people incase of a disaster. (ii) Continuation with normal activities after a disaster. (iii) Minimize immediate damage and losses. (iv) Minimizing of disruption time. (V) Identify critical support incase the situations are out of control. These objectives help both the security agent and the client to be fully acquainted with the sco pe of the plan and the general security and safety procedures.Number three in this order is the plan organization and staffing. For the plan to be efficient, it needs to be effected by a number of people. Every level of the plan needs to be taken care of by professionals e.g. guards, drivers etc. initially we had said that protection planning is a tedious, complex, and labor-intensive program.This is so because it will be of no use to draw a detailed plan of action and fail to assign duties to specific people. Professionals as said earlier need to be in full time contact to execute the plan incase of a disaster happening.Lastly in this order are recourse requirements; people or organizations who have tried to develop or implement protection plans without providing the necessary recourses have been largely unsuccessful.Therefore, it is imperative that in order to successfully carry out a protection plan, the essential recourses must be employed to the maximum. Of importance also is t he regular testing of plans due to changes of time, and environment. These recourses can be divided into three categories; personnel costs, capitals costs, and on-going costs.( http://www.utoronto.ca/security/documentation/business_continuity/dis_rec_plan.htm)The above steps when followed keenly, then a comprehensive security protection plan can be drawn and successfully executed when need arises. In our contemporary society, security threats have become the order of the day and therefore there is a need to come up with protection plans to combat these threats.Some of the most areas, which are frequently affected when disaster strikes are communication networks, personal security, and transport systems. The following is a detailed plan of action to undertake in relation to communication, personal security, and transportation of a client.

Administrator Of Human Resources Interview - 2082 Words

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In this report, I document the interview I had with Barrett on January 20, 2015 to discuss human resources management in the school district. What are the demographics of the district? S. Barrett explains that the Minneapolis Public Schools District has 76 schools (personal communication, January 20, 2015). The number of students is approximately 35,356. There are 11,439 White students, 13,109 African American students, Hispanics are 6,766, Asians are 2,526, American Indians are 1,479, and Pacific Islanders are 37 (S. Barrett, personal communication, January 20, 2015). Approximately 65 percent of the students benefit fromShow MoreRelatedAdministrator Of Human Resources Interview2084 Words   |  9 PagesAdministrator of Human Resources Interview Steve Barrett is the Executive Director for Human Resource Operations for the Minneapolis Public Schools District. According to S. Barrett, he has worked in his current position for seven months (personal communication, January 20, 2015). 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