Groupthink

Have you ever been in a meeting when you didn’t agree with the general consensus of the group? Maybe as a group a decision was made that just didn’t sit right with you. Maybe others shared your concerns. Did you speak up, risk conflict and put forward your point of view?

Most of us have been in this situation and at some point we have kept our opinions to ourselves, usually to keep the peace, maintain our ‘professionalism’ or to not risk our standing within our peer group. This is groupthink. And this is what caused some well known blunders in history; the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the Bay of Pigs fiasco for example.

More detailed information on groupthink can be found here.

Groupthink can result in some very poor decision making within a business context. As such it is important to know what it is and how it can be overcome. My personal view is that groupthink is a result of human nature and can only be curbed through proactive leadership. It’s the responsibility of the leader (i.e. group leader, manager, chair, etc.) to understand groupthink, its consequences, its causes and methods of minimising the risk of it occurring. It is the leader’s responsibility to create an environment where groupthink will not take place – anything less is simply a leadership failure.