GMGT 7200: Critical and Creative Thinking
Submission 1: The Second Telling
Submitted to: Howard Harmatz
Submitted by: Kaushik Maharshi (007965824)
Due date: January 14, 2023
In my short life, I have often experienced many things that made me the person I am today.
These experiences for good or bad, changed the course of my life through the decisions I had
taken at those moments. The interaction between me and my manager has also been one of
those instances that taught me an important lesson about how life isn’t always what we
expect it to be. This reflects the interaction between and me manager and my evaluation of
the ways it had affected me with its implications along with its ramifications.
Concept
When I was working as a Fraud Investigator and almost the entire team fell sick, save a few
including me. I had worked hard and had given my all. When covid struck, despite the loss in
work force, we managed to deliver the result on time by working additional hours, I
additionally ensured all the updates were communicated to the team in a timely manner all
the while upholding responsibilities of the manager, Since the manager was also on leave
due to sickness and was still denied the promotion and raise. It felt like all my efforts were
wasted away and I did not get the recognition I was meant to get. This hurt me more because
the team itself was being dissolved and the efforts we had put in all the while to ensure the
process does not suffer a setback went down the drain. The fact that the team after being
dissolved was created again with fresh hires affected me even further as I thought given the
knowledge and experience, we had in the process, even if it were remotely possible, it would
be my team, working on the process with responsibilities to train and nurture the new
employees inducted into the team. But that was not the case. (Maharshi, 2023).
Reflection
Upon Introspection about the time, I had a chat with my manager I realised I was not being
promoted, I felt I may have been egocentric about the situation. And I believe that this innate
egocentrism is what lead me to be so absorbed with how the situation had progressed as I
did not factor in the other possibilities of me being denied the promotion.
Egocentric Analysis
A careful rumination regularly with regard to major experiences that alter the course of my
life has always been how I understood that out of extreme egocentric thinking capabilities
one comes up with rational probabilities, I had done the same and realised that I was
probably missing the bigger picture, and I believe it was at this particular juncture I failed to
realise that I was being extremely egocentric which lead to an extreme need to feel self
validated. When I had been told that my efforts were deemed capable of promotion, I
assumed that I would be promoted and had innately thought that my efforts for the cause
were worth it and assumed it would be recognised for sure, given the situation I had to failed
to realise that despite me there were other members from our organisation who had
contributed similarly to ensure their process worked efficiently.
Now given the situation, I realise it was not the best of times to have expected a raise and a
promotion, where in due to covid most of the world was getting unemployed, I had a secure
job with a regular payroll. The losses for the company would have also been significant due
to a loss in the work force not only in my team but in the other teams as well, the gravity of
the situation had sunk in when I realised that there was dearth with the managers too, to
handle the work as in such cases when a supervisor falls sick or is unable to work to the best
of their capacities, it is usually a common practice for managers within the organisation to
take up the role efficiently to balance the work load. We were talking about a pandemic
where people having fallen sick, dying and unable to make ends meet. I believe my efforts
for the process forced me into thinking in a rather self serving tendency as I had put my
needs and my necessity above what was happening at the time, Since I was more focused on
the results and getting the job done, no matter how irrational my thought process appeared
I had justified it with a sense of self validation that I had deserved something like this for the
effort I had put in. The reward for this effort under different circumstances and different
times would have held true if the situation at hand was not so desperate. I failed to realise
that the company itself was short staffed and was trying to get everything done on time
despite the less work force, we had the additional benefit of working from home while most
people were being laid off from work.
According to Richard Paul and Linda Elder people as egocentric thinkers form many beliefs
without the means to justify them, (Paul and Elder, 2014). Since what I had hoped for did not
happen as expected I appeared to have a similar line of thought with regards to the
promotion and a raise in my paycheck. I failed to factor in the causes or the blowback my
manager must be facing for missing work as all the reporting to the higher ups had to be
done by him, and despite me managing it well, there would be apparent drawbacks due to
the roles handled by the manager demanded a much more holistic approach of the entire
process which I was not equipped to handle. The other factor I failed to realise is that my
manager did not have any idea as to how I had handled the project during his absence, and
therefore did not have a standard to measure it with, though my work ethic and the efforts
invested were great, since there was no chance for a direct supervision with regards to how
I had handled the work, it is fair enough to assume that the chances appeared very slim.
All humans are bound by rational line of thought, but rational thoughts usually take a
backstage when a person is blinded by egocentrism as one starts basing their actions based
on factors most associated with the egocentric behavioral tendencies rather than contorting
towards a more rational approach because egocentric behavioral patterns appear to have
more weightage and significance over rational capabilities. However, with constant practise
one can get over their egocentric tendencies and embrace a more rational line of thought
consistently.
Sociocentric Analysis
Observing the same situation from a sociocentric point of view, it can be observed that,
unknowingly I have associated myself into a group quite different from which my manager
relates to. Paul and Elder (As cited in Critical Thinking, 2014) mention that “Each group to
which we belong imposes some level of conformity on us as a condition of acceptance. This
includes a set of beliefs, behaviors, and taboos.” (P. 231). I believe since I and my manager
do not conform to a similar group there has been a difference of opinion that has always
existed, rather than pushing on the subject of why my promotion was denied, it appears I
merely accepted the fact that as a supervisor my manager would only be very critical and
analytic about my work and would rather not agree with my promotion or my rise in pay as
is tradition with the general behaviour of their group.
Given the situation at hand, I believed that despite our best efforts our manager would not
be appreciative of our efforts as their job role entitled them to have a critical perspective of
us and this was further cemented when the group collectively was dissolved from the
process, leading an ethnocentric idea to cement its place firmly within our minds. As a group
since our efforts were responsible for increasing the accuracy of the process by a huge
margin, (Maharshi, 2023). This can further be confirmed in the way we expected to be a part
of the new group that was created after our process was dissolved and we were put into
different teams. We expected to be put into the team, since we had most experience
regarding the process and its developments. In this case if only the reason for the
dissolvement would have been communicated there wouldn’t have been such an ill feeling
harboured towards the manager, but since there was a lack of explanation and a lack of
communication from the higher ups, we can most probably attribute the similar experience
to that of the manager and their superiors, but given the scenario, it would have had a better
outcome had the clear reason for the dissolvement of the team been communicated with the
team members. This would have not let the team members leave with discontent while also
addressing their issues with regards to the process and the new team they were hiring with
regards to the same.
References
Kaushik Maharshi. (2023). Submission 1: A Dyadic Encounter. GMGT 7200, Critical and
Creative Thinking. University of Manitoba.
Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2014). Critical thinking: Tools for taking charge of your professional and
personal life (2nd edition). Rowman & Littlefield.