Thinking Styles in Decision Making

order to present the property to the right audience and in the right manner.

When the time comes to show homes to a perspective buyer, the art of persuasion comes to play. The agent must make sure that the properties being shown appeal to the buyer's needs, wants, values and sometimes even egos.

The persuasive thinking style involves getting your audience to believe, go along, or act in accordance with what you want. With this style of thinking, if a person is an effective persuader you can basically get anyone to agree with just about anything. Persuasion and manipulation have a thin line between the two of them. Persuasion is the act of getting someone or a group of people to agree with your views, and beliefs basing your information on facts and truths. For example; getting people to drink more water because it's healthier for their kidneys than sodas or fruit drinks is the act of persuasion. On the other hand attempting to have people drink more water because soda and fruit juices cause cancer is an act of manipulation, especially if the presenter is receiving some type of benefit for this fictional information.

Using critical thinking in the decision making process in the workplace is significant. For example, if a bakery is considering getting a new oven for efficiency then all thinking styles can come into play. First, the creative style can be used to brainstorm the different types of oven, performance, efficiency and effectiveness. Second, the logical process comes into play narrowing the field of ovens down to a few which can be decided on. Third, the persuasion process can then be used to narrow the selection of ovens to either the most efficient, quickest, or least expensive.

No individual has a lock on creativity, and that allows individuals to think about unlocking the creativity each possesses (Kirby, Goodpaster, 2007). When one creates a new idea, that individual is taking an old idea and mixing it, moving it, or building it into a new idea (Kirby, Goodpaster, 2007). Therefore, creative thinking can be used by anyone, to a certain extent. Personal barriers such as an individuals brain and the language it contains, limit the amount of creativity one may possess. On the other hand, traits such as humor, laughter, courage, and calm help individuals be more creative by breaking out of structured thoughts and making new combinations by reorganizing these thoughts (Kirby, Goodpaster, 2007).

In the workplace, brainstorming and starbursting during the critical thinking process allows for many creative ideas to be generated. Brainstorming should have no boundaries, so the mind can move from one thought to the next, allowing for the creation of ideas. These creative ideas can be evaluated, picked apart, and restructured at a later time to help meet the needs of the organization. Starbursting is an important tactic to