Critical Reading: Importance in the Business World - Report Example

Critical Reading: Importance in the Business World It is wont to hear that skills like critical reading and writing have their significance in the educational discipline but we might have rarely heard that they are of some importance in the business world. It is true that critical reading and thinking have a pedigree embedded in the educational and philosophical domain but in fact they are not confined to certain boundaries rather the era has began where these skills have a higher profile within the business community. This paper explores the importance of critical reading in the domain of business world and identifies how critical reading is exercised by the users of the workplace. Uncertainty and stiff competition prevails in the business domain and it can not be tackled until and unless critical reading and understanding of diverse contents is pursued by the business people. The term “reading” implies to decode a piece of text whereas critical reading is much different from it. Critical reading involves a continuing investigation and examination of a text (Anonymous 2004). The reader makes judgement about how the text is written and argued. Perhaps the term critical does not implies that the text should be criticized nor it should be taken in a negative sense. Rather the purpose of critical reading is to recognize the author’s purpose, verify the assumptions and determine the biases involved in it (Harnadek 1978). It is dubious that how can critical reading be a part of business globe and how it is connected with the workforce. We know that people in the business community are not concerned with reading but they come to their organizations to perform the routine tasks or perhaps sometimes carry out uncertain projects. So why critical reading has its roots entrenched in business world. This question is an issue of grave concern but the literature points that critical reading is not merely involved with reading but rather it is a much broader term. It connotes critical understanding and thinking of the subject matter. It means reading and thinking with an open mind and evaluating your subject and its environment (Anonymous 2005). Discovery and evaluation of the information is the prime purpose of critical reading. Hence, in the remaining part of the text the term “critical reading” would have a broader meaning and it would encompass critical understanding and thinking as well. We can think reading as one of the essential elements of communicational skills. Adeptness at communication is considered as one of the top priorities during the hiring process therefore critical reading can be deemed of vital importance in the business world. A survey conducted with business executives were asked that what accounted for the promotion of their most successful young subordinates compared to the slow progress of other juniors. The survey revealed that communicational skills were considered as one of the key factors most indicated by the top executives (Lye 1997). Hence, we can assume that communicational skills are nurtured by your ability to critically read and understand the content. Critical reading strengthens your ability to communicate and it allows you to effectively communicate with the other people. Thus, it can help you to closely connect and build long lasting relationships with the people residing in your environment such as employees, customers and business partners. This shows clearly that critical reading has its importance in the business domain. Knowledge is the most vital asset that anyone possesses in the business world. Your level of information determines your position in the business industry. People at the lower level of organizational hierarchy have the least knowledge and information whereas those lying at the top level have the most relevant and critical knowledge in their repository. Critical reading of the text allows the people to deepen their knowledge and shapes their way of thinking. The people in the business globe read newspapers, business journals, Internet articles, success stories and recent news publications to enhance their knowledge about the business environment in order to make effective decisions. To be a true business leader it is imperative to seek, read and comprehend lot of information on routine basis to arrive at the right decisions. In the business realm, we often find that the management has to make fateful decisions. These decisions have drastic consequences on the operations and growth of the company. Therefore, making good decision demands that you should move in a systematic way and gather complete information about the issue to be resolved. For instance, if the marketing department is going to launch a new product and it wants to design an advertisement campaign then they need to gather information about the similar events, and success and failure stories that have occurred in the past. They might have to read articles and reports pertaining to their project. Critical reading of the information at this stage is the absolute requirement before you move into the next stage. The manager in charge has to understand the ideas of other people and make conclusive arguments against the content of the other authors because it’s not necessary that the other writer is absolutely correct. He/She must check and verify the validity of the remarks and must be able to decide that what to accept as true and what to refute. As Hui (2006) said, “Thinking critically is the primary responsibility of any manager, in any organization, and a leaders capacity to engage in this process is largely determined by his or her intelligence”. Contemporary organizations are facing fierce competition in the ever changing business arena. As a result of this intense rivalry, organizations make thousands of knee-jerking decisions to survive in the challenging environment. Therefore it is important to read and more importantly critically understand the current trends in your field or environment. Being informed with the trends in your field implies that you are able to identify gaps in the market, develop your niche and do business in a convenient and meaningful way (Seiboko 2002). Every company whether it belongs to manufacturing or service industry sells either a tangible or intangible product to its customers. To bring a new product to the market warrants that you should be able to identify the unspoken needs of your target market. We know that each customer has its own needs, preferences and desires therefore it becomes important to satisfy the needs of major chunk of your target markets. Critical reading of the requirements of the customer can help you in satisfying the demand of majority of your target market. If you simply read the needs, you might be caught into a trap because you have not taken a broader view. Critical reading will help in analyzing and investigating the information that you have obtained through surveys and hence it will uncover the hidden needs and will satisfy your whole target market. The operations of businesses always revolve on certain processes and policies. To make the business more efficient, it requires automating and reengineering of the current processes. Critical understanding of your processes will always allow the business to develop and refine them. Secondly, as a business person you cannot be well informed about policies and legislation until and unless you read them. When you critically understand and read these regulations, you will be better able to acquire knowledge that will help you to comply with them and even challenge them and then make recommendations for change (Seiboko 2002). Finally, the success of any business hinges on the quality of leadership provided to the business. Strong leadership only evolves when the leader has a powerful self-image and strong attitude toward the business. Critical reading builds both a vivid self-image and the right attitude required to sustain and make grow your business. Because critical reading involves comprehending and evaluate someone’s thinking it can easily cultivate your own thinking process and in turn builds your self-image. Secondly, we know that critical reading does not involve negative thinking therefore it determines how you will respond to the negative things that you might encounter during the course of the business; since it is the attitude that determines your thinking towards negative aspects of life. We can deduce from the above report that critical reading is of paramount importance in the business arena and companies will not be able to survive cut-throat competition until and unless they critically read and apprehend their environment. Whether it be a launch of new product or formulation of a new policy, critical reading plays a decisive role in establishing and converting a business to success. BIBLIOGRAPHY Anonymous 2004, DEVELOPING CRITICAL READING, [Accessed 21st December 2008] Available from World Wide Web: Harnadek, A. 1978, Critical Reading Improvement, McGraw-Hill Anonymous 2005, Critical reading is really the same thing as critical thinking, [Accessed 22nd December 2008] Available from World Wide Web: Lye, J. 1997, CRITICAL READING: A GUIDE, [Accessed 21st December 2008]. Available from World Wide Web: Hui, K. C. 2006, What is Critical Thinking?, [Accessed 21st December 2008] Available from World Wide Web: Seiboko, L. 2002, THE IMPORTANCE OF READING IN THE BUSINESS WORLD, [Accessed 22nd December 2008]. Available from World Wide Web: Read More