Groupthink in team decision-making and organizational behavior

Groupthink Team

Groupthink

Unfortunately, groupthink can cause the individual can often not retain their ability to think critically within a group setting. The research shows that groupthink occurs when "members of a group (or the entire group itself) begin to make faulty decisions due to the presumed pressures that result in collaboration" within a group setting (Woodward & Edwards 2010). Under the high influence and pressure of the group, many individuals may make decisions they would have otherwise avoided on their own. There are a number of examples of groupthink within current society and life that can attest to the negative power of the psychological power the group wields over the individual.

Example

The United States created a new precedent when then President Bush declared war on the nation of Iraq, when the country had not taken blatant obvious military action against the U.S. prior to the decision. Before this action, the United States had a long standing policy of not striking unless stricken.

Known as the Monroe Doctrine, the United States could not declare war without first been having been a victim first. Yet, the Bush agency pushed for a declaration of war against Iraq without an attack taking place against the United States.

This is an example of groupthink because members of the Bush agency were able to manipulate the possibility of Iraq having nuclear weapons without exact evidence. Those who spoke out against assumptions that Sadam Hussein was a direct danger tended to be ostracized in Congress.

Many government officials were pressured into agreeing with the decision despite a lack of support from many crucial countries within the international community.

Thus, "the decision to rush war in Iraq before broad-based coalition of allies could be built has placed the U.S. In an inevitable military situation in Iraq that is costly in terms of military deaths, casualties, diplomatic standing in the world, and economically" (PsySR 2011). Groupthink pushed the decision forward, despite the lack of evidence and support from the majority of friendly international allies.

Example 2

There are also examples of groupthink that stem from our everyday experiences as well. For example, when an individual chooses a behavioral mode that requires a mode of self-censorship in order to better align with the group decision that is an example of groupthink (Woodward & Edwards 2010).

A more specific example of this could be an individual refraining from expressing doubts or concerns during a meeting where a new strategy is being introduced.

The individual may have knowledge and examples for how a particular strategy may not work, whether it is marketing or operational. Still, because the group is in unison with the decision, they may refrain from expressing their opinion.

The actual doubt may later come to fruition, causing the organization money and resources.

This helps show how detrimental groupthink can be in terms of organizational health, considering if the individual would have spoken up and directly announced their opposition and evidence to the suggested strategy, the disaster of execution could have been easily avoided.

Example 3

Finally, there is the example of groupthink that unfortunately helped cause the death of hundreds of thousands of people across Europe. No one country can be labeled as evil, and as such it is clear that not all German citizens during World War II would have supported the horrid actions of the Nazi regime if it was not in part of the influence of groupthink.

It is clear that "there are several symptoms of groupthink: illusion of invulnerability, belief in group's own morality, shared stereotypes, collective rationalization, self-censorship, illusion of unanimity, and mind guards," all were experienced by the German people during the Nazi regime (Ricara 2012).