Avoiding Abilene Bea Carson Page 1 5/22/2006 AVOIDING ABILENE: BREAKING OUT OF GROUPTHINK by Dr. Bea Carson Introduction Have you been trapped in the frustration of meetings that were not functioning well? Have you sat in a meeting where you did not speak your mind because you knew the risk, or the futility of it? Perhaps you suffered in more bad meetings than you participated in useful ones. Did meetings, when nothing of value was accomplished, seem a terrible waste of time, yours
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Critique of The Abilene Paradox: The Management Of Agreement Section (3) Article (7) By ROHINI GANDHOTRA Dr. Frear MBA 500: Business and Leadership January 31, 2009 BIOGRAPHY Jerry B. Harvey, a management expert and pioneer of The Abilene Paradox is a Professor of Management at The George Washington University. During his career, he has served as a consultant to a wide variety of industrial, governmental, religious, military, educational, and voluntary organizations. He is the
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Groupthink in a Family Trust This is a concept application paper of the term groupthink as applied to the decision making process of a family trust. The paper is broken into to three major parts. First section of the paper is to explain the concept of groupthink, what it is defined to be. The second part of the paper is an analysis of my personal experience with groupthink within a family trust. The third part of the paper proposes a remedy other than argument and debate which would act as
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Groupthink is the concept of having many people go along in agreement with a decision essentially because, either someone of authority has spoken and others are afraid to contradict their idea, or because in the silence of a discussion, each individual believes that others agree with the “apparent” consensus and don’t want to demolish the group cohesiveness . For example, have you ever thought about raising an issue or question in a group meeting, but then abstained because you didn’t want to destroy
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Janis’s model of groupthink is arguably the most widely publicized application of psychological principles to high level military, political and technical group decision- making in the history of experimental psychology. This had to have pleased its author who offered this formulation as a compelling bridge between principles documented by laboratory research and “real life” problems (e.g., Janis, 1971). As such the model “legitimized” the importance of decades of academic research on social influence
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Various Ways to Prevent Group-think * Foster open climate for discussion ① Seating Arrangement Seating arrangement is important in creating an open atmosphere for discussion. Most organizations are hierarchical so that it is usually hard for subordinates to express their ideas directly to their heads. If members of an organization seat in orderly manner by their positions, there should be an invisible wall, which prevents from expressing their ideas. Thus, the climate is rather formal
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Leading Ideas: Revisiting the Abilene Paradox: Is Management of Agreement Still an Issue? | |by Kathryn J. Deiss, ARL Office of Leadership and Management Services Program Manager In 1974, Professor Jerry Harvey of George Washington University developed a parable from a real-life experience to describe the issues surrounding how individuals reach agreement, or, more specifically, believe they have reached agreement. Twenty-five years later the lessons and insights his parable generates are still
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On October 15, 1962, the United States viewed reconnaissance photographs of Cuba and discovered Soviet missiles which were under construction. The next day President John F. Kennedy was informed of the discovery and the President formed a group of twelve advisors to plan and handle the crisis. The advisors met for seven days to plan a strategy on how to handle the crisis and on October 22, 1962, President Kennedy revealed the crisis to the American public and of his decision to surround and blockade
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Assignment of General Management on the Abilene Paradox: The Management of Agreement Joseph NGENZI MPAM/3020/11 This Term Paper is Submitted in partial fulfillment of UNIT MBA 603 grades of the School of Business and Public Management for the award of Master of Public Administration and Management. Mt. Kenya University July, 2011 INTRODUCTION Four adults are sitting on a porch in 104-degree heat in the small town of Coleman, Texas, some 53 miles from Abilene. They are engaging in
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In 1897, the occupants of a small Pennsylvania village live in fear of nameless creatures in the surrounding woods. They have constructed a large barrier of oil lanterns and watch towers that are constantly manned to keep watch for "Those We Don't Speak Of." It is explained that the villagers have a long-standing truce with the monsters; the villagers do not go into their woods, and the creatures do not enter their village. After the funeral of a seven-year-old boy, Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix)
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