A major player from the Challenger Disaster is Allan McDonald. He was the director of the solid rocket booster project and the Morton-Thiokol representative at Cape Kennedy. Out of the eight different Impediments to Responsible Action‚ McDonald most represented “fear.” This is shown during the Cape Kennedy conference when “[McDonald] refused to sign the formal recommendation to launch…” but failed to warn everyone that the rocket’s O-rings would not function at one hundred-percent due to the low
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Even though when we work in groups we usually strive for a harmonious and cooperative environment‚ this does not mean that an environment in which all members are in total agreement is desirable. The phenomenon termed groupthink describes the kind of situations in which each member of a group attempts to conform his/her opinion to what they believe to be the consensus of the group. Whereas this might be seen by some as a way of keeping the peace among group members‚ it is a rather negative attitude
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1. Groupthink 1.1 Definition Janis defines groupthink as “a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group‚ when members strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action.” His major proposition is that groups displaying most of the symptoms of groupthink are more likely to display symptoms of defective decision making‚ resulting in poor policy outcomes. The crucial determinant of groupthink
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situation‚ I can see that there are a couple of different examples of Groupthink occurring. First‚ Self-Censorship‚ which is when an individual decides not to say‚ or do something that may offend someone else. In our case‚ we didn’t want to get Susan going on a rant because we dared to oppose her. We were afraid of her. Trust me‚ we had seen it happen when someone clashed with her and it was not pretty. The second example of Groupthink as Irving Janus identified it is Illusions of Unanimity. In the
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The Perils of Groupthink and How to Avoid It. Groupthink is defined as a "mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group‚ when the members ’ strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically alternative courses of action" (Janis 9). The Bay of Pigs invasion‚ the escalation of the Vietnam War‚ and the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger have all been attributed to groupthink. Unfortunately‚ groupthink is usually attributed
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you did not want to appear unsupportive of the group’s efforts? If so‚ you have probably been a victim of "Groupthink". Irving Lester Janis (26 May 1918 - 15 November 1990) was a research psychologist at Yale University and most famous for his theory of "groupthink" which described the systematic errors made by groups when taking collective decisions(Wikipedia).Janis described “groupthink” as “a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group.When the
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GROUPTHINK THEORY COMM410 As people‚ when confronted with a problem where a solution must be found‚ our ideal situation is to come up with the best possible one. To do this‚ we ideally gather the most knowledgeable‚ intelligent individuals into a group and attempt to derive the best solution to the problem. With the collection of these people‚ one would think that finding the best possible answer to the problem would be a rather simple task. However‚ what has happened in many situations is
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as Simple as One‚ Two‚ Three . . . Getting Ahead Hotel City Who the Hell Is Herman? Feynman Sexist Pig! I Just Shook His Hand‚ Can You Believe It? Letters‚ Photos‚ and Drawings MR. FEYNMAN GOES TO WASHINGTON: INVESTIGATING THE SPACE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER DISASTER Preliminaries Committing Suicide The Cold Facts Check Six! Gumshoes Fantastic Figures An Inflamed Appendix The Tenth Recommendation Meet the Press Afterthoughts Appendix F: Personal Observations on the Reliability of the Shuttle 11 11 20 54
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GROUPTHINK THEORY Groupthink is a concurrence-seeking tendency that can deter collective decision-making processes and lead to poor decisions that induce fiascos‚ (Janis‚ 1972‚ 1982). Janis (1972) defined groupthink as "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group‚ when the members’ strivings for agreement override their motivation to realistically review alternative courses of action. Janis listed eight symptoms of group think: Illusions of invulnerability
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"Group Decision Fiascoes Continue: Space Shuttle Challenger and a Revised Groupthink Framework" is a review of the tragedy that took place on January 28‚ 1986 when the space shuttle‚ Challenger‚ exploded shortly after launch. This review tells of how "groupthink" was the likely cause of the accident. The fact that we as a society so easily succumb to groupthink says a lot about us. First‚ it shows how we are a very conformist society. Peer pressure is still very difficult for us to resist even
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