All of the following may help a group avoid or minimize groupthink EXCEPT:
a. increasing the size of the team.
b. inviting outsiders who have a different perspective.
c. appointing a devil's advocate.
d. establishing procedures to protect alternative viewpoints.
Question 2Regarding ways to avoid groupthink, what is the goal of using the risk technique?
a. It allows groups to adopt different perspectives in order to create a mechanism that will instigate thinking more carefully about problems.
b. It creates an atmosphere in which team members can express doubts and raise criticisms without fear of rejection or team hostility.
c. It allows team members to assume the perspective of other constituencies with a stake in the decision.
d. It gives teams an opportunity to identify a second solution as an alternative to their first choice.
Question 3Research has found that instigating and upholding task-oriented conflicts in the decision-making process can be a strategy to counteract biased information seeking.
One conflict-stimulating procedure involves assigning a counterargument role to a group member. When consensus on a particular decision solution has emerged, the contrary employee tries to identify all weaknesses inherent in it. The group must then react to this criticism, and see if the arguments put forth can be invalidated. This procedure is an example of what type of dissent?
a. Devil's advocate procedure
b. Abilene paradox
c. Escalation of commitment
d. Confirmation bias
Question 4Groups perform better than individuals on a wide range of demonstrable tasks. What is a key reason why groups outperform individuals faced with the same task?
a. Groups are much more overconfident than individuals, regardless of their actual accuracy.
b. Groups are more likely to exacerbate some of the shortcomings displayed by individuals.
c. Groups outperform individuals due to a process in which group members become more accurate during the group interaction.
d. Groups are more likely to neglect case-specific information and ignore base-rate information.
Question 5Groupthink occurs when team members place the goal of __________ above all other decision priorities.
a. good judgment
b. ethical decisions
c. efficiency
d. consensus
Question 6Key symptoms of groupthink take root and blossom in groups that succumb to the pressures of reaching unanimity. Which of the following is one of those symptoms?
a. Members of the group regard themselves as invulnerable, morally correct, and exempt from organizational standards.
b. The group's process of creating ideas and reaching decisions is balanced, and out-group member opinions are respected.
c. There is a diversity of opinions within the group.
d. Group members constantly discuss their reservations about the group's controversial viewpoint.
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