Critical and Innovative Thinking, Research Paper Example

People are apt to make decisions every day in their activities, interactions and relationships. Therefore, it is essential to identify the procedures and tools they use to make successful decisions to be able to implement those secrets of success in the business settings. The advancement in biological understanding of the chemical processes taking part in the mental processing of information, decision-making, problem-solving etc. provide a huge number of implications for research nowadays. The knowledge about abilities of left and right parts of the brain, and responsibilities they have for various thinking processes also contributes to the realization of popular and efficient decision-making and problem-solving strategies in all domains of human life and activity.

According to the general classification, there are left-brain and right-brain thinking, the former being responsible for critical, logical and detached thinking procedures and techniques. Right-brain thinking involves emotion and innovation, application of intuition and other illogical, subjective processes. Hence, this type of thinking is referred to as innovative thinking. Each type has its own advantages and drawbacks, contributing to some specific fields of decision-making and problem-solving. Both of them need to be carefully considered for the sake of making practical conclusions on their value for the workplace as well as defining the ways for their implementation.

The principles of critical thinking are highlighted in the article of Robbins (2005) clearly and well. The author investigates the process of critical decision-making as a unique procedure encompassing some specific characteristics, e.g. making sure that the decision-maker understands the logic standing behind his or her decision, and identifying assumptions and checking them several times (Robbins, 2005). It is essential to note that the critical decision-making process needs to be conducted with the help of only facts or truly grounded assumptions; according to the authors’ opinion, false assumptions and false beliefs are the first enemies of constructive decision-making. Next, the critical decision-making process involves collecting the supportive data to test assumptions and support inferences. Frames to consider decisions have to be chosen thoroughly to adopt a multi-angle view of the situation. Awareness of those frames and their ability to change the shades of information’s meaning has to be obtained and mastered (Robbins, 2005).

Innovative thinking, on the contrary, is seen as a way to introduce some solutions in the business setting that is based on intuition, feelings and emotions. The most important note in the application of the discussed type of thinking is for the decision-maker to direct his or her thoughts in the right direction, and not to mix the voice of reason with the fears, prejudices and doubts (Pepper, 2006). To make a correct decision in the innovative, creative, or illogical way, being guided by no facts and no reason, the individual has to sort out as many decisions as possible, to categorize them, to recreate helpful supportive environment to aid the thinking process, and to build the vision of producing the change (Pepper, 2006). It is not true that the innovative thinking process is ineffective because of lack of data and analysis, and full reliance on the individual perception. Nonetheless, the careful process of idea selection and categorization adds credibility to the solutions made.

Drawing a conclusion from the present set of data on critical and innovative thinking, one can say that both types are essential for implementation at the workplace, and each of both can give numerous advantages for the problem-solving and decision-making situations. The critical thinking process is highly reliable, especially when the responsibility or the stake of the decision is too high. However, there are situations in which lack of information limits the vision of the business situation, so in such cases critical thinking becomes impossible. In addition, there are huge numbers of unexpected turns in business situations, and only those relying on intuition and being able to act across the generally accepted rules are able to achieve success. Consequently, application of innovative thinking skills is sometimes highly helpful in making useful, unusual but still effective and beneficial decisions. Both articles provide enough information on the integration of both thinking skills into business practice, so they can be used as guidelines for learning each skill and implementing it for the sake of business efficiency and decision consistency.

References

Pepper, A. (2006). Creative and Innovative Thinking In Business – When And How Do You Think Creative Ideas? Ezine Articles. Retrieved November 21, 2010, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Creative-And-Innovative-Thinking-In-Business—When-And-How-Do-You-Think-Creative-Ideas?&id=275400

Robbins, S. (2005). The Path to Critical Thinking. Harvard Business School Working Knowledge. Retrieved November 21, 2010, from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4828.h tml