Case IncidentA Virtual Team at T.A.Stearns Question 1 Why is this group a team? Answer 1 This group can be easily seen as a team in which there is a formal group of four people who have pre-defined roles to perform. The group members here are part of a virtual team which means they can operate from anywhere they wish to, that is , they just have to check once a day through e-mails, messages and group conferencing software’s .Here are the reasons why this group is a team : 1. The team has shared leadership roles. All the four members of the team have full independence to work from anywhere and has a say in the decisions made by the team. 2. Team has individual and mutual accountability 3. The team has specific purpose the soul …show more content…
He found out that the production time had gone down a bit, while quality had shot up . He found proofs to his doubt in emails of Marge to Cy. He hinted it to Tom but he would not tell the truth. Finally things began to go out of control as Cy boasted his trick to a member of another virtual team and Dave took Cy out to a lunch. At the lunch Cy revealed about the innovation and that the team’s action had been justified to protect itself. Groupthink - A dysfunction of highly cohesive groups and teams that has received a lot of attention hasbeen referred to as groupthink. In groupthink there is a deterioration of mental efficiency,reality testing, and moral judgement that results from in-group pressure. It results from thepressures on individual members to conform and reach consensus that there is no realisticappraisal of alternative courses of action in a decision, and deviant, minority, or unpopoularviews are suppressed. Following are the characteristics of groupthink are manifested in thework team– There is theillusion of invulnerability –There is excessive optimism and risk taking. As wecan see here there is excessive optimism and risk taking behaviour shown by the team asthey kept the innovation to themselves having optimism regarding that the management won’t easily find out about it. Also the risk taking behaviour can be seen when they ignore the company policy for
The term groupthink in this report is defined as, the social psychological phenomenon that results in groups during pressure situations. This social psychology theory is broken down into eight signs. Illusion of invulnerability, Collective rationalization, Belief in inherent morality, Stereotyped views of out-groups, Direct pressure on dissenters, Self-censorship, Illusion of unanimity, Self-appointed “mindguards”. According to research conducted by Irving Janis, there are three conditions to groupthink. The first, "high group cohesiveness" which is the direction for a group to be in unity while working towards a goal, or to satisfy the emotional needs of its members. Secondly, the structural faults such as insulation of the group, lack
This case, as well as the previous two, are prime examples of how detrimental groupthink can have on the effect of your career or the lives of several others. It may not always be easy to recognize the dangers or altercations groupthink may have, which is why you should always appoint ‘mind guards’ to contradict the decisions made within a group setting. It is always beneficial to seek an outside source for their opinion, as it may be just the idea that the group has
In social psychology, and more importantly sociology, groupthink is a process by which members of a cohesive group arrive at a decision that many individual members privately believe it is unwise. Jonestown is an example of what can be considered dangerous conformity. The members of the Peoples Temple originally thought being in the organization was the right thing to do and they were making the right choices, but that day they followed their leader in drinking the cyanide Kool-Aid, some thought the ideas were unwise. Even though the members of the cult were questioning the idea in their head, they followed along with their leader. They never had a thought that Jones would do anything like what happened that
“Groupthink being a coinage - and, admittedly, a loaded one - a working definition is in order. We are not talking about mere instinctive conformity - it is, after all, a perennial failing of mankind. What we are talking about is a rationalized conformity - an open, articulate philosophy which holds that group values are not only expedient but right and good as well (p. 114).”
Groupthink is a problem-solving process in which proposals are accepted without a critical, careful review of the pros and cons of the alternatives, and in which considerable social pressure is brought out to bear against those expressing opposite view point’s (222). Groupthink is a process that almost occurred to the group at the beginning of 12 Angry Men. Eleven of the twelve men voted guilty without a review of the trail, almost sending a young boy to death. If it wasn’t for juror number eight, who expresses his opposing not guilty view, surely the group would have been a victim of the groupthink process. A young boy was almost sentenced to death, without even a discussion of what went on within the murder trial.
In the article “The Stanford Prison Experiment”, the author Philip Zimbardo tells an experiment that ran by a professor who wants to find how could a prison environment influence people in it. According to what the authors describes, the experiment is getting more and more out of control. Prisoners are getting tame and keepers are getting bossy which forces the team to stop the experiment in 6 days instead of 14 days. At the end, the author claims his idea about the experiment that he is surprised by how people can change in a special environment. As for me, this article gives me an idea that in some special situation, such as the prison environment in this article, groupthink is something unavoidable and uncontrollable.
The Team Assessment and the group discussions would seem to indicate that this is a group of individuals that are operating in a very structured environment and while they are referred to as a team they do not actually operate as a team.
Decision making is affected by the Group Think because of the lack of openness that should be displayed and offered by everyone involved. The development of the organization is dependent on the ability of the group to make decisions that are thought through and not made solely on pressures and accepted or narrow minded ways that are not thought out.
All with differing skills and levels of experience, to allow a service to be provided efficiently and effectively. Each member of the team has a purpose and a function within that team, so the overall success depends on a functional interdependency. There is usually not as much room for conflict when working as a team. The team also does not rely on groupthink to arrive at its conclusions.
Being in a group can be a wonderful experience except if you have a leader and you don't have a voice. Suddenly that can become dangerous and that is what we call groupthink. How can being in a groupthink be dangerous? Groupthink can be extremely dangerous because people will follow blindly, set aside their morals, and throw away any logic that they have.
The concept of groupthink was brought on by social psychologist Irving Janis in 1972. Groupthink is when a group is required to make a decision, and under that pressure, unifies to make one that can appear as unanimous of that group. The fact that there is a necessity to come up with a solution or an organized decision makes it so some members of the group will simply go along with the view of the majority. The pressure from the group causes there to often be questionable choices or outcomes. The results of groupthink could be risky or irrational in the rush of the thoughts coming to their actual real-life manifestation. Irving Janis emphasized that there are eight symptoms of groupthink, and a few of which are present almost always. Groups allow for encouragement and can lead to more extreme actions being carried out. Members of the group disregard any obvious signs to abandon a dangerous notion, and they have little consideration for ethics and morals that do not fall into line with their own. Groupthink incorporates stereotypes that the group may hold into their decision making. Members that might not otherwise think in such specific ways, are more likely to conform to the entirety of the group because of the power that lies in numbers. Members of the group are unlikely to go against any of the group’s views and will result in them becoming more complacent and agreeable regardless or
What is groupthink? There is a simple definition for it, but is it truly that simple? The term groupthink refers to the inclination of group members to have the same opinions and beliefs; it frequently leads to mistakes. It often occurs without an individual being aware of it. Conflict is considered to be a harmful element when related to groups, but conflict is good when considering groupthink because it helps to eliminate the existence of a groupthink. The explanation sounds simple enough, but it is more complex than the description given.
The personal style and personalities of each member in a group may be influence their team effectiveness. Individuals will tend to play an important role in a group and depend on their personality and working group style. To improve a team and effectiveness in project or working, each team member need to understand the role of every member in a group. With 3 contemporary theories of team roles to use in our group is:
Groupthink theory often occurs without the group’s realization. Irving Janis formed 8 different symptoms that indicate groupthink. The first of these symptoms is illusions of vulnerability. This occurs when members of the group are overly optimistic and believe that nothing negative will arise from their decision. Janis describes it as taking great risks and acquiring the attitude of “everything is going to be OK, because we are a special group”. Secondly we have belief in inherent morality. This symptom is characterized as the groups thought that they could do no wrong. They believe that they have high morality, that they are right in all situations and they ignore the ethical consequences that could arise because of their decisions. As the third
This type of group mentality is referred to as “groupthink.” Group think, a concept discovered by Irving Janis, is the thought process that takes place among members of a cohesive group wherein they cease to consider their individual desires and instead respond according to group beliefs. This is done to ensure the solidity of the group. The members value this even more than their own views.