Group Think:

Background: We have all been told that two minds are better than one and group decision-
making mostly yields great results. Irving Janis, a research psychologist at Yale University,
studied several group decisions that had failed and developed a theory of cohesion among the
group members as a reason poor decisions were made. As Janis started these studies while he
was in the military studying military morale a lot of exmaples revolve around the military and
political establishment.
Why is groupthink important to us?
To recognize that groups do not always make the best of decisions
To recognize the symptoms when groupthink sets in
To reduce the chances of faulty decisions
Groupthink what is it? Groupthink is a term coined by Irving Janis to describe a poor decision
made by a group of individuals. The decision made by the group leads to a less than optimal,
irrational outcome. It was also found that the desire for harmony and minimized conflict were
important factors that led to the irrational decisions.
Example: American carmakers with the thought of American cars being the best in the world
without a chance for them to be upstaged along with a small group feeling that they
understood the American consumer best may take sweeping decisions. The group thought that
the typical American car buyer will never give up their large, fuel inefficient cars for smaller,
fuel efficient ones leading to manufacturers continuing to build large, fuel inefficient cars and
SUVs. In 2009, when American car buyers were given an option to trade-in and buy new cars,
the top 10 cars traded in were large American cars and the top 10 new car purchases were
small, fuel efficient cars made by Japanese manufacturers. While social tools like Twitter helped
in giving the unheard a voice, the very same social platform also created groupthink with
people who dont conform being treated as outcasts.