What is Group Think?
I do some of my best thinking in the shower and this morning I was pondering the dilemma one of my client companies is facing. They are experiencing one of the most dramatic cases of group think.
What is Group Think? To answer the question, “What is Group Think,” you really have to examine the human thought process. Group Think is a method of thought: a way of thinking performed by a group of individuals in an effort to curtail discord and to arrive at a sense of accord or agreement. During the Group Think process, individuals will test, analyze and evaluate the group ideas under examination.
Yet, the answer to “What is Group Think” is even more complex than the latter definition. Group Think, while at first seemingly positive because group members work together toward a common and acceptable outcome, actually has a serious disadvantage. William H. Whyte established the phrase “Group Think” in 1952 to describe a group thinking process that disallows the promotion of uncomfortable views – this can prove to be disadvantageous to single group members or to the entire group as a whole because the suppression of viewpoints can result in a rationalized conformity.
The Group Think mindset can occur for a number of different reasons and the closer group members are, the more apt the group is to partake in the group thinking process. Symptoms of the group think process include the suppression of negative points of view for the sake of group unity, the isolation of the group from other individuals with diverse opinions from those held by the group, and the quiet acceptance of overzealous leadership. Other symptoms of group thinking include an unquestioning attitude toward group decisions, the formation of stereotypical beliefs, and the closing off of oneself to ideas that do not support the group’s general thinking.
Alright, I am out of the shower now and I am listening to Anderson Cooper’s 360 daily podcast and I hear him report on many daily events but one keyword caught my attention…Loyalty. He was referring to the loyalty George Bush demands of his staff and the danger it has created by not allowing dissenting views on particularly (but I am sure not limited to) the situation in Iraq. Now I am all for loyalty but when you are sacrificing the truth, are you really being loyal or are you just being deceitful? I am not that smart but it seems pretty self-evident. Ergo, Group Think sacrifices one of the highest universal principles in favor of a corrupted misnaming of a organizational disease.
In the end, the answer to what is group think is that it is a form of thinking that should be avoided, instead a group should strive to establish an atmosphere conducive to diverse ideas and forms of expression.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
