Week 7, Friday Lecture Outline

Complications of Working in Groups

Week 7, Friday

Psychology 360

Outline

I. Groupthink: The dark side of agreement
II. The road to Abilene
III. Groups at work

Groupthink: The Dark Side
of Conformity

hyper-agreement, inability to entertain alternative arguments
strong function of group cohesion and group process
"self censorship," "mind guarding"

The Road to Abilene

conventional wisdom = groupthink results from social pressure (e.g., conformity)
alternative = conformity is a comfortable myth that excuses us from acting
Asch -- coercion in groups is real
we concoct coercion as a justification for not rocking the boat

Groups at Work

Bob Lozen
- UM BBA and MBA
- plant manager, chip assembly
- Hewlett Packard in Ft. Collins, CO
use of groups at Hewlett Packard
failure stories
success stories

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Revised - November 4, 1996