Guarding Against "Group Think"

The insightful January 2006 edition of the Harvard Business Review tackles the issue of decision making. One article discusses the dangers of too much uniformity in the decision-making process and the need for diverse perpectives to reach a good decision:

. . . research and events collaborated to expose collective decision making's dark underbelly. Poor group decisions--of the sort made by boards, product development groups, management teams--are often attributed to the failure to mix things up and question assumptions. Consensus is good, unless it is achieved too easily, in which case it becomes suspect. Irving Janis coined the term "group think" in 1972 to describe "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' striving for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action."

One is reminded of the guidance from 'Abdu'l-Bahá that "[t]he shining spark of truth cometh forth only after the clash of differing opinions." We all perhaps have experienced situations where a decision is reached too hastily without adequately appraising alternative courses of action, resulting in a less than optimal outcome. Interesting too to note that 'Abdu'l-Bahá's statement comends the clash of opinions, but not of people.