Research About Groupthink
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Groupthink causes poor decision making because members come to the same conclusions, failing to see alternatives. You might think the trouble is with homogeneous teams, but a Wall Street Journal article clarifies the types of teams most susceptible to this limited thinking.
The faculty authors describe three sets of teams and ask which is “the most likely to fall prey to the pathologies of groupthink”?
A friendly team of long-term colleagues or a new collection of co-workers who haven’t had time to form close personal bonds?
A team composed of the usual suspects or that same team where an outsider has been brought in to provide a fresh perspective?
A group with a confident leader who has a clear vision of how to do things or a relatively unstructured group without a strong authority figure?
In each, the second team is more vulnerable. Concepts like group identity and psychological safety are at play. Although paradoxical in some ways, a close group of friends who feel comfortable with each other are more likely to offer divergent ideas.
Throughout my career, I have tried different approaches to assigning student teams. This article makes me feel good about the times I’ve let students choose their own teams. Of course, that causes other problems, but groupthink was not likely one of them.
