What Is Groupthink and Illustrate with an Example

What is groupthink and illustrate with an example 

When making decision in groups, from a small team meeting to a company, there is always the possibility for groupthink to occur. So what is groupthink?

-Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs within a group decision-making process, group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative viewpoints.

-In the group discussions, groupthink may occurs when the group are highly cohesive, and as people migrate toward popular options, ignoring those less popular but may still need to be considered.

-Group members share such a strong motivation to achieve consensus but they lose the ability to critically evaluate other points of view. Also can prevent the group from evaluating innovative ideas and coming to the best decision. And thus the entire group will lack of different perspectives.

-Groupthink often happens in groups; because group members may let loyalty to the group as a whole and prevent them from speak up during decision-making.

-In many cases, people will set aside their personal beliefs or adopt the opinion of the rest of the group or keep quiet. Even if members disagree with popular ideas on the table, they may go along with the options being discussed for the good of the group.

-They prefer to keep the peace rather than break the uniformity of the group. At the same time, other group members may look down on critics — even those in the group, due to their team loyalty. Some individual members may think that if most group members agree with a particular idea, and the group is cohesive, then the idea must be a good one. Thus they will follow.

- When time is limited and a decision must be made quickly, a team is more easily influenced by groupthink.

Groupthink is one of the nefarious decision-making missteps of teams, and a trap that many smart people and groups have fallen victim to throughout history.

- The Attack on Pearl Harbor is a great example, many of the senior officers at Pearl Harbor did not take warnings from Washington DC about potential invasion seriously despite the fact that Japanese messages has been intercepted, but they did nothing in preparation for an attack. They believed that the Japanese did not have the capability to attack U.S and they also believe it is futile.

- The other two well-known examples of Groupthink in action are the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster and the Bay of Pigs invasion. Engineers of the space shuttle knew about some faulty parts months before takeoff, but they did not want negative press so they pushed ahead with the launch anyway. Then the disaster happened. With the Bay of Pigs invasion, President Kennedy made a decision and the people around him supported it despite their own concerns. All these decision are because groupthink. Groupthink has shown up from time to time in our professional world.