Critical Thinking and Decision MakingThe aim of this article is to explain critical thinking and decision making using different examples and models, and to show how they are used in daily life. Everyone uses critical thinking and decision-making all the time, mostly unrecognized and unintentionally, and it starts from waking up in the morning until bedtime. There are three elements to every decision made: 1. Criteria – the standards by which decision makers evaluate alternatives. 2. Alternatives – specific courses of action or options, considered “positions”. 3. Cause-and-effect beliefs – cause-and-effect beliefs are cognitions linking specific alternatives to specific criteria. These are often called alternative models, theories, hypotheses, beliefs, or attributes (Scholl, 1999). The reason for illustrating the hierarchy structure in cooking is necessary to understand how certain decisions can affect many areas and how critical thinking is necessary and used by everyone involved in the restaurant business. The structure of a restaurant is very complex and it is anyone's guess how everything can be accomplished. Without critical thinking and some sort of decision-making model, nothing would be accomplished. In a kitchen, there are many people organized in a military-style hierarchy for good reason. The aim is to explain the structure, operation and importance of a hotel restaurant kitchen and its employees, starting at the top, from the executive chef down to the chef. dishwashers and cooks. A chart showing this hierarchy follows. The executive chef and executive steward are at the top of this pyramid and together they run the kitchen and oversee its o...... middle of paper ......st was 18% that month, in average, it is 24%. In this article, I have given many examples of critical thinking and decision making in different situations, using examples, references and a flowchart. As I've explained, critical thinking and decision-making are used daily by everyone at home and at work. Some decisions are made consistently every day and some decisions are made in the moment. You can't put your shoes on before your socks. Without these characteristics, life is made difficult.ReferencesBourdain A. (July 2002) Management by fire: A conversation with Chef Anthony Bourdain Harvard Business review, 80, 7 Web. March 25, 2015.http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=3081&t=leadershipScholl, R. (October 2, 1999) Professor of Management, University of Rhode IslandWeb. March 25, 2015.http://www.cba.uri.edu/Scholl/Notes/Decision_Making_Models.htm