Managing agreement - Groupthink
Featured in the Developing an Emotionally Intelligent Team training manual
By Mike Bagshaw
Category: Emotional Intelligence
Credit price: 4 download credits (Single user)
Groupthink is a word coined by Irving Janis. It is different from group cohesion, which involves a shared purpose and constant pooling of ideas to thrash out the best solution from numerous perspectives. In Groupthink, the need for concurrent thinking leads to a deterioration in the quality of decision making. Concurrence seeking is a strategy for reducing anxiety in decision-making situations. However, the desire to reduce short-term anxiety is likely to lead to a dysfunctional team in the longer term. An emotionally intelligent team recognises the dangers of Groupthink and is able to deal with the anxiety in difficult decision-making situations.
You begin this training activity with the participants hearing and discussing a story about the deterioration in the quality of decision making as a result of the desire for concurrence and absence of tension and anxiety. You then introduce the concept of Groupthink and participants work in small groups on the ‘Challenger’ case study, to determine how Groupthink contributed to the disaster. Groupthink is then analysed in the participants’ own teams, using an assessment questionnaire. You end the training activity with a discussion and presentation of how to avoid Groupthink.
Who is it for: This training resource is intended for use by trainers to enable participants to analyse the causes and effects of Groupthink and find out how to avoid the negative effects of Groupthink in their teams.
| Resource Type: | Activity |
| Min Group Size: | 4 |
| Max Group Size: | 12 |
| Typical Duration: | 01:30:00 |
| No of Pages: | 24 |
Resources: View standard resources for Fenman training activities
Purpose: This training resource is intended for use by trainers, as a first-level skills activity for building good EQ communication skills in the team, on decision making, managing diversity, team building, and team development programmes. It introduces the concepts of Groupthink.
Download the training activity, Managing agreement - Groupthink as featured in the Fenman training manual; Developing an Emotionally Intelligent Team