Introduction
Being a critical thinker is an assumed skill, with only a few people realizing its importance until they face problems when such thinking is essential. Most of the choices being made in both professional and personal lives are made with the help of critical thinking, which requires logic, reasoning skills, self-reflection, and evaluation of consequences. The scenario involving Sally working in the customer service department of a small printer company allows for exploring the importance of critical thinking in resolving issues within a business and customer relationships.
Elements of Critical Thinking
In the scenario, Sally empathized with a customer disputing a warranty and, understanding the printer’s importance to his livelihood, found alternatives that de-escalated the situation and provided help. Sally encountered opposition from her boss regarding a printer warranty policy, which caused a customer to be dissatisfied. She encountered key barriers to crucial thinking: personal biases and drone mentality.
Even when Sally proposed a solution to the customer’s issue, which entailed extending the warranty, she was faced with the bias from her boss that she was “late to work most of the time.” Instead of listening to Sally’s concerns, the employer dismissed the proposal and adhered to a drone mentality. Doing everything as usual would be preferable instead of disrupting processes to address the problem.
Reason, Emotion, and Communication
Emotions play a significant role in the decision-making process, with Sally ultimately deciding to help the customer once she puts herself in his position. This allowed Sally to understand that the service she provides to people could impact them personally because businesses directly influence their well-being. The interaction with the customer prompted Sally to think critically and consider solutions that would improve the warranty service and thus increase customer satisfaction. In her communication, Sally applies reason to avoid confrontations with colleagues whose points of view she does not share. As she was agitated and drained after working all day and was not well-informed about the discussed topic, Sally used reason and avoided a confrontation.
Fallacies and Argument
One of the fallacies exhibited in the scenario is the red herring, which represents an attempt by an individual to divert attention from the original problem to other issues in the form of an argument (Nikolopoulou, 2023). The exchange between Sally and her manager regarding her proposal to adjust and extend the warranty resulted in a fallacy on the part of the boss, who said, “How can you argue for a change in the warranty when you are late to work most of the time?”
Sally’s alleged tardiness and the warranty policy are not connected; however, the manager attempted to accuse her of a bad work ethic, which had nothing to do with the issue that she was raising in the first place. Nevertheless, Sally was making valid arguments because her reasoning made sense. By adding more months to the warranty, the company could prevent complaints, while customers would not have to purchase new printers.
Conclusion
To summarize, the scenario shows that critical thinking, reflection, reasoning, applying emotions, and providing evidence to one’s argument can help resolve any issue. Sally made the right decision to maintain her position after speaking with the customer and was successful at showing that most of the printers stopped working right after the warranty’s termination. Ultimately, her efforts pointed to the inadequacy of the policy, which was ultimately changed.
Reference
Nikolopoulou, K. (2023). What is a red herring fallacy? Definition & examples. Web.