benefits of critical thinking in hr

HR Daily Advisor

Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.

Learning & Development, Talent

Why critical thinking is so important.

Updated: Oct 16, 2020

What Is Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness.

Value of Critical Thinking

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Why critical thinking is crucial in HR

Imagine a conflict between two employees in a team. The conflict escalates, and begins to affect the overall productivity and morale of the team. The human resources manager now has to intervene and find a solution that resolves the disagreement and also restores harmony in the team.

In such a scenario, critical thinking becomes crucial for HR professionals. Instead of jumping to conclusions or relying solely on personal biases, they will have to approach the situation with a thoughtful and analytical mindset. Thinking critically, they will gather relevant information by speaking to both parties involved, as well as other team members who may have witnessed the conflict. They will analyse the situation without any prejudices and consider different perspectives.

Generally, critical thinking is important for everyone, but its significance in HR is crucial. After all, critical thinking is the skill of carefully examining and assessing arguments and beliefs using logic and a systematic approach. It requires questioning assumptions, exploring different viewpoints, scrutinising evidence and making thoughtful and reasoned conclusions.

This rational way of thinking helps HR personnel navigate complexities and ensures that they make informed choices that benefit both employees and the company.

“Humans are thinking animals. Therefore, while dealing with them at the workplace, HR managers should take an empathetic yet rational decision-making approach to ensure unbiasedness.” Rishav Dev, former CHRO, Noveltech Feeds  

Tackling diverse workplace situations

Underscoring the vital importance of critical thinking in HR, Sharad Verma, VP & CHRO, Iris Software, highlights various aspects of this primarily problem-solving exercise, including the ability to distinguish between facts and opinions, making logical conclusions based on data, finding the root cause of the problem and establishing cause-effect relationship. “These competencies equip HR professionals to tackle diverse workplace situations with clarity and insight,” asserts Verma.

Rishav Dev, former CHRO, Noveltech Feeds, opines, “Humans are thinking animals. Therefore, while dealing with them at the workplace, HR managers should take an empathetic yet rational decision-making approach to ensure unbiasedness.”

How to evaluate situations with critical thinking

“Steps in evaluating a situation include cultivating a calm and analytical mindset, collecting relevant data and evidence, seeking input from stakeholders, assessing solution effectiveness, conducting cause-effect analysis and formulating actionable plans for the future to help make sound decisions,” enunciates Verma.

Kamlesh Dangi, group head-HR, InCred, emphasises the compatibility of critical thinking and empathy. Dangi reveals how critical thinking enables HR professionals to overcome bias and make informed decisions.

He says, “By approaching employee cases objectively, relying on factual evidence rather than personal biases, HR practitioners can deliver fair and well-founded solutions.”

“By approaching employee cases objectively, relying on factual evidence rather than personal biases, HR practitioners can deliver fair and well-founded solutions.” Kamlesh Dangi, group head-HR, InCred

Synergy of critical thinking and empathy

By empathising with employee’s challenges and understanding their perspective, an HR professional can critically assess the situation to make a fair and informed decision. A decision that takes into account an individual’s well-being and growth opportunities within the organisation.

So, does critical thinking or analysis affect the empathic aspect of HR? In Dangi’s opinion, “Critical thinking and empathy can coexist, one can analyse a situation based on facts and figures and still be empathetic towards the people involved. Thus, this can foster a deep understanding of others’ perspectives.”

How organisations can promote critical thinking

By creating an environment of open communication, organisations can empower HR teams to approach challenges with a thoughtful and analytical mindset. This cultivates an HR department that is adept at making well-founded decisions and helps drive organisational growth.

Dangi suggests, “To foster critical thinking, organisations must raise awareness, provide role models and actively promote the use of assessment tools that empowers the HR to make fact-based decisions.”

  “Steps in evaluating a situation include cultivating a calm and analytical mindset, collecting relevant data and evidence, seeking input from stakeholders, assessing solution effectiveness, conducting cause-effect analysis and formulating actionable plans for the future to help make sound decisions.” Sharad Verma, VP & CHRO, Iris Software

Setting clear criteria for decision making

Establishing clear criteria for hiring and firing decisions in the organisation helps professionals make decisions based on precise data and information.

“Defining qualifications, experience and role suitability allows HR professionals to assess candidates objectively,” points out Dangi.

This approach ensures that decisions are based on pure evidence rather than subjective feelings, resulting in fair and informed choices that align with organisational requirements.

If HR practitioners or managers do not apply critical thinking and make decisions based on their biases or gut feelings, then it can affect the organisation’s credibility and level of integrity.

In this ever-evolving HR landscape, embracing critical thinking can help HR professionals navigate challenges with clarity, objectivity and empathy in a profound and inclusive manner, benefiting the organisation and the people who rely on their decisions.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Please enter an answer in digits: nine + 12 =

Related Posts

The marico way: redefining inclusivity and innovation, deel announces acquisition of assemble, a compensation-management company, hrkatha futurecast: india at the crossroads: ai and the future of work, beyond the 70-hour workweek: rethinking productivity.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

• HR Most Influential
• HR Excellence Awards
• Advertising

Search menu

Helen Lee Bouygues

Reboot Foundation

View articles

Improving the workplace through critical thinking

A lot of the problems in business — and in human resources — can be traced back to a single root: bad thinking. Over the course of my career as a consultant, I’ve seen business leaders make abysmal decisions based on faulty reasoning, and I’ve seen HR managers fail to recognise their own innate biases when addressing employee complaints and hiring decisions.

Let me give you an example. I was once asked to help turn around a large, but faltering, lingerie company in Europe. It didn’t take too long for me to see what the problem was: the company’s strategy assumed that all their customers everywhere pretty much wanted the same products.

Company leaders hadn’t done their research and didn’t really understand how their customers’ preferences varied from country to country.

In the UK, for example, lacy bras in bright colours sold the best; Italians seemed to prefer beige bras without lace; and Americans opted for sports bras in much, much larger numbers.

Transformations and turnarounds:

What to do when leadership fails

How HR can prioritise procedure using automation and digital processes

How to transform dysfunctional teams

Without realising it, they were making business decisions on faulty assumptions and bad information. However, a new strategy based on market-dependent research quickly helped turn things around.

Using feedback to get outside of your own head

One huge advantage consultants have over internal employees is simply that they are outsiders. Consultants obviously won’t know the ins and outs of the business as well as internal managers, but because of that, they also haven’t developed the biases and assumptions that can constrain employee thinking. In short, employees are sometimes too close to the problem.

Now, there are a lot of exercises and routines you can employ to make sure you don’t have blinders on when you’re confronting new problems or challenges.

Perhaps the easiest way to do this is through feedback. Of course, feedback can be tricky. No one likes to be evaluated harshly, and without the proper mechanisms in place the value of feedback may be lost amid negative interpersonal dynamics.

One of the best things an organisation can do is to implement clear and explicit practices and guidelines for feedback between managers and employees.

Feedback should be cooperative rather than antagonistic. It should give both parties the opportunity to reflect on, explain, and refine their reasoning. And it should be explicit, preferably using both written and oral communication to find flaws in reasoning and tease out new solutions.

Making conflict productive

Conflict is inevitable in a workplace. It’s how conflict is managed that can determine whether an organisation thrives. The key to good decision-making in group settings is productive, rather than destructive, conflict.

The best decisions emerge from a process in which ideas have to do battle with one another and prove their worth in group discussions. Without some conflict, organisations fall prey to group-think , where everyone goes along with the consensus.

Again, process is crucial here. The best organisations have clear guidelines and structures in place to ensure decision-making proceeds productively.

Decision-making practices should also include mechanisms for avoiding groupthink, by, for example, soliciting opinions in writing before a discussion and by composing groups with a diverse range of backgrounds and opinions.

Finally, leaders must truly value dissenting opinions. Special consideration should be given to ideas that go against the grain. Even if they lose out in the end, dissenting opinions make the final decision stronger.

Dissenters will also be more likely to buy into a decision that goes against their views if they feel their voice has been genuinely heard.

Thinking through individual goals critically and creatively

A key component of workplace happiness is employees’ sense that they are working toward something , both in terms of overall organisational goals and in terms of personal and professional growth.

Regular reflection on individual goals is vital to sustaining a healthy workplace culture. It also encourages more thoughtful work and allows employees to see day-to-day tasks in a broader context, helping them avoid burnout and monotony .

HR professionals can implement regular systems that allow employees to intentionally formulate these types of goals and understand how their work can be integrated more fully into achieving those goals.

Organisations can also grant employees time to pursue passion projects, like Google has, to give workers the freedom to develop ideas and products beneficial to both themselves and the company.

Creative and critical thinking is integral to organisational success, but it is too often assumed that employees and organisations either have it or they don’t.

The truth is that good thinking can be fostered with intentional, structured systems in place for feedback, argument, and reflection.

Helen Lee Bouygues is founder of the Reboot Foundation

Further reading

Six top tips for navigating challenging conversations in the workplace

LinkedIn’s dyslexic thinking skill: de-stigmatisation or discrimination?

What’s in a name: supporting workplace inclusivity through #MyNameIs

Why microclimates have the power to change workplace culture

Managing the upside-down: lessons from Stranger Things

The power of design thinking

Black inclusion in the workplace – the art of inclusive recruitment

Why we need to ditch the job description

What Are the Benefits of Critical Thinking in the Workplace?

Critical thinking is the act of analyzing a subject or a situation and forming a judgment based on that analysis. Nearly everybody uses some form of critical thinking in day-to-day life, which often includes critical thinking at work. Most jobs, even seemingly nominal jobs, involve at least some critical thinking. However, the type of critical thinking an individual does at work can vary greatly according to the industry and their role in the company.

According to Business News Daily, critical thinking is the process of solving problems through rational means and evidence-based knowledge. There are a lot of benefits to critical thinking at work. Overall, a team that employs critical thinking when challenges arise is a team that solves problems, finds solutions, and works together cohesively.

Benefits of Critical Thinking

An employee's ability to think critically doesn't benefit only the employer; it benefits the employee as well. Critical thinking is a lifetime skill that an individual can use in every area of life, including interpersonal relationships, financial planning, personal goal-setting and career decisions.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

More For You

How is a llc run, participatory management styles, analysis of organizational management & leadership practices, how to open disk utility on a mac, analytical tools for developing a strategic plan.

For employers, the benefits of employees' critical thinking include:

• Finding multiple solutions to problems
• Effective communication between teams and individual employees
• Developing unique perspectives on situations and challenges at work

Critical Thinking in Business Management

It's important for every member of an organization to think critically, but perhaps the most critical area for this skill lies in business management. A manager is tasked not only with ensuring each member of the team performs their tasks correctly but also with making the big decisions that can have far-reaching repercussions, both positive and negative.

Specific applications of critical thinking in business management include:

• Anticipating problems and preventing them before they arise
• Finding ways to cut expenses
• Planning and implementing business strategies
• Delegating tasks to qualified team members
• Effectively interviewing job applicants and selecting those who are the best fit for the company

Benefits of critical thinking in business management include:

• Building a well-qualified team with low turnover
• Having a solution plan for each potential challenge
• Streamlined, efficient work processes
• Effective communication between the manager and team members

Critical Thinking in Business Examples

Critical thinking is a soft skill. According to Rider University, soft skills are the workplace skills that cannot be quantified but are nonetheless a key component of workplace success. Indeed categorizes soft skills as including creativity, empathy and open-mindedness. In contrast, hard skills include specific skills, such as knowing programming languages, knowing how to manage a database, and speaking multiple languages.

Critical thinking in business in general is similar to critical thinking in business management. The primary difference is that it deals more with operating a business than with managing teams. A few examples include:

• Predicting how much demand there will be for a product or service based on industry data and trends
• Gauging how well a new business will likely perform based on the demographics of its proposed location
• Planning efficient ways to use company budgets

Exercises for Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is a skill that can be taught and strengthened. Like most other skills, it should be exercised regularly to ensure employees do not become complacent and they have the tools to handle modern challenges that arise at work.

Exercises for critical thinking used by companies across the U.S. and the world include:

• Working through a challenge backward
• Explaining a process as if speaking to a six-year-old
• Expressing ideas through multiple mediums

Each of these exercises for critical thinking forces the participants to approach a challenge in a way they might not have approached it before. By doing this, they are forced to look at the challenge differently and find a creative way to solve it.

• Business News Daily: Why Critical Thinking Matters in Your Business
• Indeed: Soft Skills: Definitions and Examples
• Rider University: Why Is Critical Thinking Important in Business?
• American Scientific Affiliation: Critical Thinking Skills in Education and Life

As a homeowner, hobby gardener and DIY enthusiast, Lindsay loves sharing her knowledge with the world through informative articles and blog posts.