Defining Groupthink
People often make decisions while in a group or team. When everyone can express their opinion without judgment, it positively affects the team and its decisions. Brainstorming methods, a lack of bureaucracy, and a good psychological mood help the group develop exponentially. When these aspects are not met, groupthink automatically appears. The work aims to analyze the concept of groupthink and give an example of this phenomenon.
Any group of people who work together long enough will begin to think in a similar way. The group’s work and the ideas it stands for are governed by unwritten rules. Groupthink is the predisposition of group members to agree with the majority or with the leader of the group to minimize conflict without critically evaluating the decisions made (Borkowski, 2015).
There needs to be more critical, creative thinking, a non-standard approach to solving problems, and a narrowing of the view of many things (Borkowski, 2015). Members of the collective are so accustomed to trusting the leader and following his orders without hesitation that they are able to complete even an apparently wrong task without doubt of correctness.
A Real-Life Example of Groupthink
An example of the ineffectiveness of groupthink can be a situation that happened at my friend’s work. The boss of his company always set ambitious goals, and his business grew rapidly. There was confidence in his decision. However, it led to groupthink and negative consequences. The boss decided to take on a highly paid and high-profile project, the implementation of which would bring the company to a new level.
The decision was put to a vote, but despite half of the employees being aware of the failure, the majority voted to avoid unnecessary responsibility. As a result, because the project did not correspond to the company’s specialization, it was a failure, which led to a decrease in performance and motivation among employees. Therefore, groupthink may lead to significant negative consequences if being unreasonable.
Reference
Borkowski, N. (2015). Organizational behavior, theory, and design in health care. (2nd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.