Situation: You Think You Might Need to Spice Things Up...
Bad things happen when you team loses interest in the details. I was reading this PMI piece on GroupThink and GroupShift and as I tried to identify the take away, it occured to me - fancy names for common problems don't always help. Brian R. King defines the two terms as follows:In groupthink, the norm for group consensus overrides an individual’s propensity to appraise alternative courses of action.
In groupshift, the initial position of individuals in the group exaggerates toward a more extreme position.
We've all seen these things happen before, but I question whether the distinction between the two terms is even important. I think these things come about because 1 or 2 people out of 10 have a strong opinion and everyone else just wanted to be done with the issue.
I'm pretty sure that the thing to focus on is not the finer points of whether your group is experiencing GroupThink or GroupShift, but rather:
- making sure that everyone understands the impact of making the right decision. (why its important)
- and making sure they are accountable for their position. (so if they say, "me too" they had better be right)
Posted on: May 25, 2007 11:36 PM |
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