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

2. 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?

3. 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

4. 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)

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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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?

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

10. 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.”

11. 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”

12. 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