Chapter summary format and content guidelines

¶ … 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" that might lead to a lack of additional ideas, the authors explains. 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 groupthink would be: a) to make brainstorming a part of each decision making process prior to making action plans; and b) leaders of teams should not state their opinions until the rest of the team has had a chance to discuss options.

Dealing with Conflict within the Group

There will always be some level of conflict in an educational setting, but it cannot be allowed to interview with the learning that should be ongoing. When one team member is particularly angry or upset and his or her behavior is consistently causing a distraction, there are methods of dealing with this person without having to stop the progress that is being made. The team leader could take the troubled or disruptive person into a private conversation and not be necessarily pushy or belligerent but the leader can be direct with the person and see if that works. "As a last resort, the team leader may deal with the offending behavior in the presence of the team," the authors suggest, albeit this will be a distraction for the whole team. If there is no noticeable improvement in the conflicting person's behavior, he perhaps should be asked to leave the team although this could create more problems.