Psychology

PSYC307 1. Some of the factors that led to groupthink were no one in the group spoke up to disagree with a new plan or strategy. In the first example the Air Force general came up with a plan to develop a better way to handle the base’s mail. What the general thought was a process improvement plan turned out not to be one. The new plan slowed down the mail process tremendously putting them behind for a couple of weeks. The civilians knew the plan would not work and no one would said anything for a year until the general would originally started the plan complained about it the new system being a failure. As a result the system was changed. In the second example Turezyn was a victim of groupthink. She invested in millions in several dot-coms including I-drive. She later found out I-drive gives their storage away for free. She tried to convince the executives at a board meeting they were spending too much money but no one listened and the company filed for bankruptcy. In third example Steve Blank was a dot-com investor trying to persuade the CEO to spend money on a customer base rather than building a brand. The CEO did not listen to him and Steve lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on the deal. In these three examples there are several ways to prevent groupthink from occurring. The first one is examining a few alternatives. Come up with more than one plan to see which one will work out the best. The leader should remain fair and hear all sides. 2. Higher-status group members are more effective dissenters for several reasons. One, they speak out more often. Individuals with a higher-status feel they are superior to others and tend to speak over others in the group. Another reason is higher-status group members interrupt others more often. I have witnessed this on several occasions. During meetings in which individuals of a lower-status would express their thoughts or concerns were interrupted by someone of a higher-status. As a result, individuals of lower-status tend to react in group’s decision by becoming less involved in groupthink. I believe they feel intimidated and not comfortable within the group. Higher-status group members also criticize more. In the text it states, “lower-status members possess expertise and insights that could aid the group, their expertise and insights are not likely to be fully utilized, thus reducing the group’s overall performance” (Judge, T., Robbins., S. p.299). 3. The larger the crowd the more difficult it is for people in the group to feel comfortable expressing their opinions. As a result people tend to be hesitant. In the text it states, “individuals are likely to feel less personal responsibility when groups get larger than about 10” (Judge, T., Robbins., S. p.305). When the pressure in the group is highly cohesive members become less motivated to reasonably appraise the alternative course of action available to them. I use to struggle with that. In meetings before I was hesitant to speak up when I did not agree with what was being said so I did not say anything. Being a large group I was uncomfortable and I also did not want to get in a debate with other individuals in the group. Now that I am in a different position and I am managing a department I get involved and speak up in meetings. When I am having group meetings in my department I always ask my staff to express their opinions. I come up with ways that could be an improvement in the department and want my staff to feel comfortable to speak up to give other suggestions. I have been very successful in this area with my staff and I have used some of their ideas they have mentioned in group meetings with one another.