Group think is one of the three barriers to critical thinking. Barriers include egocentrism, socio centric and finally the topic of group think. Group think is common in business settings when a shared result, goal, or point is made and there is a relevant idea, approach or culturally accepted way of reaching a solution and or proposed action.
An occasion when I observed group think was during a conference call. The topic was relative to training topics for consideration. In this case the VP of HR inferred to the Director of Training proposed topics from steak holders proposals. The Director of training advised the trainings seemed a bit out dated and that the raw material may not align universally with the companies standardized topics. The VP of HR agreed that they should stick to the selected topics, without ever even seeing the materials and alternatives the training topics offered to the need of the management team in question. The VP went on to explain that standardized training could only be given in one way by one person and from one topic. The director, management team and VP all agreed and the proposal was negated without inquiring on the data acquired on stakeholders skill gaps.
The management team agreed due to authority roles, the VP lacked understanding of the basis and questioning for such a proposal to implement a different approach. The director made an opinion on content and failed to think deeper into why the management team felt they needed the training and the supporting data behind it. This was a clear case where group think impeded each other from thinking beyond the realm/scope of impartial thinking within the groups ignorant bias. With the right questions and fair minded openness to others viewpoints the ability to rationalize diverse perspectives could be interpreted at a deeper level of validation.
Hi Teresa,
I think that group think unfortunately happens all the time because people just expect someone in a higher position to be “right”. I see this all the time in academia. If someone is working with a professor ranked higher than themselves, they just automatically take what that higher level professor says without asking many questions. Most of the time, the right answer is somewhere in the middle but the lower ranking professor chooses not to engage in a critical thinking session.
Really good example.
Laura
Hi Teresa-
Great example. I am seeing through the examples, including mine, that titles and levels can have a major impact to group think. Definitely something we need to keep in mind as we become PC’s! I wonder if people have success if they call it out in a meeting and share the definition of group think, and the goal of avoiding it. Thanks for sharing! (p.s. it’s hard to read other people’s comments against the background of your blog. You have to highlight the text to be able to see it.) Take care,
Ellie
Teresa,
This seems to happen a lot. Someone in a position of authority causes group think, maybe sometimes without even realizing it, and because of their position nobody wants to say anything.