I just love watching how a group of individuals can convince themselves of anything.  It's incredible the kind of rationaliztions organizations can take on.  It's like a snowball effect.  One layer of rationalization adds on top of another and on top another, to create this huge disaster rolling down the hill.  Nothing can stop it, really, until it hits a stick in the mud or explodes against the impending wall. It's fortunate if it hits the stick first, because it may simply disperse quietly without exploding.

I mean, in all fairness, the individuals part of a group think session are intelligent, passionate, and sincere. It's just that their thoughts become suffocated by the narrow boundaries the group has created.  Perhaps the smart ones actually draw a blank, because by this they can escape the craziness.  Then again, perhaps that is a rationalization in itself.  Who knows.

Group think is peer pressure to the max.  If you happen to bear an idea that does not conform to the group's thoughts, you become irrelevant, unless you also conform.  The other option is to simply keep quiet, which is also dangerous, because you become somewhat of an disrespected outcast. 

I have to admit, when the idea is good, group think can seem to possess some awesome synergies.  You'd hear people saying things like, "wow, we're on a roll!"  The danger is that it is easy for people to lose sight of the potential pitfalls.

Like it or not, group think drives many businesses.  Although, I suspect, more often than not, it drives businesses to failure.

by John E. Tran