Argument Suggested by the Director of Operations in Cliffside Holdings Company of Massapequa - Coursework Example

Critical Thinking Introduction Today’s intricacy and complexities of life require critical and systematic thinking. Modern industrialization and development call for organized progress where each professional has to adopt by developing practical and effective mechanisms to encounter the persistently increasing challenges to necessitate consistent growth and development. Modern change requires maximum utilization of critical thinking attitudes and skills relevant in the analyses and interpretation of contemporary challenges. In general therefore, critical thinking entails utilization of available information to examine and analyze certain situations, develop solution for the emerging issues, create logical conclusion, examine the available opportunities and formulate a workable decision (Anderson and Weil, 2000). The process is however complicated as it requires utilization of personal skills and individual values to facilitate the creation of an effective frame of reference essential in productive action. The essay below therefore seeks to use multiple step method developed by Keeley and Browne to examine the argument suggested by the director of operations in Cliffside Holdings Company of Massapequa. What Are The Issue And The Conclusion? In the case of Cliffside Holding Company of Massapequa, the focus is on establishment and funding leadership programs for junior executive staff in the company. The need to prepare junior financial executives for future development of the company was proposed during the senior executive staff meeting, which took place on August 1, 2012. It was suggested by the director of operation. The suggestion targeted 20 employees, who were to attend a three-week seminar per year offered by Aspen Leadership Institute of Colorado. While concluding, Mr. Anil Ravaswami asserted that it is not feasible for CHCM to sponsor its junior financial executives to the annual leadership training. He further explained that leadership programs amount to waste of resources since the money is not utilized properly. Mr. Anil Ravaswami argues that Ms. Forsythe, who proposed the human resources department establish and fund the program, has self-motivated interests. He states that Ms. Forsythe does not have the future of CHCM at heart but only wants to disgrace him and advocate for adoption of theories of Aspen Institute, which he thinks are not appropriate for the culture of CHCM. What Are The Reasons? From the presentation of the subject and conclusions, the reason why the vice president of Human resources of CHCM, Mr. Anil Ravaswami declined to adopt the proposal of Ms. Forsythe on leadership training is their competition for corporate post. Mr. Anil Ravaswami argues that their twelve senior executive have never attended any leadership programs, but they have been delivering their duties as expected (Browne & Keeley, 2007). He believes that leadership is not learned but an innate trait by quoting people like Winston Churchill, Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King, Jr. Therefore, Mr. Anil Ravaswami reiterates that leadership development trainings are of less significance in Cliffside Holding Company of Massapequa. Which Words Or Phrases Are Ambiguous? Mr. Anil Ravaswami, in the Memo alluded to the sayings of some experts to rationalize his allegation that leadership is an inborn trait that cannot be copied or learned through trainings. He quotes one economist Dr. Irwin Corey, who said “born into this world accompanied by a rich, psychical disposition, which furnishes him ready-made all his motivations of conduct…He can show a demand for nothing that is not prompted by this galaxy of instincts.” The economist quote is related to Mr. Anil Ravaswami’s thought. On the other hand, the definition of leadership from Wikipedia, “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate and enable others” and relating it to famous individuals like Winston Churchill, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Jr. does is not directly related. According to Arp and Watson (2011), the famous researchers do not justify their thoughts to mean that leadership is born with an individual as Mr. Anil Ravaswami puts across. What Are The Value Conflicts And Assumptions? Most of Mr. Anil Ravaswami’s arguments are based on assumptions since none of them has evidence. It beats no logic to decline the proposal to fund the leadership-training program for the junior financial executives. His claim that Ms. Forsythe has self-vested interests in his position as the vice president human resources is not supported by any evidence. He also assumes that Ms. Forsythe is motivated by the liberal notion that all citizens of a free nation have the right to pursue education and can achieve anything they desire. Mr. Anil Ravaswami’s assumption on the heights of a few leaders of United States of America is not proven to influence their ability; whether tall or short is not an indication. Mr. Anil Ravaswami also assumes that taking the junior financial executives to the leadership training may lead to picking the wrong people for the program. What Are The Descriptive Assumptions? From the issues presented in the Memo, Mr. Anil Ravaswami describes assumption of height of some leaders of United State of America claiming that it influenced their leadership ability. His description that Ms. Forsythe yearns for his position adding that she has self interested gains in the subject is an assumption. Are There Any Fallacies In The Reasoning? From the issue presented in the Memo, there are fallacies in the reasoning of Mr. Anil Ravaswami, for example, relating to the heights of some leaders. His statistics is only skewed towards a few leaders of United States of America. Fallacies are known to interfere with the results and evidence of any research (Browne & Keeley, 2007). Some countries for instance Philippines have been headed by leaders with heights as low as 5’. His sample is gender biased; a representative sample must include both male and female. Liberia, an African country, has been led by a woman for several years now; therefore, all sexes have leadership qualities. Mr. Anil Ravaswami also shows fallacies in his reasoning when he say that he suspects Ms. Forsythe is coveting his position when she wrote the proposal so that his department could establish and fund the leadership program. How Good Is The Evidence? Ms. Florence Forsythe’s evidence is less sufficient to support her ideas to introduce leadership development training program. It is as well not justifiable to claim that tall leaders have leadership qualities. There are some tall leaders who do not posses leadership quality. On the other hand, short people have in the recent past demonstrated substantial leadership quality, contrary to author’s claims. Moreover, taking into account the current company success without leadership development training, the director of operation has failed to support her recommendation to introduce leadership development program. Moreover, there is no direct evidence to support the allegation that the director of operations is interested in the VP position. Are There Rival Causes? There are rival causes between the director of operations, the author of the memo, the introduction of the leadership management training and senior management officers. By considering the effectiveness of the company’s managers, there is absolutely no need for leadership training. Training is in most cases necessary when leaders have demonstrated poor performance. On the other hand, the director of operation seems to have personal interest in the entire issues of training leaders. The other causes of rivalry include the cost required in the training and the expected input of the training program in the company. The cost of training is extremely far beyond the input of the training. Additionally, the author presumes that leaders are always born with leadership skills. The author even goes on to quote an author who supports his ideas. Leadership training is sometimes very essential, especially with new recruits. Are The Statistics Deceptive? The information provided in the memo is to some extent deceptive. This is so particularly on the data regarding the height of the most prominent global leaders. Although there is no direct resemblance between leadership quality and height, the data provided do not lime with the actual data on other sources. By referring to the online data, the average height of all prominent global leaders does not exceed 6 feet’s. On the other hand, the amount proposed in leadership training is to some extent exaggerated. It is not possible to spend $5,000.00 on one student. What Significant Information Is Omitted? The information omitted in the memo entails the main reason for assuming that the director of operation is interested in the position of VP. The assumption that the director of operation is interested in VP position is merely unsubstantiated allegations. On the other hand, the director of operation does to offer adequate information to justify her suggestion for leadership development program. The memo also lacks information on how the suggested training resources will be utilized. What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible? The conclusions contained in the memo are to some extent reasonable and acceptable. However, the conclusion on the director of operation interest on the post of VP should be excluded since there is no substantiation to justify the allegation. It is therefore reasonable and appropriate to conclude that leadership training programs is not acceptable in Cliffside Holding Company of Massapequa (CHCM). This is due to budget constraints as well as the current proficient company’s status without leadership training. Additionally, taking into account the current leadership quality in Cliffside Holding Company of Massapequa (CHCM), the adoption of leadership training can as well be presumed to be waste of resources and time. As stated by Keeley and Browne (2007), adequate and realistic conclusion portrays the consistency and accuracy of a memo. Conclusion By referring to the evaluation and analyses of Cliffside Holding Company of Massapequa (CHCM), it is realistic and adequate to conclude that critical thinking is one of the most beneficial initiatives in human life. Therefore, evaluation process may be presumed to be a systematic utilization of one’s innate cognitive retention skills and desirable attitudes to develop an objective interpretation and a well informed explanation and conclusion in real life situations. An effective critical thinker has the ability to collect and store all the relevant information to enable him to retrieve and utilize it when necessary. On the other hand, various administrative professionals use critical thinking skills in different ways. Effective critical thinker pays attention to all issues that confronts an organization to eventually come up with the most effective means of solving emerging organizational issues. References Anderson H., & Weil, D. (2000). Perspective in critical thinking: Essays by teachers in theory and practices. New York, NY: Peter Lang Arp, R., & Watson, C. (2011). Critical thinking: An introduction to reasoning well. London: Continuum Browne, N & Keeley, S.(2007). Asking the right questions: A guide to critical thinking. New York, NY: Prentice Hall Read More