Groupthink occurs when individuals in a team avoid transparency and oversights by preserving the status quo instead of accepting dissenting opinions. Instead of focusing on finding suitable solutions, the group members conform their opinions around the wrong decisions. According to Rothwell (2012), groupthink is a psychological phenomenon in which individuals struggle for consensus within a team. Group members usually aside keep their personal beliefs and adopt the opinion of the majority of team members. Group members who have differing opinions set their ideas aside and adopt the majority group members' views. Janis asserts that groupthink is caused by an overestimation of the group's power and morality, cloud-mindedness, and pressure towards uniformity ( Rothwell, 2012) . Groupthink arises from group identity, stress, low knowledge, and influence by the group leaders.
Groupthink can have a detrimental effect on the performance of the team or organization. First, groupthink can lead to poor decision-making because individuals are unwilling to speak their minds. Groupthink compromise the ability of the team members to make suitable decisions ( Rothwell, 2012) . Even when a group member has the best solution for the team or organization, they prefer to keep quiet and follow the majority even though their decision is wrong. Taking the Abilene paradox case, the group failed to manage agreement and come up with the right decision due to groupthink. Group members agreed to the idea of father-in-law going on a trip, although they were unwilling to take a long drive on a hot afternoon ( Rakaesh Vijayan, 2017 ). Another effect of groupthink is that it leads to inefficient problem solving since team members suppress their individual opinions. Since the rest, if the group members do not listen to dissenting views, problem-solving become a challenge. Lastly, groupthink in an organization and group leads to suppression of innovation. Due to suppression of individual thoughts, the organization fails to see and respond to trend in the market or adopt emerging technology. The organization might lag and lose to the competitors who allow individuals to express their opinions and ideas.
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References
Rakaesh Vijayan. (2017). Abilene Paradox 1 Trip [DVD]. Rakaesh Vijayan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM-XyALCGXM&feature=emb
Rothwell, J. (2012). In mixed company: Communicating in small groups . Nelson Education.
