All entries for Thursday 17 March 2011

Groupthink

In the decisions that we made as a team, I think groupthink played a role at some points. There were these times when one of our group member had a good idea but the group thought otherwise and eventually the person had to go along with the group. There was also a time when the group rejected a person's point of view at first and but after some time, and gaining more knowledge about the topic, the group realized that the person was right. Also there was one time when I thought that the idea and argument of one of our group member was very valid but I didn't speak up as the rest of the group was not in favour of that idea.

I think that groupthink plays a crucial role in the decisions that we make and it is difficult to avoid it. The groupthink can act as a major impedement in good decision making and it could devoid the group of some very good ideas and thoughts. Maybe by giving one person the responsibility to act as a mitigator in the group, some of the harmful effects of groupthink can be avoided. That person can monitor the proceedings in the meetings of the group and can make sure that the dominance of the group is not leading to the rejection of some useful and important ideas.   

: 17 Mar 2011 14:40 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem