Katerina Bezrukova of Rutgers University and her colleagues compared the effects of faultlines based on social categories (e.g., age, race, or gender) with those based on information (e.g., education or work experience). They found that groups with strong information-based faultlines perform better than groups with strong demographic-based faultlines. While the latter create dysfunctional conflict within the group, information-based faultlines provide the diversity of information needed for effective performance—in other words, they provide functional conflict.
Group negotiations are a fact of managerial life, yet the outcomes of teamwork are highly unpredictable. Sometimes groups cohere, reaching novel solutions to nagging problems, and sometimes infighting causes them to collapse.
When a leader senses groupthink, there are questions to re-orient the conversation. The leader can ask, "What are the unintended consequences of this path? How will it limit our options?" Another is "What are our assumptions that lead us to this conclusion? What data would we see or not see to validate or challenge this assumption? How do we know they are really true?" This is critical thinking! - David W Garrison , Profitable Engagements
One tactic I've found to overcome groupthink in organizations is to spend time developing multiple ideas or answers to challenges while in isolation. Have multiple team members develop not just one, but three or four ideas in isolation. Then aggregate all of those ideas and bring them together for discussion. This disrupts groupthink and many fresh, new ideas emerge. - Billy Williams , Archegos
A great way to mitigate this is to bring in diversity into the system in terms of race, gender, background, and/or mindset. By allowing for more viewpoints, while it might create more conflict and take more time in the short term , in the long term, it increases the bottom line and gives the company a competitive advantage. - Monica Thakrar , MTI
Share to Linkedin. "Groupthink" is a common corporate scenario in which multiple people feed off each other and ultimately come up with the same types of ideas. While collaboration and cooperation are good, your team will never innovate and grow if they never explore different ways of thinking and solving problems.
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One way leaders can expand a group's breadth of ideas is to break them into two teams which then discuss the pros and cons for a given idea. After 10 minutes, have everyone switch sides and take the other side of the debate. This strategy generates novelty and potential unexpected challenges.
"Groupthink" can be harmful as it can encourage mediocrity and settling for "what works." Once something that works is established, team members stop looking for another way. By stopping at "functional," the team never gets to "optimal" and innovation is stifled. Leaders can solve this by encouraging continuous improvement and rewarding creativity and innovation. - Rachel Bellack , The Improv Advantage
Conflict is human. Address it. Be open. Listen to all perspectives in any situation. As a senior leader, responsibility to make a decision about the resolution may reside with you. If so, explain your reasoning. There may also be an opportunity to empower employees to settle their differences without intervention. Do not be afraid to support this approach with your guidance. It may be developmental. - David Yudis, Potential Selves
Senior leaders need to model appropriate accountability for their own actions and in how they deal with the behaviors of members of their team. What often happens is that the higher up in the organization you go, the more the rules and policies don’t really seem to apply. There are then, in effect, two tiers of employees: senior leaders (who can do what they want) and everyone else. This is toxic. - Jonathan H. Westover, Utah Valley University & Human Capital Innovations, LLC
Employee conflicts occur when perspectives and views are not in sync. Having an open culture and communication channel is essential for healthy workplaces. Usually, the conflict is not about who is right or wrong but about both being correct in some way. Allowing for conversations to explore divergent perspectives is key. Thereafter, the leaders can convene to make a decision. - Thomas Lim, Singapore Public Service, SportSG
Conflict can be healthy or unhealthy. Teach your team what that looks like. Healthy conflict occurs when we debate issues or decisions, but not each other. We keep the focus on the thing being discussed and not the person. If unhealthy conflict arises, don’t ignore it. Quickly pull the employees together to find common ground. We learn by doing, so don’t miss an opportunity to teach. - Teresa Ray, Dr. Teresa Ray
Conflicts arise due to misaligned perspectives, values, goals and priorities. As a leader, it is critical to address conflicts as they arise. Ignoring them rarely makes them vanish. Acknowledge the conflict, identify the source of misalignment and clarify and correct it. Be fair as you help resolve the issue, and then continue to create an environment where conflicts will not be hidden away. - Gowri Ramani, Coach Lumen
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When you’re working with any kind of team , conflict is inevitable. In the workplace, conflicts between employees happen all the time, so it’s crucial for a senior leader to know how to handle them appropriately.
Companies create diverse teams to take on their most complex challenges — tasks across boundaries, functions and geographies that no single department or function could accomplish. Yet guiding these diverse teams to success requires some counterintuitive management practices. In particular, team leaders should focus on tasks at the early stages, rather than on interpersonal relationships, and then switch to relationship building when the time is right.
Project teams can fly or founder on the demographic attributes of team members and the fractures they can create. Here’s how to recognize the potential for division, and how to respond in time when team fractures do arise.