Critical Thinking
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- Category: English
- Date Submitted: 09/30/2010 02:26 PM
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Critical Thinking Paper
Critical thinking affects every aspect of human interactions. Everything we do involves some thinking. We express it in the form of communication: speaking and writing. Critical thinking according to Steven Schafesman means correct thinking in the pursuit of relevant and reliable knowledge about the world. Another way to describe it is reasonable, reflective, responsible, and skillful thinking that is focused on what to believe or do (Schafersman 1991). Critical thinking is widely used in my career field. I have been a contract specialist for 7 years now for the Air Force, KBR and CACI, and throughout those years, critical thinking is the core of what I do every single time I come in at work. However, I can count the instances where critical thinking made some difficult decisions in the contracting world. One good example is when I was in Kabul, Afghanistan working as subcontract administrator for the U.S. Army. There was a requirement to expand the main gate used by personnel at a camp here. The problem lies in the competition part of the requirement. When the requirement was solicited, my predecessor solicited it full and open competition; therefore, all contractors, whether they are overseas local bidded on the contract. This provides an unfair advantage to the contractors that are really big and is located overseas. Since the requirement is considered small in magnitude, setting the solicitation aside Afghan-only businesses would have met the competition requirement. When I took over the solicitation and I noticed this issue, I immediately amended the solicitation setting it aside as Afghan-only businesses. This way, the requirement will be bidded equally among Afghan vendors. Providing business to Afghan-vendors not only meet the Afghan-only quota that is placed for us to
Critical thinking affects every aspect of human interactions. Everything we do involves some thinking. We express it in the form of communication: speaking and writing. Critical thinking according to Steven Schafesman means correct thinking in the pursuit of relevant and reliable knowledge about the world. Another way to describe it is reasonable, reflective, responsible, and skillful thinking that is focused on what to believe or do (Schafersman 1991). Critical thinking is widely used in my career field. I have been a contract specialist for 7 years now for the Air Force, KBR and CACI, and throughout those years, critical thinking is the core of what I do every single time I come in at work. However, I can count the instances where critical thinking made some difficult decisions in the contracting world. One good example is when I was in Kabul, Afghanistan working as subcontract administrator for the U.S. Army. There was a requirement to expand the main gate used by personnel at a camp here. The problem lies in the competition part of the requirement. When the requirement was solicited, my predecessor solicited it full and open competition; therefore, all contractors, whether they are overseas local bidded on the contract. This provides an unfair advantage to the contractors that are really big and is located overseas. Since the requirement is considered small in magnitude, setting the solicitation aside Afghan-only businesses would have met the competition requirement. When I took over the solicitation and I noticed this issue, I immediately amended the solicitation setting it aside as Afghan-only businesses. This way, the requirement will be bidded equally among Afghan vendors. Providing business to Afghan-vendors not only meet the Afghan-only quota that is placed for us to