Psychology
- Submitted by: dscole
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- Date Submitted: 04/10/2011 01:47 PM
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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,...
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,...