Introduction
Critical thinking and emotional intelligence define the quality of multiple processes and colleague relationships. Sally’s case proves that poorly managed emotions and a lack of communication might provoke additional workplace challenges and employee dissatisfaction. The woman needs to address certain critical thinking elements to combine reason, emotion, and communication and differentiate between fallacies and arguments.
Elements of Critical Thinking
In Sally’s situation, major critical thinking barriers are related to her mental health issues and devastating working conditions. Despite finding some logical reasoning and credible information to support her position, the woman cannot cope with the existing resistance barrier and prove her evidence-based position. She is poorly aware of common topics and prefers to avoid discussions and confrontations. Instead of demonstrating her attitudes and maintaining comfort, she chooses to hide her emotions and reasons during communication.
Reason, Emotion, and Communication
Such elements as reason, emotion, and communication cannot be ignored in personal and professional development. Sally properly focuses on reasons at her work when she decides to collect evidence and offer a new idea to her manager. At the same time, her emotional devastation proves the negative impact of emotions on her performance and cooperation with clients and colleagues. It is important to differentiate emotions and use them reasonably for critical thinking and actions (Nguyen et al., 2019). The woman feels drained and agitated, and her passive communication style does not allow her to gain profits or be recognized in the workplace.
Fallacies and Argument
The major fallacy in this scenario is that Sally thinks that her poor knowledge of the topic provokes her disagreement with colleagues’ opinions. At that moment, it was impossible to compare the levels of awareness between employees, and her position was false due to a lack of arguments. Arguments for Sally’s critical thinking are related to her intention to support customers and reduce the number of their complaints. Her evaluations and attention to customers’ needs and expectations present a strong argument to support her critical thinking and readiness for change management. Still, the manager’s argument about Sally’s lateness promotes another fallacy in critical thinking.
Conclusion
Sally is a good example of how high-level professionalism is spoiled by personal weaknesses, uncertainty, and fallacies. Despite clear arguments and reasons for change, the woman cannot cope with her emotions, which affects her behavior and cooperation with colleagues. Her passive communication style and emotional devastation are critical thinking barriers that should be recognized and solved.
Reference
Nguyen, T., White, S., Hall, K., & Bell, R. (2019). Emotional intelligence and managerial communication. American Journal of Management, 19(2), 54-63.