You may think that everyone’s on the same page, but it’s not always the case. Managers and team leaders may get into the habit of grouping opinions into one affirmative response. This is quite common and stems from the belief that "everything will work out because it did in the past". Sometimes, based on a winning streak, a particular team may become overconfident and impose their opinion on everyone else. Let’s explore some of the common characteristics of this phenomenon. There are many ways to assess whether your team or organization unintentionally supports a groupthink culture. This is how groupthink psychology prevents you from acting upon your judgment in the midst of a majority. You choose not to speak up because you worry about how it’ll affect you professionally, even though your opinion may have the potential to save the company from making a mistake. Say, you don’t agree with a particular sales strategy even though your team members are quite confident that it’ll succeed. But this is a distorted-and often harmful-strategy that doesn’t reflect well on any organization. The term ‘groupthink’ means that the majority always controls the outcomes, and often overlooks and ignores opposing opinions and voices of an individual or a few people to ensure harmony and unity in a group. Groupthink theory finds its origins in George Orwell’s ground-breaking novel Nineteen Eight-Four about a dystopian society controlled by an unseen and unknown power. Let’s explore ‘groupthink meaning’ and ‘groupthink theory’ to better understand this complex term. This can substantially affect the decision-making process and, in some cases, may even lead to negative consequences. It tends to ignore individual voices that may present a different point of view for a solution. Groupthink is a phenomenon where decision-making depends on general consensus. But this may affect the decision-making process because the senior would not be able to take into consideration a different perspective that you may have brought in. You may hesitate from expressing what you really think because you don’t want to oppose your senior at work, or you’re new in the organization and don’t have that confidence yet. Group dynamics play an important role in the way we make decisions in our lives, especially in the workplace. Or maybe you agreed with a senior at work even though you knew he was wrong because everyone in the team did so. Think about the time when you didn’t really feel like skipping class in college but you did it anyway because all your close friends were doing so.
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