What is the difference between cohesiveness and groupthink

It can also be more subtle. When one company denigrates the work of another, when mechanics take longer than necessary to maintain the vehicles of the rated members who have been rude to them, or the battalion chief does not give an overworked company a break, then intergroup conflict has become dysfunctional. Most of the time, the problem is not the villainous scheme to subvert the mission, but an honest difference in what is seen as the best way to get the job done.

Consider, for example, the built-in conflict between the In-Service Training Division and field units. Contrast these goals with those of field resources — they run calls, deal with community relations problems, rookie training issues, and citizens screaming to go to the hospital.

In this example, and in hundreds of others that will occur during your career, the members of each of these work groups will feel righteous and correct in their attempts to achieve their own objectives. From the organizational perspective, do you see any better way to use and manage such differences? Groupthink is another potential hazard of high group cohesiveness.

This happens when individual group members lose the ability to think for themselves and rely on the group to make their decisions. Opinions held by the majority or by key group members are considered unanimous and alternative views are not encouraged.

Overly cohesive units can be suspicious of contradictory opinions voiced by outsiders. Poor or irrational decisions can be the result of this type of groupthink. Researchers found that when such conflict is high, higher team cohesion actually results in lower task performance.

Potentially negative outcomes can occur when highly cohesive groups exert pressure on their members to conform to group norms. While this adherence to norms has many benefits for the group as a whole, the same mechanism may result in negative social consequences. For example, the fact that abuses against individual members in military units, which tend to be highly cohesive, can go for long times unexposed, can be attributed in a large part to the tight norms of these very cohesive groups.

I think it's a subtle difference. A cohesive group respects everyone, and everyone's opinion. To me, cohesiveness allows for many sets of eyes looking out for problems to warn the group. Groupthinking is like the approach taken by zombies - stumble along, blindly following.

Groupthink is dangerous, it's a symptom of a lack of critical thought. Eventually bad things will happen to those who blindly follow. Products By Bayt. Use Our Mobile App. Get Fresh Updates On your job applications, and stay connected. Download Now.