Group Think

In the last byte, we looked at the criteria one could use to make between group and individual decision making. In today's byte, we look at the concept of group think.

As mentioned earlier, one of the liabilities any group decision making process could get into is that of "Groupthink". This is really a dysfunctional process! 

Group Think could be understood as a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment resulting from pressures within the group! - This was the concept developed by Irving Janis. 

There are some conditions that favor group think. One of these is the cohesiveness of the group. In cohesive groups, it is common to find a solidarity amongst its members - in such a scenario, these members wouldn’t raise their voice against the group's general opinion as they risk going against the solidarity of the team!

Another instance where group think could play a role is when there is a high ranking team which has been working together for a long time - non infusion of new members could result in the existing mental models go unchallenged and they would be more prone to link alike.

In the next byte, we look at some of the symptoms of group think.