...relationship between groupthink and unethical behaviour among group members. The first part of this essay will define unethical behaviour and the phenomenon of “groupthink”. It will describe how groupthink arises from extreme elevated negative group cohesion. It will outline the behaviour of groupthink dynamics (such as self-importance, over commitment, and excessive devotion to the group) and how groupthink dynamics contributes to unethical behaviour. Next, the essay will identify how groupthink has contributed to the unethical behaviour in the highest levels of decision making. The second part of this essay will identify the role and definition of the devil’s advocate, and how the devil advocate promotes positive communication. Finally, the essay will discuss the importance and the effectiveness of utilizing the devil’s advocate within group decisions for changing unethical behaviour within groupthink. Belonging to a group can promote negative cohesion as it promotes the probabilities of low quality decision making resulting in unethical behaviour among group members. The Oxford University Press (2015) defines unethical behaviour as “lacking moral principles; unwilling to adhere to proper rules of conduct”. Decision making in groups can be hindered by elevated cohesiveness and conformity resulting in the phenomenon called “Groupthink” it can transpire in the highest levels of decision making to the basic levels of social association (McCauley, 1989). Groupthink is the effects...
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...What is Groupthink? Groupthink occurs when a decision is swayed within a group based on bias or opinions of particular entity or subset. Many decisions in an organization are made not by an individual, but rather by groups of individuals (Sauter, 2010). The goal of groups is to help make decisions within a company based on research, discussions and brainstorming various ideas to come up with the ideal solution based on reasoning. When groupthink occurs, members ignore limitations or impropriety of their analyses as well as possible consequences of their choice process (Sauter, 2010). Decisions become swayed towards the bias despite personal knowledge or feelings and in many cases simply because of an underlying friendship. Hoggs and Haines (1998) wrote that “research has failed to clarify the causal role of group cohesiveness in groupthink because of a failure to distinguish cohesiveness from friendship”. An example of this occurred recently in a decision support group. The group is made up of various department heads and some of their supervisors. The topic of what departments charge activity should be listed on the weekly flash reports was brought up by the billing director. She noticed that the report was missing a few departments and wanted to get the group to agree that the missing departments needed to be included. The billing supervisor even agreed and was very disappointed that three departments were not included on the report for the past year. As everyone looked...
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...Work The Verdict on Groupthink In the 1957 movie Twelve Angry Men, Henry Fonda plays a mild-mannered architect who’s been selected to serve on a jury with 11 other white, middle-class, middle-aged men. Within the confines of the claustrophobic jury room, attitudes and preconceptions gradually begin to harden and the group’s decision seems increasingly like a foregone conclusion—guilty in a case of capital murder. Fonda, however, has his doubts and starts to suggest alternative interpretations of the case until, by movie’s end, he has steered the group to a more cogently considered decision. “My favorite part of a trial,” reports one Texas attorney, “is when the judge . . . tells the jurors that deliberations should involve discussions, the questioning of their beliefs, and a willingness to change their minds. I really want jurors to do that,” he says, but “I don’t think they do.” Like many lawyers, he doubts very seriously if the kind of deliberative decision making extolled in Twelve Angry Men goes on in many real jury rooms. David A. Mitchell and Daniel Eckstein, authors of “Jury Dynamics and Decision-Making: A Prescription for Groupthink,” aren’t so sure either. They characterize a jury as “a unique variety of an autonomous work group” -- “one in which group members are chosen, essentially at random, perform a function of great importance for which they generally have no direct training.” It’s a prescription, they suggest, for “group dynamics that are not conducive...
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...Table 3.1) Programmed decisions are useful when there is no predetermined structure on which to rely. FALSE AACSB: Other management-specific knowledge/abilities Blooms taxonomy: Comprehension Difficulty: Medium Learning Objective: 1 5. (p. 90) Risk is not a fact of life in management decisions. FALSE AACSB: Other management-specific knowledge/abilities Blooms taxonomy: Comprehension Difficulty: Easy Learning Objective: 1 6. (p. 90) According to research, managers prefer uncertainty to certainty because it makes the job more challenging and interesting. FALSE AACSB: Group/individual dynamics Blooms taxonomy: Comprehension Difficulty: Medium Learning Objective: 1 7. (p. 91) Conflict exists when the manager must consider opposing pressures from different sources. TRUE AACSB: Group/individual dynamics Blooms taxonomy: Knowledge Difficulty: Easy Learning Objective: 1 8. (p. 92) In the fourth state of decision making, problem diagnosis is linked to the development of...
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...Group Dynamics Most people within the organizations belong to some formal work group that establishes temporary or permanent groups to accomplish tasks and achievements. These groups consist of different people within the organization who work together to accomplish objectives of the company (Jex & Britt, 2008). It is important that there is an examination of the behavior of the groups so that a complete understanding of the behavior is obtained. There are many types of groups that people become a part of in their everyday life including family, community, church, and within their profession. Memberships to these groups are important because it plays an important role in their behaviors and attitudes. This paper will identify an organizational group of which I have been a part of and will give analysis of the group dynamics of my chosen group. As a part of the analysis the group will be described including the purpose, goals, and demographic nature such as gender, education, and so forth. The stages are development experienced by the group is described and the structure and effect of the structure on the effectiveness of the group is written to help readers understand the importance of the group. Explanation of the dynamics of group behavior within the group and analysis of the effect that group has on me concerning group polarization, conformity, and groupthink concepts. Counseling Department for Georgia Department of Corrections There are many reasons to why a...
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...Managing the Work of Teams and Individuals Thomas Wingham 8th December 2011 Contents * Introduction * Groupthink * Causes * Remedies * General Group Problem Solving (GGPS) Model * Risky Shift Phenomenon * Causes * Remedies * Conclusion * Recommendations * Reference List * Appendices Introduction In this report there will be an evaluation of Groupthink. Janis eight causes of Groupthink and what the remedies are. Aldag and Fuller’s model of groupthink and how it is different from Janis’s model. There will also be an evaluation of Risky Shift Phenomenon, this will include the causes and the remedies of Risky Shift Phenomenon. Groupthink Irving Janis says Groupthink occurs when “a group makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of “mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment”” (Janis, pg 9.) Groupthink - Causes According to Janis there are eight causes of Groupthink. Illusion of invulnerability; creates too much confidence that encourages extreme risks. Collective rationalization; members warned about something but do not take any notice. Belief in inherent morality; members believe in their goal and ignore all moral consequences. Stereotyped views of out-groups; negative views of enemy make effective responses to conflict seem unnecessary. Direct pressure on dissenters; members cannot argue with group views without being under pressure. Self-censorship; deviations...
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...material, and support and motivation, while perhaps more time consuming, typically offer improved results. In theory, this model implies that a team’s collective knowledge can maximize utility and ensure the best outcome given the available information and perspectives. In our case, our group dynamics were such that we did not effectively utilize the resources we had, and consequently pooled a very limited amount of information. Rather than minimizing our risk, we increased it. I attribute much of our group’s failure at this simulation to process loss, which is defined as the problems that arise from lack of effective coordination among group members. A number of factors at play could explain the process loss which led to our counterintuitive results. First and foremost, one must consider the way in which group dynamics impact the overall productivity of group collaboration. Our team consisted of K, R, W, J and myself. K and W were quite opinionated, and in contrast, both R and J were quiet – I did not have a sense of what their true opinions were. K dominated the group by putting forth an idea and adhering to that idea in spite of other opinions. Both K and W were vocal in reiterating what they thought were the most important elements of survival. In our case, we took no measures to counteract the impact of clashing personalities. Subsequently, a lack of civil discussion led to uncoordinated efforts with regards to how we should begin to approach a...
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...volatile weather conditions. Disaster can strike without warning, leaving the most competent and experienced professional high altitude mountain climber gasping for breath, and desperately fighting to stay alive. Death is not uncommon to mountaineers who ascend Mt. Everest, a simple mistake, faulty judgments, miscommunication, wrong decisions or complacency can lead to disastrous consequences. Indeed, climbing Mt. Everest cannot be accomplished alone, individuals need to work together as a team, cooperate and collaborate with one another, and rely on one another's capabilities to ascend the mountain summit successfully. Everest leadership and team multimedia simulation is an attempt to help the participants experience and understand team dynamics and leadership. It requires participants to work as a unit, a cohesive entity, collaborating and communicating essential information in order to make effective decisions that will benefit individuals and the group in achieving their goals. The interactive simulation presents the participants with series of complex and difficult decision-making situations, mimicking real life scenarios facing many organisations. Our team embarks on a six day ascent of Mt. Everest with the goal of climbing to the top together. Though we are aware of individual divergent goals, we insist on sharing necessary information as the simulation provides different...
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...NAME: COLLINS EBUNOLUWA T MATRIC NO: 12BB013175 COURSE CODE: PSY 420 COURSE TITLE: SOCIAL PERCEPTION & GROUP PROCESSES. ASSIGNMENT. * WHAT IS A GROUP? * DISCUSS THE NATURE OF GROUP DYNAMICS. QUESTION 1: WHAT IS A GROUP. INTRODUCTION. Groups are a necessary part of social life. They can be very small including just two people or very large. Being in groups is part of everyday life and many of us will belong to a wide range of groups, for example: family groups, social groups, sports groups, committees, etc. * A group is a collection of people with some common characteristics or purpose. * A collection of individuals who have regular contact and frequent interaction, mutual influence, common feeling of solidarity, and who work together to achieve a common set of goals. * A group is a collection of individuals who have relations to one another that make them interdependent to some significant degree. * A group refers to a class of social entities having in common the property of interdependence among their constituent members. In the past decades, the collectivities of different individuals have been identified and also studied scientifically. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, Émile Durkheim established just how wrapped up individual identity was with group membership, and Gustave Le Bon argued that people changed as they joined groupings such as crowds. Soon North American sociologists such as Charles Horton Cooley (1909) began to theorize...
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...Module: Risk Management and Assurance ACCT 627 Introduction The Lucifer effect describes Philip Zimbardo’s experiment in 1971 in which college students under took the roles of guards and prisoners in a study that was originally intended to examine how prisoners would adapt to prison life. However, the study took on a different focus as the behaviour of the guards (and authoritative figures) become a key point of interest. Before the study commenced, participants were dutifully screened for abnormal psychological traits and were randomly assigned the roles of prisoners and guards. The experiment was to be conducted over two weeks with Zimbardo himself dual hatting as a prison supervisor and that of a researcher. Steps were taken conceal the identities of the guards, to create a sense of anonymity and deindividuation. The students were not given any form of training on how to perform as normal prison guard and rules were poorly defined. As part of the study process, the counts sessions were simply intended as a role call and to ensure that the prisoners were made aware of their identification numbers and the rules. However, the count sessions very quickly became abusive from the first day. The sessions went beyond the intended duration, during which prisoners were humiliated, physically abused, psychologically weakened and punished without reason. At one point, the abuse even turned sexual in nature. As a result of the rapid escalation of abuse, the study was terminated...
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...duration of this course were apparent. Group dynamics is portrayed through jury deliberation in this film where twelve men are brought together to decide whether a boy is guilty of killing his father. From the personality conflicts to the decision making process, this film is filled with characteristics of group dynamics. Each juror brought something to the room, affecting the group’s decision. Right from the beginning of the movie, eleven jurors voted in favor of convicting the accused boy before even discussing the evidence presented at the trail. This is where the concept of groupthink comes into play. We have learned that when working in groups, members are more likely to make riskier decisions than they would on their own. This results from the fact that when working in groups, no one individual is completely accountable for the decision, making it easier for members to accept more extreme solutions than they normally would. Juror #8 was the one and only man in the room who refused to vote guilty. This juror refused to fall victim to groupthink and in the end, saved an innocent man’s life. He admits up front, that he was not certain whether the accused was innocent or guilty, but that he thought it important for the group to have a discussion and explore each possible decision. This not only lead to a discussion about the facts of the case, but also gives us an in-depth look at each juror, their role in the group, and what each of them brings to the group. Juror #1...
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...Pitfalls/Conflict Having a well designed team can enhance productivity and can be key to the overall organizational effectiveness. This being said even well designed teams can fall prey to the pitfalls and conflict that are present any time you bring people together and our Target Logistics Team is not immune from these problems. We will look at some of these potential problems and suggest solutions that can be employed to reduce their negative impact. Problems that are particular to the Logistics Team are Social Loafing and Free Riding, Groupthink, and Conflict. Social Loafing People in groups often do not work as hard as they do when alone, this is known as social loafing. This can have a negative effect on productivity where the team performance may increase with the size of the team, but the rate of increase in performance is negatively accelerated. Because of the size of our team we are likely to experience the Social Loafing Effect (Figure 1), which is that the greater number of people who work on a group task, the smaller the contribution any one member of the group will make. Within our Logistics Team social loafing is often experienced on the assembly line during the daily unload. It always starts out with everyone contributing relatively evenly, but usually another 2 or 3 guys are splintered on the schedule to come in half an hour after everyone else. Once they join the assembly line the pace often still stays the same. (with more people, it should have been...
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...HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAMS CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH PERFROMANCE TEAMS High-performance teams have the following special characteristics that allow them to excel at teamwork and achieve special performance advantages: * The right mix of skills, including technical skills, problem-solving and decision-making skills, and interpersonal skills. * Strong core values that help guide their attitudes and behaviors in directions consistent with the team’s purpose. * Ability to turn a general sense of purpose into specific performance objectives. * Standards for measuring results and obtaining performance feedback * Willingness to help group members understand the need for collective vs. individual efforts. THE TEAM BUILDING PROCESS When newly founded, work groups and teams must master challenges as members come together and begin the process of growing and working together as they pass through the various stages of group development. Team building is a sequence of planned activities designed to gather and analyze data on the functioning of a group and to initiate changes designed to improve teamwork and increase group effectiveness. Team building is participatory and data based. The goal of team building is to get good answers to such questions as: 1. “How well are we doing in terms of task accomplishment.” 2. “How satisfied are we as individual members with the group and the way it operates?” TEAM-BUILDING ALTERNATIVES Formal...
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...Group dynamics Sometimes group dynamics can’t be understood through just reading books or case studies.It can be best learnt or understood when seen or experienced. Group dynamics refers to a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group (intragroup dynamics), or between social groups (intergroup dynamics). The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision-making behavior, tracking the spread of diseases in society, creating effective therapy techniques, and following the emergence and popularity of new ideas and technologies.Group dynamics are at the core of understanding racism, sexism, and other forms of social prejudice and discrimination. These applications of the field are studied in psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, epidemiology, education, social work, business, and communication studies. 12 Angry Men is one such movie which shows how group dynamics can actually lead to success or failures.12 Angry Men is a classic movie which was released in 1957.In the movie 12 men are put in one single room to discuss a case and reach a final decision on it. Until they don’t come up with a final decision no one is allowed to leave. Much similar to a typical GD session.Group dynamics is related with the structure and functioning of groups as well as the different types of roles each individual plays. In the film, twelve men are brought together in a room to decide whether a boy is guilty of killing his father...
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...Apollo 13 - Film Review Relation to Effective Teams Team Wind Working in Groups and Teams LOS 3150 RJ Graham May 8, 2009 When facing issues, conflicts, and the attainment of goals having the resources of a fully functional and focused team are irreplaceable. A team that has clear goals and strategies in place is more likely to succeed even when faced with the greatest types of adversity. In the movie, Apollo 13, the cast of characters is faced with achieving a goal under severe pressure and numerous problems, that if not successfully attained will cost people their lives. [1] The organization had a common goal that was securely set in the minds of each team member and each member was well aware of what failure could ultimately cost the entire organization. Even under this tremendous pressure filled climate, the team was able to use different types of decision making techniques in order to be effective in solving the issue facing them. While the movie was of course dramatized to reach audiences, it was based on a true story. This gives the emotions, personal interaction and problem solving techniques projected by the film a strong basis as to how teams should aspire to function in today’s environment. The background of the team ultimately began with the competition between the U.S. and Russia and their space exploration programs. The Apollo 13 mission was at this point a routine trip to the moon. U.S. astronauts had completed a mission to the moon one...
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