Groupthink Is A Concurrence
GROUPTHINK THEORY
Groupthink is a concurrence-seeking tendency that can deter collective decision-making processes and lead to poor decisions that induce fiascos, (Janis, 1972, 1982). Janis (1972) defined groupthink as "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for agreement override their motivation to realistically review alternative courses of action. Janis listed eight symptoms of group think:
Illusions of invulnerability, Collective Rationalization, Belief in Inherent morality of the group,
Out – Group Stereotypes, Direct Pressure on Dissenters, Self – Censorship, Illusions of unanimity and Self – Appointed Mind Guards. The first two stem from overconfidence in the group‟s power. The next pair reflects the limited vision, members use to view the problem and the last four are signs of strong compliance pressure from within the group. Janis prescribed three antecedent conditions to groupthink: High group cohesiveness, Structural faults such as lack of impartial leadership, and Situational context which may be highly stressful external threats. The groupthink phenomenon seems to rest on a set of assumptions, these are; The purpose of group problem solving is mainly to improve decision quality, Group problem solving is considered a rational process, group problem solving brings in a variety of perspectives, more information about possible alternatives, better decision reliability and dampening of biases, group think is considered to prevent these benefits
According to Janis, decision making groups are not necessarily destined to groupthink. He devised ways of preventing group thinking these were; Leaders should assign each member the role of "critical evaluator". This allows each member to freely air objections and doubts, Leaders should not express an opinion when assigning a task to a group, Leaders should absent themselves from many of the group meetings to avoid excessively
Groupthink is a concurrence-seeking tendency that can deter collective decision-making processes and lead to poor decisions that induce fiascos, (Janis, 1972, 1982). Janis (1972) defined groupthink as "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for agreement override their motivation to realistically review alternative courses of action. Janis listed eight symptoms of group think:
Illusions of invulnerability, Collective Rationalization, Belief in Inherent morality of the group,
Out – Group Stereotypes, Direct Pressure on Dissenters, Self – Censorship, Illusions of unanimity and Self – Appointed Mind Guards. The first two stem from overconfidence in the group‟s power. The next pair reflects the limited vision, members use to view the problem and the last four are signs of strong compliance pressure from within the group. Janis prescribed three antecedent conditions to groupthink: High group cohesiveness, Structural faults such as lack of impartial leadership, and Situational context which may be highly stressful external threats. The groupthink phenomenon seems to rest on a set of assumptions, these are; The purpose of group problem solving is mainly to improve decision quality, Group problem solving is considered a rational process, group problem solving brings in a variety of perspectives, more information about possible alternatives, better decision reliability and dampening of biases, group think is considered to prevent these benefits
According to Janis, decision making groups are not necessarily destined to groupthink. He devised ways of preventing group thinking these were; Leaders should assign each member the role of "critical evaluator". This allows each member to freely air objections and doubts, Leaders should not express an opinion when assigning a task to a group, Leaders should absent themselves from many of the group meetings to avoid excessively