Writing to Become A More Effective Scholar

Why Leaders Should be Excellent in Critical Thinking
Introduction
Critical inquiry in writing requires one to be able to gather, process, and assess ideas and assumptions from multiple angles and perspectives. It requires that one have a high degree of curiosity, as critical thought cannot be engaged without asking questions and seeking as much information from multiple sources as possible to answer those questions. The goal of critical inquiry is produce well-reasoned arguments that can lead to more questions, answers, and ways of looking at the world. This paper will discuss the major constructs of critical inquiry. The major constructs are: 1) epistemological virtues, 2) worldview, 3) constructing logical arguments, 4) wisdom, 5) critical reading and writing, and 6) empirical research. It will describe how the writer’s own ideas of critical inquiry have progressed as well as issues and questions this paper have inspired. Finally, it will offer up an example of how critical inquiry can make the writer a more effective leader.
The Constructs of Critical Inquiry
Analyzing the constructs of critical inquiry is a helpful way for understanding the process more fully. Each construct represents an element of critical inquiry that assists the writer in thinking deeply both about himself and the information with which he is engaging. The writer must be aware of both the internals and the externals—i.e., himself as a repository of information and beliefs, and the rest of the outside world which often offers up contrasting or conflicting pools of information and ideas.
Epistemological Virtues
The virtue of right thinking is what is meant by epistemological virtues (Halpern, 2014). Every individual is susceptible to his own thoughts, beliefs, impulses, prejudices, and ways of engaging with data. If he is in the habit of being fair towards others, his thinking will reflect this; if he is in the habit of being intolerant, inflexible, hasty and arrogant, these vices will also be reflected in his pattern of thought. In order to be virtuous in one’s thinking, one must have intellectual honesty, and that cannot be had unless it exists within one’s character (Wood, 1998). This is why Kristjansson (2014) has stressed the importance of character education rooted in Aristotelianism as the foundation of all true learning.
Worldview
Worldview refers simply to the way in which one looks at the world. One will be pre-disposed to have a philosophy of life, a framework that enables one to interpret the facts and findings that he gathers by way of his senses: this is his worldview (Sire, 2015). One’s worldview is important to consider and to discuss in one’s writing not only because it assists one in bracketing out bias but also because it informs the reader as to how the writer is engaging with the facts to be discussed. The more information the reader has regarding the writer’s own framework for analysis, the better able the reader will be to assess the writer’s report.
Constructing Logical Arguments
Constructing logical arguments refers to the writer’s ability to define a premise, build upon it, and arrive at a conclusion without contradicting himself or relying on assumptions that are unsupported or that invalidate the argument (Bryman, 2012). Arguments should always be logical in one’s writing; that is, the reader should be able to easily follow one argument to the next, one line of reasoning to the next line of reasoning, without difficulty. If the reader feels taxed by one’s arguments, the argument itself will appear to be weak and fallible and the writing will suffer as a result. To be persuasive, on must rely upon reason and logic. Every great transformational leader, for example, understands the importance of being able to explain to followers why a change is necessary in an organization: using reason and logic to justify the change wins more followers over to the leader’s side than any other method because human beings are fundamentally rational and interested in understanding why things are the way they are (Boa, 2007).
Wisdom
Wisdom is the understanding required to see holistically, comprehensively and truly. It requires the ability of using both inductive and deductive reasoning, of being able to intuit and infer. There is a spiritual component to wisdom that comes from meditation and contemplation. It is a quality of recollecting in peace without disturbance, of accepting the mystery without rejecting the use of reason or rushing to make an impulsive or erroneous error in one’s conclusions. As Nicolae, Ion and Nicolae (2013) point out, wisdom should be part of the spirit of leadership.
Critical Reading and Writing
Critical reading and writing depends upon one’s ability to think critically, that is to say to be curious about the world, to ask questions, and to gather information from varying sources. It requires setting aside bias and engaging with information in an objective manner. It requires a holistic approach to the world. To see things from one angle or side is not to be critical but rather to be limited. To read and to write critically means to discern shortcomings as well as positives. Critical reading and writing skills assist in the development of one’s own use of language (Swan, 2005).
Empirical Research
Empirical research is research that is evidence-based. It is typically quantitative in that it allows one to statistically represent data; however, qualitative research can also be empirical, though some argue that qualitative research tends to be more subjective than objective and thus less empirical than quantitative. Empirical research tends to begin with a hypothesis, which may be tested in a trial, and then evaluated (Bryman, 2012). Some empirical research may begin with a question only and then concluded with a hypothesis based on the evidence acquired. Empirical research builds on previous research, and so for example if one’s study concludes with a new hypothesis future research can test that hypothesis in a study of its own.
How the Writer’s Ideas of Critical Inquiry Have Progressed
Ideas of critical inquiry have progressed within the writer in a straight-forward manner. In the beginning, it was the writer’s understanding that to be critical meant only that one should adopt a criticizing posture and point out the flaws in the arguments or styles of others. However, as the writer began to understand more fully the process of critical inquiry he began to see that there is more to it than that. He saw that critical inquiry first and foremost begins with oneself.
To be critical with oneself one must conduct a long examination of one’s own views and how one’s own habits in life affect one’s thinking. Reflection is essential, and the writer undertook several sessions of reflection that gradually allowed him to see how his own approach to life impacted his ability to engage in critical inquiry. By being resistant to other opinions and relying on pre-conceived notions out of laziness and self-centeredness, the writer made himself immune to critical inquiry. It was only upon abandoning this wayward approach to life that the writer began to see more clearly what it means to actually be critical.
The writer saw that being critical is not just about identifying the negative qualities of others, but rather that it is about being fair, impartial, honest (both with himself and with that which is being critiqued), and most importantly being curious. A critic who is not curious is no critic at all. How can he be? To critique something one must have an interest in the thing first of all, but he must also have an interest in himself and in the world beyond the thing being critiqued. All things being related, it matters that this curiosity be there on the macro level because it is this curiosity that allows one to focus on the micro and see how it applies to the macro and vice versa.
However, it is also important to understand one’s own worldview, and this became apparent to the writer as he struggled with fitting pieces together and making sense of the whole. As Halpern (2014) states, “If we cannot think intelligently about the myriad of issues that confront us, then we are in danger of having all of the answers, but still not knowing what they mean” (p. 12). The solution to this problem is to know how to learn, and this facilitates the process of knowing how to think clearly.
The writer therefore had to learn what it means to learn correctly. In one’s schooling one is often asked to memorize and to learn by rote. This does not assist in critical thinking, however. Instead of actually engaging with the material one just accepts everything blindly with the intention of spitting it back out at the teacher when the time comes for a test. Then the information is jettisoned from the mind to make room for new information that will sit in its place for a short time till the process is repeated.
Real learning requires engagement and active learning is the best approach to take. It allows one to be challenged and to challenge others right back. It allows one to get involved with the information, to ask questions, seek answers, to be wrong, to search more deeply, and to develop an idea. It teaches one to learn by formulating a worldview, a sense of the way things are. To do this the writer had to engage in character education; he had to formulate his worldview and judge for himself how things stood with the world and why. Rather than simply accepting everything he had been taught, he had to go over it all again and ask whether these things were true, i.e., whether they corresponded with reality, or whether he was simply accepting information blindly with no way to validate it in his own experiences.
For the writer, the best practice of critical inquiry that he has developed is to constantly reassess his worldview in the light of new information to make sure he is not proceeding through incomplete understanding. New information can change the way one sees the whole because it can explain things more deeply. For this writer, being open to change and new ideas is an essential best practice for critical inquiry.
Issues, Questions and Inspired Ideas
The issues, questions and inspired ideas this writer intends to investigate as a result of this work pertain the realm of how worldviews are formed. One of the more interesting approaches to understanding has been put forward by the Frankfurt School and is critical theory. Adorno and Horkheimer (2007) for example developed their idea of the culture industry by proceeding from a post-Marxist point of view in which they sought to understand why the revolution of the working class failed to materialize. They looked at what the working class was doing, how it seemed satisfied with what it had, and how the ruling class or elite class used the instruments of culture to satiate the working class and keep it satisfied.
Understanding the way culture influences people and the decisions they make, and where culture comes from in the first place, is important for any writer, and it is in this direction that this writer seeks to go. The major issue at present in society is the question of culture and what it means and what type of culture people should have. There is a politically-correct culture that some people want, and then there is a politically incorrect culture that others would like to have. There are religious subcultures and counter-cultures and other takes on culture. Why do these cultures exist, and where did they come from? These are important questions for this writer.
One of the inspired ideas of this writer is to examine his own culture so as to see how it has changed not just over the course of his own life but also over the course of decades and centuries. This will require a great deal of reflection and historical research but it is important to do because it can help to deepen the writer’s understanding of both himself and the world. One reason for this is that cultures do not exist in a vacuum but rather interact with other cultures. So doing a deep dive of one’s own culture should allow one to understand other cultures as well and to be able to think more critically on the subject of culture overall.
It is important to understand culture because it plays such a big part in how people think and act. The world is culturally diverse and most organizations today want leaders who are culturally competent—i.e., who understand other cultures and know how to interact in a positive way with people of diverse backgrounds. For this writer, the best place to start in becoming culturally competent is to understand his own culture and see how it has developed.
Once this foundation of understanding has been acquired it should be a simple process of building on it by looking at the ways in which other cultures have come about including the modern culture that has been characterized as the culture industry by Adorno and Horkheimer (2007). The idea of a culture industry at work today is both fascinating and somewhat horrifying, and it makes for intriguing research. The inspiration to examine culture in general stems from this writer’s exposure to the arguments of Adorno and Horkheimer (2007) and their explanation of the culture industry. It would be interesting to see what others have to say about the Frankfurt School so as to have more perspectives to process.
Commitments
This writer is committed to being a better leader as a result of this work by being more of a critical thinker in his organization. The best leaders are those who want to learn, who want to acquire information, who want more than one perspective, and who are open to new ideas. They are engaged, active learners, and they operate on the front lines, listening to and hearing what others are saying, and developing a comprehensive view of what the world outside the organization is presenting that might require the organization to make adjustments.
Critical thinkers make decisions by understanding the problems that one faces and then gathering the information that can be used to help make a decision regarding that problem. A leader who makes decisions without going through this process is one who will be ineffective as a problem solver. Leaders should not proceed from a pre-conceived bias. It is okay to have a worldview, but the leader should be in the habit of re-assessing the worldview based on information that comes along.
The writer’s goal is to be the best leader possible, and this means having the humility to engage in self-reflection and being able to re-assess his own worldview all along the way. Leaders who want to inspire change in others should be able to embrace change within themselves as well. Leaders should not allow themselves to get stuck in ruts when they become inflexible and rigid in their outlooks. Organizations that never change or innovate become stagnant over time and that is the fault of a stagnant leader who never grows or develops.
The writer seeks to become a more powerful leader by being attentive to change, by understanding what changes are coming and how to prepare for them. Part of being an innovative leader is being at the forefront of change—i.e., instead of reacting to change, one is the proponent of change. One causes or triggers the changes that then impact an industry or a workplace.
Change should not be something arbitrarily pursued but rather something that makes an organization better. It is the same with personal change and growth. Changes that are made willy-nilly without critical thought are not necessarily going to have any positive or lasting effects. They may allow for exploration and provide data for self-reflection, but there should be purpose to change beyond this. Change should have a goal in mind. There should be a reason for change.
That is why understanding the role that logic and reason play in critical inquiry is so important as a leader. People want to know why they are doing things, why they are asked to make changes, and why the proposed change is going to be better for all stakeholders. If the why cannot be answered logically, there are not going to be any supporters of the change. Change is often difficult; it causes people to have to think differently about how they do things; it requires them to make mental or physical adjustments. People get into habits and routines and fly on autopilot on most days once they become accustomed to a particular way of life and work. Change disrupts all that. But change is necessary. If people and organizations do not change and grow, they wilt and die. Being the best possible leader means recognizing the fact that change is essential and that change has to be rooted in a solid understanding of one’s environment, what one is capable of doing, what needs to be done, what the information says is possible, and getting everyone to agree that this is the best way forward.
Conclusion
Leadership is something that no one can demonstrate effectively without the ability to engage in critical inquiry. Writing to be a scholar assists in the process of developing one’s critical inquiry skills by enabling one to think critically, to reflect on one’s own perspective and worldview, to develop the virtues necessary for honest assessment, to construct logical arguments, to exercise wisdom and to engage in empirical research. Each of these actions is essential for critical thought, and the ability to be a critical thinker assists in leadership. Leaders have to be able to explain to others why they are taking the path they are on. Followers want reasons and answers. If they are being asked to make changes, they want to know why. A leader who cannot give those answers is not going to be followed. A leader who lacks information and insight into a situation is going to be ignored. A leader who does the critical inquiry and communicates his findings is one who will win over followers at the end of the day.
References
Adorno, T. & Horkheimer, M. (2007). The culture industry: Enlightenment as mass deception. Stardom and celebrity: A reader, 34.
Boa, K. (2007). Handbook to leadership. Atlanta, GA: Trinity House Publishers, Inc.
Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods 5th Edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.
Halpern, D. F. (2014). Thought and knowledge: An introduction to critical thinking, 5th edition. New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Kristjánsson, K. (2014). There is Something About Aristotle: The Pros and Cons of A ristotelianism in Contemporary Moral Education. Journal of philosophy of education, 48(1), 48-68.
Nicolae, M., Ion, I., & Nicolae, E. (2013). The research agenda of spiritual leadership. Where do we stand? Review of International Comparative Management, 14(4), 551-566.
Sire, J. (2015) Naming the elephant: Worldview as a concept. Downers Grove, IL:InterVarsity Press.
Swan, M. (2005). Practical English usage. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Wood, W. J. (1998). Epistemology: Becoming intellectually virtuous. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.