week 7 post 2

Class,

"Groupthink refers to decision-making groups’ extreme concurrence seeking (conformity) that is hypothesized to result in highly defective judgments and outcomes. According to Irving Janis, the inventor of the groupthink concept, decision-making groups are most likely to experience groupthink when they operate under the following conditions: maintain high cohesion, insulate themselves from experts, perform limited search and appraisal of information, operate under directive leadership, and experience conditions of high stress with low self-esteem and little hope of finding a better solution to a pressing problem than that favored by the leader or influential members." (Pratkanis, A. R., & Turner, M. E. (2007)) One memorable example would be Space Shuttle Challenger. I was young however, I remember the explosion vividly. The groupthink factors of the teams decisions to launch the shuttle even after several previous concerns for safety being expressed by he engineers. Had they listened there would have been no explosions and no lives lost.

Amanda Coughlin

Good afternoon class and Instructor Louis,

Groupthink is defined as: the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility or it is a phenomenon in which a group of individuals come to a consenus without critical reasoning or considering the consquences or alternatives. An example would be: the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster as well as the Bay of Pigs Invasion. It affect decisions by preserving the status quo rather than taking dissenting opinions into account. This can be toxic to teams as well as organizations. You can reduce groupthink by: including all participation from all employees involved in the decision. It also introduces alternatives in viewpoints that are used for discussion and it also rewards employees for vocalizing opinions that are outside the norm.

Thank you.

maria