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Understanding the Effects of Groupthink in the Workplace
Although individual skills and performance impact the success of a business, individuals are components of an overall mechanism. In music, the sound of the individual instruments combine to produce the resonance we call music. Like music, individuals certainly play a significant role in business operations and the individual significance of each employee must be understood, but the group dynamic must also be comprehended. When people are part of a group, they behave differently than as individuals, thus groupthink impacts the workplace differently than individual perspectives.
As a group, employees have objectives that must be met. If management over focuses on the needs and wants of individuals then it becomes far more difficult to appease the interests of employees, thus the performance of all employees could suffer. Recognizing efforts to please a group of employees with incentives designed to appease the group and its leadership is important, because it helps businesses effectively respond to the interests of employees. Addressing the interests of the group can very successfully mitigate the need to consider the interests of every single employee.
On the other hand, over simplifying the interests of employees based on their group membership can create harmful biases. Looking down on subordinates, management can misgauge the concerns and interests of certain individuals, because they look at workers as a single group. Ignoring the differences between subcultures in the workplace can be a serious misstep as applying an ineffective incentive or consequence across all employees can be costly in term of money, productivity, and employer-employee relations.
Consequently, looking at employees as a single group versus a group of individuals can be quite detrimental when inappropriate. Aside from the human trait to seek out ways to distinguish ourselves as unique individuals, viewing issues as the symptom of a group dynamic can lead to workplace conflicts between supervisors and subordinates if tactics are tailored to address issues in ways that make employees feel disenfranchised. It is important to recognize when an individual's interests must be addressed versus focusing too heavily on the interests of the group.
Groupthink in the workplace can be used by management to positively influence the behavior of employees and to produce better results. At the same time, relying too heavily on groupthink can allow serious issues to fester within a company where subcultures exist. Where groupthink can bring employees together in a singular effort to address issues within a business, properly interpreting how employees will be affected by incentives and punitive policies as a group and individuals is very important; otherwise, waste and conflict are sure to prevail.
As a group, employees have objectives that must be met. If management over focuses on the needs and wants of individuals then it becomes far more difficult to appease the interests of employees, thus the performance of all employees could suffer. Recognizing efforts to please a group of employees with incentives designed to appease the group and its leadership is important, because it helps businesses effectively respond to the interests of employees. Addressing the interests of the group can very successfully mitigate the need to consider the interests of every single employee.
On the other hand, over simplifying the interests of employees based on their group membership can create harmful biases. Looking down on subordinates, management can misgauge the concerns and interests of certain individuals, because they look at workers as a single group. Ignoring the differences between subcultures in the workplace can be a serious misstep as applying an ineffective incentive or consequence across all employees can be costly in term of money, productivity, and employer-employee relations.
Consequently, looking at employees as a single group versus a group of individuals can be quite detrimental when inappropriate. Aside from the human trait to seek out ways to distinguish ourselves as unique individuals, viewing issues as the symptom of a group dynamic can lead to workplace conflicts between supervisors and subordinates if tactics are tailored to address issues in ways that make employees feel disenfranchised. It is important to recognize when an individual's interests must be addressed versus focusing too heavily on the interests of the group.
Groupthink in the workplace can be used by management to positively influence the behavior of employees and to produce better results. At the same time, relying too heavily on groupthink can allow serious issues to fester within a company where subcultures exist. Where groupthink can bring employees together in a singular effort to address issues within a business, properly interpreting how employees will be affected by incentives and punitive policies as a group and individuals is very important; otherwise, waste and conflict are sure to prevail.
