Final Groupthink And Decision Making

Decision-making is fundamentally the process of making a choice from a number of alternatives and it has three levels which are individual, group and organizational (Buchanan, 2010). Nowadays, more and more organization use group decision-making and the benefit of group decision-making is that groups offer the advantages of a greater pool of knowledge, different perspectives, greater problem comprehension and increased acceptance of decision (Hill, 1982). While, it is the very strengths of a group that is also its weaknesses, the cost of bringing individuals together in one place counters the benefits of getting contributions from supposedly independent minds. A number of problems will be examined: group polarization, groupthink, brainstorming and escalation of commitment. In this essay, it will focus on groupthink and firstly will give the definition and then talk about symptoms, give some examples about how groupthink make decision false and give some ideas about how to prevent it and finally give a conclusion.
According to Janis (1982), groupthink is a condition that occurs when group member’s primary drive is to achieve group satisfaction, resulting in overconfidence and a lack of critical thinking. The group’s desire to strive for consensus overrides their motivation to explore alternative options. Janis identifies a number of specific symptoms of groupthink. Firstly, there is an illusion of invulnerability with excessive optimism and risk-taking. Secondly, the discounting r discrediting of negative feedback which contradicts group consensus results in rationalization in order to explain away any disagreeable information. Next, an unquestioned belief in the inherent morality of the group which leads members to be convinced of the logical correctness of what it is doing and to ignore ethical or moral consequences of decisions. Fourthly, the group’s desire to maintain consensus can lead to negative stereotyping of opponents or people outside the group, or to