A500.1.5.RB_MaceRoyce
Intellectual perseverance according to the Foundation for Critical Thinking (2013) is, "Having a consciousness of the need to use intellectual insights and truths in spite of difficulties, obstacles, and frustrations; firm adherence to rational principles despite the irrational opposition of others; a sense of the need to struggle with confusion and unsettled questions over an extended period of time to achieve deeper understanding or insight".
Intellectual perseverance will be important to my studies as I transition into the graduate level. I will be expected to think critically about many different items that may not fully make sense at first, but through intellectual perseverance should eventually be comprehensible. In order to become a strong leader, one must utilize critical thinking and intellectual perseverance in order to understand the "in-betweens" or the gaps that present themselves in trying to conceptualize a topic. Mastering this will allow us, as leaders, to fill in any gaps that must be filled to ensure the "smooth running" of our respective organizations.
For example, if there were a recurring problem in my day job as an air traffic controller, it would behoove me to utilize a mixture of critical thinking and intellectual perseverance to identify the problem and come up with a viable solution. This is what leaders in their fields do and this is what excites me about becoming a leader in the air traffic control community. Specifically, many problems develop in the aviation field as human factors present themselves on a regular basis. The lack of understanding of these factors can be frustrating to many within my career field and have even been frustrating to myself at times. By utilizing my past studies (B.S. in Aeronautics), personal work experiences, and understanding of critical thinking and intellectual perseverance, making management and leadership decisions will be more effective and efficent when it comes to human factors and other aviation and/or personnel related problems.
I can illustrate this point by confidently talking about how critical thinkers of the aviation community utilized intellectual perseverance to solve a recent problem. It has recently been highlighted by the news that a study has been conducted which discovered that air traffic controllers were not getting adequate rest in preparation for their shifts. According to the Journal Times Editorial Board (2015), "NASA researchers warned the Federal Aviation Administration nearly four years ago that air traffic controllers’ schedules lead to chronic fatigue and undermine safety. The FAA had kept the NASA study secret".
While this warning occurred nearly four years ago, critical thinking and intellectual perseverance must be practiced and maintained to adequately address the problem. Doing anything less could damage the FAA and subsequently the safety of air passengers. Every aspect of this study had to be carefully thought about and approached with caution and understanding. While likely frustrating for FAA leadership who wanted to solve the problem quickly, knowing that missing steps in the problem solving process or utilizing a "knee jerk" reaction could hurt the very administration that keeps all air traffic in the U.S. safe. This realization was enough for them to address this problem nearly four years after the first warnings from NASA in which the FAA has recently changed their rest policies and hired more controllers to mitigate a problem identified so long ago.
While most would criticize the actions of the FAA as not being quick enough, I would remind those critics that a decision to solve this problem is no easy task. Many personnel must be taken into account when making any decision this large. Any lack of critical thinking in this decision could be catastrophic to say the least. The gaps must be filled on many levels. Overall, FAA officials kept their business "in-house" as to not allow outside influence on their decision and made the tough decision to analyze all options before acting. We won't know immediately if they made the right or wrong decision too soon or too late, but one thing that can almost always be agreed upon by all critical thinkers is that quick decisions of this magnitude typically don't turn out well for organizations.
References
Foundation for Critical Thinking (2013). Valuable Intellectual Traits. Retrieved from http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/valuable-intellectual-traits/528
Jounal Times Editorial Board. (2015, August 16). Journal Times Editorial: Air Traffic Controller Fatigue Threatens Safety. Retrieved from http://journaltimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/journal- times-editorial-air-traffic-controller-fatigue-threatens-safety/article_85fd2ed6-4cc9-5c28-bc9d- 3bff8e574ad5.html
Intellectual perseverance will be important to my studies as I transition into the graduate level. I will be expected to think critically about many different items that may not fully make sense at first, but through intellectual perseverance should eventually be comprehensible. In order to become a strong leader, one must utilize critical thinking and intellectual perseverance in order to understand the "in-betweens" or the gaps that present themselves in trying to conceptualize a topic. Mastering this will allow us, as leaders, to fill in any gaps that must be filled to ensure the "smooth running" of our respective organizations.
For example, if there were a recurring problem in my day job as an air traffic controller, it would behoove me to utilize a mixture of critical thinking and intellectual perseverance to identify the problem and come up with a viable solution. This is what leaders in their fields do and this is what excites me about becoming a leader in the air traffic control community. Specifically, many problems develop in the aviation field as human factors present themselves on a regular basis. The lack of understanding of these factors can be frustrating to many within my career field and have even been frustrating to myself at times. By utilizing my past studies (B.S. in Aeronautics), personal work experiences, and understanding of critical thinking and intellectual perseverance, making management and leadership decisions will be more effective and efficent when it comes to human factors and other aviation and/or personnel related problems.
I can illustrate this point by confidently talking about how critical thinkers of the aviation community utilized intellectual perseverance to solve a recent problem. It has recently been highlighted by the news that a study has been conducted which discovered that air traffic controllers were not getting adequate rest in preparation for their shifts. According to the Journal Times Editorial Board (2015), "NASA researchers warned the Federal Aviation Administration nearly four years ago that air traffic controllers’ schedules lead to chronic fatigue and undermine safety. The FAA had kept the NASA study secret".
While this warning occurred nearly four years ago, critical thinking and intellectual perseverance must be practiced and maintained to adequately address the problem. Doing anything less could damage the FAA and subsequently the safety of air passengers. Every aspect of this study had to be carefully thought about and approached with caution and understanding. While likely frustrating for FAA leadership who wanted to solve the problem quickly, knowing that missing steps in the problem solving process or utilizing a "knee jerk" reaction could hurt the very administration that keeps all air traffic in the U.S. safe. This realization was enough for them to address this problem nearly four years after the first warnings from NASA in which the FAA has recently changed their rest policies and hired more controllers to mitigate a problem identified so long ago.
While most would criticize the actions of the FAA as not being quick enough, I would remind those critics that a decision to solve this problem is no easy task. Many personnel must be taken into account when making any decision this large. Any lack of critical thinking in this decision could be catastrophic to say the least. The gaps must be filled on many levels. Overall, FAA officials kept their business "in-house" as to not allow outside influence on their decision and made the tough decision to analyze all options before acting. We won't know immediately if they made the right or wrong decision too soon or too late, but one thing that can almost always be agreed upon by all critical thinkers is that quick decisions of this magnitude typically don't turn out well for organizations.
References
Foundation for Critical Thinking (2013). Valuable Intellectual Traits. Retrieved from http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/valuable-intellectual-traits/528
Jounal Times Editorial Board. (2015, August 16). Journal Times Editorial: Air Traffic Controller Fatigue Threatens Safety. Retrieved from http://journaltimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/journal- times-editorial-air-traffic-controller-fatigue-threatens-safety/article_85fd2ed6-4cc9-5c28-bc9d- 3bff8e574ad5.html
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