Characteristics of Effective Teams Common goal Defined & accepted mission/objective Shared leadership Based upon expertise Civilized disagreements Centered around ideas and methods, not people

Characteristics of Effective Teams (cont.) Listening Questioning, paraphrasing, summarizing Participation Everyone is encouraged to be involved and share relevant knowledge Self-assessment Pay attention to group process How well are we functioning?

Group Decision Making Brainstorming Nominal group technique Group members are physically present in a “freewheeling” idea generation process All ideas are encouraged and are not to be critiqued Nominal group technique Face to face meeting, all individual ideas are presented with the goal of making a decision by the end of the meeting Electronic meeting Ideas are presented, discussed, and voted on anonymously via computer

Groupthink When group members striving for agreement (norm for unanimity), fail to realistically appraise alternative courses of action A means for a group to protect its positive image (extremely high in cohesion)

Groupthink video Identify factors that may lead to groupthink Identify “symptoms” of groupthink Identify methods to minimize groupthink

Presentation of Data Plot of O-Ring thermal distress (no erosion or “blow-by” of hot thermal gases) as a function of temperature 7 flights experienced O-Ring problems 3/7 were at temperatures greater than 75 degrees 4/7 were at temperatures below 65 degrees

But….. If you consider all 24 flights 4 out 4 experienced O-ring distress when temperatures were below 65 100% 17/20 experienced no distress when temperatures were above 65

Add 1% to your second midterm After the video, take 5 minutes and write a response to the following 2 questions: In your own words, why do you think the shuttle was launched? Why did NASA seem to readily accept Morton Thiokol’s reversal on the O-ring problem?

Antecedents of Groupthink Factors that may lead to groupthink High levels of cohesion Stressful decision-making context External pressure Tight budgets Recent failures

Symptoms of Groupthink Illusion of unanimity (false consensus) Silence implies agreement “I’m not going to call for a vote, I think we are all in agreement here” “We’ve decided..” Self-censorship Not speaking up (feeling of tension caused by pressure to be silent & internally wanting to speak up) “I had a few objections, but since everybody seems committed, I won’t bring them up.”

Symptoms of Groupthink (cont) Illusion of invulnerability & Rationalization “Our strategy has worked in the past, odds are it will again” Mindguards “No need for you to be at the meeting; I’ll summarize your concerns for the board”

Ways to Minimize Groupthink Avoid isolating the group Bring in outside experts Critical evaluators / Devil’s advocate Role is to question assumptions and uncontested information Open climate Leader invites and accepts divergent thinking Avoid being directive Strong leaders speak last or sometimes not at all