“None of us is as dumb as all of us” - Mark Kelly, NASA astronaut.
We are led to believe that bringing many great minds together leads to the best decision making. However, this is often not the case due to a phenomenon called Groupthink, that was first introduced by Irving Janis in 1972. When Groupthink occurs, a decision is made by a group without critical consideration to the advantages and risks of the decision, or to the other options available. Any individual that disagrees with the group's decision making, will be fearful of rocking the boat, and will therefore keep any reservations to themselves. Individuals will assume other group members agree with the decision, even if they haven’t expressed an opinion, and will downplay their own concerns. Groupthink is further exacerbated if the group leader has a strong opinion and preference. Examples of Groupthink in practice have resulted in poor decisions with critical outcomes, such as the NASA Challenger space shuttle disaster in 2003. An engineer had raised concerns about a critical component, that wasn’t listened to by the wider group that had a deadline to meet. The launch went ahead, and the shuttle exploded shortly after, resulting in the death of seven astronauts. Twenty years later, we find that Groupthink is still very much alive and kicking. Consider for a moment the lockdown parties and scandals at 10 Downing Street that have been well publicised, and eventually led to the resignation of British Prime Minister Boris Johnston. Is it really possible that not a single person at the party/events had reservations?
Go along to get along PERMAnently
Groupthink is about conformity and fitting in with peers, in order not to stand out from the crowd. Ultimately Groupthink can lead to poor decision making, damage businesses and reputations and even cost lives. The desire for psychological safety within the group setting is stronger than the desire to exert individual preferences. This is because relationships and positive emotions are important factors in employee wellbeing. The PERMA model introduced by psychologist Seligman in 2011, proposes that wellbeing at work consists of five building blocks that include: Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Achievement. It is easy to see how these can apply in a team setting. Feeling part of the team will increase positive emotion, engagement, meaning and satisfaction with relationships as well as provide a feeling of achievement when the group has decided on their plan. Of course, the opposite will apply to individuals estranged from a team. With this context it’s easy to see why Groupthink occurs and many people follow the group despite any reservations.
Avoiding the Damage of Groupthink in YOUR team
Whilst Groupthink may be great for individual wellbeing, it is clearly bad for business leading to poor decisions, increased risks, and potential harm. Here are some recommendations to prevent your team falling into the Groupthink trap:
Do not provide an opinion on the best option or decision before hand, this will avoid bias and encourage open discussion.
Split the group into two or more subsets and encourage consideration of the problem from different angles, this will help to diversify group thinking.
Give people in the group specific roles to play, like ‘thinker’ or ‘challenger’ whose roles are to come up with ideas and challenge ideas respectively - for best effect, regularly swap members roles within the group.
Require the group to invite outside opinion to their ideas before the decision is made, this will increase the diversity and require rationale thought to explain the decisions to others.
Ask the group to develop at least three options with pros and cons along with their recommendation. This will ensure other ideas are considered and evaluated.
Introduce a process for decision making that provides clear instructions and promotes consistency, this may ensure your team doesn’t hire a cat!
Invite a facilitator to a meeting to support with ensuring all team members are contributing and sharing opinions.
Support psychological safety within the group through team contracting on how they will work together. The contract should include how to respectfully challenge ideas.
In summary, Groupthink may be happening to a team near you and could have disastrous consequences for your company. Use the suggestions listed to avoid it happening within your teams, and to ensure the decisions made, really are the best ones.
References:
Güngör, D., Karasawa, M., Boiger, M., Dinçer, D., & Mesquita, B. (2014). Fitting in or sticking together: The prevalence and adaptivity of conformity, relatedness, and autonomy in Japan and Turkey. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45(9), 1374-1389.
Janis, I. (1972). Victims of groupthink: Psychological studies of policy decisions and fiascoes. Houghton Miflin Company.
Lunenburg, F. (2012). Devil’s advocacy and dialectical inquiry: Antidotes to groupthink. International journal of scholarly academic intellectual diversity, 14(1), 1-9.
Ogbonnaya, C., Tillman, C. J., & Gonzalez, K. (2018). Perceived organizational support in health care: The importance of teamwork and training for employee well-being and patient satisfaction. Group & Organization Management, 43(3), 475-503
Seligman, M. (2018). PERMA and the building blocks of well-being. The journal of positive psychology, 13(4), 333-335.
Turner, M. E., & Pratkanis, A. R. (1994). Social identity maintenance prescriptions for preventing groupthink: Reducing identity protection and enhancing intellectual conflict. International Journal of Conflict Management.