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How Does Groupthink Affect Decision Making in an Organasation.

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How Does Groupthink Affect Decision Making in an Organasation.
MZUZU UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OFEDUCATION AND TEACHING STUDIES ASIGNMENT NUMBER TWO

FROM : FRANCES SIMWINGA
REG. NUMBER : BAE/2A/169/10
TO : DR. D.M. NDENGU (PhD)
COURSE : SOCIAL PSCHOLOGY
COURSE CODE : ETS 3502
TASK : MOST OF THE DECISIONS MADE AT MEETINGS CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO GROUPTHINK. FROM WHAT YOU HAVE READ IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, HOW DOES GROUPTHINK AFFECT DECISION MAKING IN AN ORGANISATION THAT YOU KNOW?

DUE: 14th JUNE, 2013.
HOW DOES GROUPTHINK AFFECT DECISION MAKING IN AN ORGANASATION.
Colman(2001) in a dictionary of psychology defines groupthink as “ a collective pattern of defensive avoidance , characteristic of a group decision making in organisations in which group members develop rationalisations in supporting illusions of their own infallibility and invulnerability within the organisation .”p. 318. It entails that there is more of concurrence than critical thinking when making decisions in an organisation. This article will discuss how groupthink can affect decision making in an organisation such as school, political party and airtel (Business Company).
Groupthink can cause poor performance or even failure to achieve the organisations objectives. Its tendency of seeking concurrence can for example make a wrong decision triumph (Shepherd, 1964). For instance, a cafeteria committee can change the supplier of food stuffs. If the group does not objectively consider the decision may end up selecting poor food stuffs that may be unhealthy to the students. Coon and Mitterer (2007) state that the urge to make such decisions may arise from the need to maintain others approval even at the cost of critical thinking. In apolitical party groupthink results in poor allocation of resources. For example, parties spend a great deal of resources of University Party Wings at the expense of the



Bibliography: Abercrombie, M. L. J. (1980). “Small groups.” In Foss, M.B. (1980). New horizons in psychology. London: Penguin Books. Bernstein, A.D. and Nash, W.P. (2008). Essentials of psychology 4th Ed. I Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company Brown, R Colman, A.M. (2001). A dictionary of psychology. New York: Oxford University Press. Coon, D. And Mitterer, O. (2007). An introduction to psychology: gateways to mind and behaviour. Belmont: Wadsworth. Gage, N.L. and Berliner, C.D. (1998). Educational psychology 6th Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Groupthink University of Twente. Retrieved on 27 May, 2013 from http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/theoryclusters/organizationalcommunic ation/groupthink.doc/[->0] Levine, M.J Pligt, J. (1996). “Judgement and decision making.” In Semin, R.G. and Fiedler, K. Eds. (1996). Applied social psychology. London: Sage Publications Limited. Shepherd, R.C. (1964). Small groups: Some sociological perspectives. San Francisco: Chandler Publishing Company. Weiten, W. (2007). Psychology: themes and variations 7th Whyte, G

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