Groupthink

Why Trust Techopedia

What Does Groupthink Mean?

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that leads members of a group to make poor decisions and ignore valid alternatives in the face of internal pressures from the group. Groupthink is a common problem in groups where the members share backgrounds and there is no system or rules for making decisions. In order to avoid groupthink, some organizations depend on software like enterprise decision management (EDM) software.

Advertisements

Techopedia Explains Groupthink

Groupthink is a particular danger in the world of business where people from similar professional backgrounds tend to make up executive-level management. When a group of decision-makers is insulated from the realities of day-to-day operations, they can quickly become more concerned with the harmony of the group than with the health of the business. Whether provided by a piece of software or not, the effects of groupthink can be mitigated by proper decision-making procedures, including gathering feedback from outside members, using models and scenarios, creating metrics to evaluate past decisions and so on.

Advertisements

Related Terms

Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.