Which of the following is not something that could be done to guard against groupthink?

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Table of Contents Show

Creating opportunities with the right technology
Groupthink defined
How groupthink happens
The warning signs of groupthink
The consequences
Strategies to overcome groupthink – and prevent it in the first place
Summing it all up

Many companies actively recruit the friends of employees, believing such relationships lead to better results since it will make employees happier to be working with buddies. But research shows that such a strategy may backfire, which is why leaders need to tread carefully.

It’s much more fun – not to mention a heck of a lot less stressful – to get along with your colleagues at work. It’s even better when you’re friends with co-workers, because who doesn’t want to work with friends, right?

Well, according to a recent study, your company’s bottom line may not like these workplace friendships. Specifically, a study by Ryerson University published in the European Management Journal finds that despite past beliefs that “group cohesion” can only help a team’s performance, it can have a downside: groupthink.

If you’re not familiar with the term, groupthink is a term coined by research psychologist Irving Janis, and is often tied to poor decisions that arise out of teams or groups. The idea is that when ideas aren’t challenged – just simply embraced without debate – then it leads to a less-desirable outcome.

Sean Wise, professor of entrepreneurship at Ryerson, conducted a study that analyzed email communications for 187 teams from one company. Using digital data collection and social network analysis software, Wise found that while social connections boosted a team’s performance at first, too much cohesion eventually led to a diminished performance.

Being so friendly, he found, eventually hurt the team’s performance.

Ben Dattner, an industrial and organizational psychologist and adjunct professor at New York University, says that leaders may find groupthink leads to decisions that can have disastrous outcomes.

For example, President Kennedy’s subordinates used groupthink to jump to the conclusion that the U.S. should invade Cuba in 1961, because they knew it was what he wanted. After the invasion failed, Kennedy tasked his younger brother, Robert, to vigorously vet any decisions that were being considered by the Executive Committee of the National Security Council.

How can organizations and leaders ensure that teams get along – but don’t lapse into groupthink? Here are some tips from experts:

Plan for it. Art Petty, founder and principal of the Art Petty Group, says any risk plan should include a way to monitor and reduce emerging groupthink. It doesn’t mean you think the group will fail – but that it’s preferable to tackle the problem head on rather than ignore it.
Encourage debate. As Dattner mentions, Kennedy learned that getting his own way with no debate might feel good for a short time – but the end result can be terrible. Leaders need to speak up and let team members know why it’s so important that ideas and opinions be challenged. “Within businesses and governments, happy talk is common, but it can be countered with some version of, ‘Now tell me something I need to know, even if I don’t want to hear it,’” adviseCass R. Sunstein and Reid Hastie, authors of “Wiser: Getting Beyond Groupthink to Make Groups Smarter.”
Look for different personalities. Dr. Meredith Belbin contends there needs to be at least eight team members of various personalities, such as the unorthodox, creative problem solver; the person who thrives on pressure; and the colleague who judges options objectively. Look for those who have different styles of thinking and communicating.
Acknowledge biases in data. Leaders may believe they eliminate groupthink by relying on data. But if “analysts cherry-pick information to suit managers’ expectations, managers will be reassured about their decisions and see no need to improve them. And once misleading insights are data-approved, they are even harder to challenge,” note Emre Soyer and Robin M. Hogarth in Harvard Business Review. Leaders need to make sure they don’t reveal their “hope and dreams” to data scientists who are hired to collect and mine information, they advise.
Reach out. Invite people from other departments, especially those who will be affected by decisions being made. Even if they can’t attend the meeting, reach out to others within the organization to get their feedback – they won’t be influenced by the group’s ideas and may be more willing to offer independent opinions and ideas.
Know that speed can kill. It may be a relief if a decision is reached quickly, but don’t embrace it too quickly. Was there real debate? Did everyone offer an opinion, or did a few influencers appear to lead the group decision? If a leader believes there wasn’t enough debate, delay a decision and ask that more research be done.

Finally, remember that while collaboration is highly promoted in workplaces today, sometimes leaders need to back off so that it doesn’t lead to groupthink and less-creative ideas.

As Steven Wozniak notes in his book, ‘iWoz”: “I don’t believe anything really revolutionary has ever been invented by committee… I’m going to give you some advice that might be hard to take. That advice is: Work alone… Not on a committee. Not on a team.”

If leaders harness the creativity of someone like Wozniak and channel it into more diverse collaborative efforts, then it may lead to a much better bottom-line – whether the team is friendly with one another or not.

Creating opportunities with the right technology

In this article, we talked about ways to avoid groupthink, and how friendships can contribute to less desirable outcomes. In addition to channeling creativity into more diverse collaborative efforts, we can’t forget about how technology plays a role in diminishing groupthink. When data and information are readily available in a central place, it’s less likely that workplace friendships will influence decision-making. It’s difficult to argue with cold, hard, real-time data. If empowering yourself, your team, or your entire workforce to solve their own problems with the right technology sounds good to you, click here to learn more about Quick Base.

Have you ever been in a work meeting when a leader has proposed a course of action and everyone agrees fairly quickly? In such a situation, some of the more out-spoken colleagues immediately and enthusiastically show support – sincerely or not. But maybe some people look unsure or uncomfortable, yet hesitant to voice doubts. Perhaps more reserved employees remain quiet entirely.

The main thing is, no one asks follow-up questions, raises thoughtful objections, explores other facets of an issue or plays devil’s advocate. This is an example of groupthink in the workplace.

Groupthink defined

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon in which people make largely unanimous and unquestioning decisions for a variety of reasons:

Avoidance of disagreement and conflict
The desire to maintain the status quo
The pull to conform with others
The fear of looking ignorant or wrong
Sense of loyalty to one’s manager or colleagues, along with the perceived obligation to avoid making them look bad by contradicting them
The pressure to make a decision within a short timeframe or in accordance with the wishes of a higher authority
Belief that one’s own input won’t make much of a difference
Lack of employee engagement with the decision-making process
Insulation from opposing sources of information

The presence of any of these factors can cause critical evaluation, thoughtful discussion or healthy dissent to be overridden in favor of harmony and conformity.

After all, it can seem more convenient and safer to just go with the flow and not rock the boat. However, many times the result can be less-than-optimal or even very poor business decisions.

How groupthink happens

It can occur when an organization’s people lack the strategies and tools to manage conflict effectively, whether that entails policies, procedures, reporting structures or training. When poor conflict management exists, unfortunately, challenging ideas may be misconstrued as challenging people. Those who feel they are being challenged can take personal offense and tempers can flare. Most have a natural tendency to want to avoid these awkward or unpleasant encounters with others at work.

Groupthink can also be a symptom of a negative workplace culture in which people:

Don’t feel included
Don’t feel comfortable speaking up to disagree with or challenge ideas – especially to a manager
Do feel pressured or coerced to think a certain way

In some situations, colleagues may genuinely think the same way about a topic because it’s a more homogeneous workforce – everyone has similar life experiences and perspectives. However, this can lead to blind spots – the overlooking of critical insights that colleagues with different backgrounds could otherwise provide. This is also why diversity in leadership is especially important, considering it’s the level where consequential decisions are made.

Most often, groupthink is unconscious and unintentional.

The warning signs of groupthink

Since groupthink is usually unconscious and unintentional, it can be hard to figure out whether it’s present in your organization.

Yet, there are common warning signs, and here are some proven ways to spot them:

Observe employees’ behavior:

- How well do people collaborate?
- Does anyone disagree when ideas are discussed?
- Does anyone ask questions or raise valid concerns?
- Do people seem fearful or under stress?
- In which scenarios does healthy dissent happen versus not happen?
- Which types of employees are speaking up the most?
- Is the reaction to challenges mostly negative or positive?

Listen. If you’ve heard people around you saying, “This has been working well for a long time and we don’t need to change,” that’s a red flag for groupthink. People who adhere to this mindset tend to believe there’s only one way of doing things. If several people say this, it indicates a widespread unwillingness to listen to new ideas and perspectives.
Think strategically. Consider whether your organization is growing at the rate you anticipate, or if it seems stagnant. If the company isn’t expanding satisfactorily, or if revenue is flat or even dropping, that could be a sign that stale ideas are in circulation. Also, consider the flip side of stagnation. If your organization has been doing really well lately and has enjoyed some recent successes, watch out for complacency, which can trigger groupthink.
Get big-picture perspective. Take a look at your company’s board, managers and general employee population. Does everyone seem to have similar resumes? For example, does everyone tend to have the same:

- Life experiences
- Socioeconomic backgrounds
- Education levels and areas of focus
- Ingrained opinions
- Critical-thinking and problem-solving skills

Furthermore, does any particular gender, race, ethnicity or age group, for example, tend to dominate within your workforce?

If so, you may have a diversity problem that can lead to groupthink.

The consequences

When groupthink exists in a workplace, a number of things can happen:

Dearth of creativity and innovation
Business mistakes or lost opportunities
Slow or stagnating business growth
Work environment doesn’t feel inclusive to some people
The blame game (When no single employee feels they own a decision, finger-pointing and protests of “It’s not my fault” often occur when things go wrong.)
Feelings of discouragement, disconnection and frustration, which causes burnout and lowers morale among employees
Impaired relationships between managers, employees and peers

All of these consequences impact each other and have the potential to affect an organization’s productivity and financial bottom line.

Strategies to overcome groupthink – and prevent it in the first place

Employees need to know, without any doubt, that:

- Their ideas and opinions are valued.
- They can voice their ideas and opinions without retribution – even if they may be in opposition to someone else’s, particularly a manager’s.
- The company evaluates information objectively.
- The company is unafraid of making changes to the status quo in the best interest of the organization.

Diversification, starting at the top of your organization, is another way to start making changes. You must have a diverse representation of people, especially in those critical decision-making roles, to encourage and obtain a broad variety of perspectives on certain issues.
Inclusivity – the idea that someone doesn’t have to change who they are at their core to be accepted in the workplace – is equally important. Often, people assume diversity and inclusion go hand in hand. However, just because an organization is diverse doesn’t mean it’s automatically inclusive.
Managers should prompt employees to object or present other ideas during discussions. In fact, these skills should become an essential part of manager training:

- Running brainstorming sessions
- Leading groups in healthy workplace debate
- Avoiding an intimidating, know-it-all persona
- Listening to and considering new, unanticipated ideas
- Balancing conversations so that everyone has a voice
- Encouraging people who are quiet or naturally more reserved to speak up
- Escalating potential problems or issues that are brought to their attention

Lastly, leadership should periodically review current policies, procedures and strategies, and assess where improvements can be made. The prevailing rule should never be: “X works, so X is the only way.”

Summing it all up

People often have a powerful need to belong and feel accepted, while fearing mistakes and conflict. That’s why groupthink is a challenge for so many organizations – and, in most cases, we’re not even aware of our mental processes that nudge us toward conformity and agreement. In some cases, groupthink can be a symptom of deeper problems at a workplace like conflict management, culture and diversity. To uproot groupthink and avoid the negative consequences, companies need to pay attention to the presence of common warning signs and practice certain strategies:

Increase diversity
Enhance inclusivity
Train managers well on leading others through the decision-making process
Have a plan for conflict management
Review current practices and update as needed

To learn more about being an organization that promotes creativity, idea sharing, critical thinking, diversity and inclusion, download our free magazine: The Insperity guide to being a best place to work.