¶ … leadership within the education field -- will be presented. Groupthink: How to Recognize Groupthink and How to prevent it

Groupthink is a problem that many teachers' organizations have to deal with. In educational settings, managers and administrators have to be wary of groupthink, which is a situation that occurs when team members are too eager to go along with ideas and proposals. When a principal offers a policy idea and no one questions it or offers additional ideas, that is a sure sign that team members are not challenging ideas but rather they are just going along for the ride.

Ironically groupthink can occur when there has been a "high level of agreement and cohesiveness" among the team members. Previous chapters extolled the positive idea of team members working cohesively and constructively. But wait. If the group (whether teachers, coaches, counselors or others) is too willing to go along with any proposal, and there is no diversity among the team members to challenge the status quo, groupthink can creep in.

Also, when the team is "isolated from sources of information"...

And if the group sees "togetherness" as more vital than coming up with the best possible alternative to any given proposal, they will be falling into the groupthink trap. For example, if a teacher's organization (say, the social studies department) does not challenge ideas presented by the principal or the district superintendent, and simply goes along in fear of causing a delay or upsetting the apple cart, they can be accused of groupthink.
There are ways offered by the author to overcome groupthink or to prevent it in the first place. If the team would use the scientific method -- collecting data and objectively studying that data to "help understand the nature and potential causes of the problem" -- rather than just going by generalizations and conceptual narratives by leaders, they would be more apt to come to a point where questioning and investigating are important. Also, all options should be listed so one-by-one the team members could go down the list and evaluate those possible alternative choices. Two additional ways to avoid…