Running head: WORKPLACE DISTRACTIONS 1

Workplace Distractions
Darryl Bourne

Grantham University















Workplace Distractions 2
Workplace Distractions
I work for the Veterans Administration agency in the Food and Nutrition department. The
following issues that I face on a daily basis in my work environment could be considered as
distractions to my ability to problem solve, to critically think and or communicate effectively:
Rudeness, incivility, offensiveness, profanity, vulgarity, impoliteness, discourtesy, diversity,
individual employee values, culture, gender, and work-ethics. Though they are disruptive in my
work environment, the latter five are not really of the same significance in the way of
distractions as are the first seven mentioned.
For me, problem solving and critical thinking are synonymous. Critical thinking in my
own words is the process of making, or the ability to make a knowledgeable, educated, informed
decision (a logical reasoning, thinking things through). I think that rudeness, incivility,
offensiveness, profanity, vulgarity, impoliteness, discourtesy are all just reflections of peoples
personalities and or learned behaviors which in no way diminish my ability to logically think
things through. My first experience with different cultures and ethnicities was in the military
where I learned to deal with diversity and the likes. The military taught me to improvise, adapt
and overcome.
On the other hand, the aforementioned distractions do however obstruct my
communication lines with others drastically. Sometimes diversity, individual employee values,
gender, cultural differences, and work-ethics make it hard to effectively communicate with other
co-workers.

Workplace Distractions 3
I have found that often times, everyone is not on the same accord with their values work ethics
and etc. Because we are all different and come from various different cultures and backgrounds,
some of these distractions like cultural differences and gender will just have to be tolerated in my
opinion.
In summation, I can neither completely reject nor defend the relevance of the distractions
in my work place or the impact that each has on my ability to be effective. I know the steps in
critical thinking which come naturally for me as they are a part of my daily problem solving
process.










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References

Reece, L. R. (2011, 2008). Effective Human Relations. (R. Brandt & K. Howie). Ohio: Cengage
Learning.

http://www.cengage.com