Kiana Knox

Professor Feyrer

OGL 343

27, February 2022

Internal Team Dynamics / Decision-Making

Prompt 1

When it comes to being ineffective there are certain practices you should try and

help avoid when it comes to the common information effect and hidden profiles. The common

information effect is “the main determinant of how much a given fat influences a group decision

is not the fat itself, but rather, how many people happen to be aware of this fact prior to group

discussion” (Thompson, 2018, p. 150). Now hidden profiles on the other hand are “a superior

discussion alternative, but its superiority is hidden from group members because each member

has only a portion of the information that supports this superior alternative” (Thompson, 2018, p.

151. Now here ate the ineffective practices when trying to avoid both the common information

effect and hidden practices. First you can start by increasing the amount of discussion and

increasing the size of the team. Then you can also separate the review from the decision and

increase the information load and lastly make sure there is accountability and pre-discussion

planning. All of these practices will not help you avoid the common information effect or hidden

practices. Now on the flip side there are effective practices that will help you avoid and it

consists of having good leadership, being able to redirect and maintain the focus of the

discussion to unshared (unique) information, approach the task as a “problem to be solved”, not a

“judgment to be made”, minimize status differences, communicate confidence and the list goes

on in on (Thompson, 2018, p. 154-158). The point at the end of the day is, there are many
different ways that you can use to approach situations in the work space to help avoid having

hidden profiles and common information to arise so you can have a more smooth work

environment. When actually used and practiced these ways can actually help defeat the common

information effect.

Prompt 2

Group think “occurs when team members place consensus above all other priorities

including using good judgment, when the consensus reflects poor judgment or improper or

immoral actions” (Thompson, 2018, p. 172). There are key symptoms that help make groupthink

arise in a team/group and those consist of overestimation of the group, closed mindedness and

pressures toward uniformity but lucky there are ways to reduce groupthink from happening. One

of them that is a big factor is the size of the team/group because when you have so many people

on one project in the end heads will start bumping because there are too many ideas and people

will never agree with everyone. Ingroups will also form and so then matter what you're going to

agree with “your squad” inside the workplace even when it might not be the best idea. As well

as, people will start feeling less personal responsibility for the team outcomes. Another really

important one is the structured discussion technique which basically means you want to delay the

solution selection so you can increase the problem solving phase (Thompson, 2018, p. 177). This

basically will help you make sure you and your team actually analyze the situation and solve the

problem the right way instead of quickly and making a mistake. This will help the group become

closer because you are all working to solve the problem which is the priority so you can put your

own consensus above it all.

 A great example of not having a structured discussion is when volkswagen installed

and was not sufficient to comply with emissions standards for the smog forming pollutants in the

US and the companies supervisory board decided to push diesel in the US. Since they rushed to

get it to the USand instead of making a smart and safer for the environment decision they quickly

decided on their own and pushed for the product to get out. Another example is when General

Motors decided to wait over a decade to recall 2.6 million cars because of a defective ignition

switch because the company decided that saving 57 cents was more important than the safety of

the customers. Here again the company decided to put their own needs and priorities above

everything else which is from the cause of groupthink. If these two companies would have used

the techniques provided to stop the groupthink they would have put out safe vehicles not only for

people bit for the environment and then not have a whole scandal break out which just caused

them more penny and customers at the end of the day.

 Works Cited

Thompson, Leigh L. Making the Team: A Guide for Managers. Pearson, 2018.