| Symptoms Groupthink
is a psychological terminology used to describe the mode of thinking that persons engage
in when concurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive ingroup that it tends to
override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action. It refers to a
deterioration in mental efficiency, reality testing and moral judgments as a result of
group pressures.
The symptoms of groupthink arise when the members of decision-making groups
become motivated to avoid being too harsh in their judgments of their leaders' or their
colleagues' ideas. People would adopt a soft line of criticism and avoid conflict,
even in their own thinking. At meetings, all members are amiable and seek complete
concurrence, which is likely to be recognized erroneously as consensus, on every
important issue.
The groupthink type of conformity tends to increase as group
cohesiveness increases. Groupthink involves nondeliberate suppression of
critical thoughts as a result of internalization of the group's norms. The more
cohesive the group, the greater the inner compulsion on each individual to avoid creating
disunity, which inclines him/her to believe in the soundness of whatever proposals are
promoted by the leader or by a majority of the group's members. However, this is not
to say that all cohesive groups necessarily suffer from groupthink. All ingroups may
have a mild tendency toward groupthink, displaying from time to time one or another of
eight interrelated symptoms. But it need not be so dominant as to influence the
quality of the group's final decision. The eight groupthink symptoms are:
Pressure: Victims of groupthink also apply direct pressure to
any individual who momentarily expresses doubts about any of the group's shared illusions,
or who questions the validity of the arguments supporting a policy alternative favored by
the majority.
Self-censorship: Victims of groupthink avoid deviating from what
appears to be group consensus. They keep silent about their
misgivings and even minimize to themselves the importance of their doubts.
Unanimity: Victims of groupthink share an illusion of unanimity
within the group concerning almost all judgments expressed by members who speak in favor
of the majority view. When a group of persons who respect each other's opinions
arrives at a unanimous view, each member is likely to feel that the belief must be true.
This reliance on consensual validation within the group tends to replace individual
critical thinking and reality testing.
Invulnerability: Most or all of the members of the ingroup share an
illusion of invulnerability that provides for them some degree of reassurance about
obvious dangers and leads them to become over-optimistic and willing to take extraordinary
risks.
Rationale: No only do victims of groupthink ignore warnings, but
they collectively construct rationalizations in order to discount warnings and other forms
of negative feedback that, taken seriously, might lead the group to reconsider their
assumptions each time they recommit themselves to past decisions.
Morality: Victims of groupthink believe unquestioningly in the
inherent morality of their ingroup. To the extreme end, this belief could incline
the members to ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions.
Stereotypes: Victims of groupthink hold stereotyped views of the
leaders of "enemy groups," that "They are so evil that genuine attempts at
negotiating differences with them are unwarranted," or that "They are too weak
to too stupid to deal effectively with what ever attempts we makes to defeat their
purposes." Organizations where competing groups co-exist should be cautious
about this symptom because the damage of inter-group attack and/or mis-communications can
counteract the totality of productivity of all groups.
Mindguards: Lastly, victims of groupthink sometimes appoint
themselves as mindguards to protect the leader and fellow members from adverse information
that might break the complacency they shared about the effectiveness and morality of past
decisions.
|
CAREER PLANNING
