Groupthink And A Good Life.

Roger Boisjoly, one of the engineers of the fatal Challenger explosion, died last month at the age of 73. Before lift-off Boisjoly and his peers argued with NASA who wanted Challenger up in the air for PR and economic purposes and because individuals within NASA were under pressure from the media and central government. After the entirely avoidable catastrophe Boisjoly was shunned by former employers and his peers because he spoke out.

He had paid the stiff price often exacted of whistle-blowers. Thiokol cut him off from space work, and he was shunned by colleagues and managers. A former friend warned him, “If you wreck this company, I’m going to put my kids on your doorstep,” Mr. Boisjoly told The Los Angeles Times in 1987. He had headaches, double-vision and depression, he said. He yelled at his dog and his daughters and skipped church to avoid people. He filed two suits against [his employer]; both were dismissed. He later said he was sustained by a single gesture of support. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, hugged him after his appearance before the commission. “She was the only one,” he said in a whisper to a Newsday reporter in 1988. “The only one.”


It’s a useful time to look at the concept of Groupthink. Here are a couple of definitions:

A mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive ingroup, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action” 

Janis, 1972.

“Collective optimism and collective avoidance,” T Hart 1998

The Stamford Prison Experiment is a classic demonstration: some nice young men were randomly divided into Prisoner and Guard roles and abuse began within minutes. The psychologists involved – highly qualified and experienced professionals – became caught up in the drama and perpetuated the abuse. So did the ‘prisoners’ parents, lawyers and a chaplain, all brought in to authenticate the experiment.

http://www.prisonexp.org/

I see any number of clients who are successful, optimistic, positive and increasingly disturbed by their own consciences. It’s none of my business what decisions a person makes, my job is to provide the environment in which a person can discover for themselves what they believe to be best. In other words, to give clients the space to step outside of Groupthink.

The most recent Groupthink research suggests that groups that contain more positive disagreement are less likely to experience disaster than everyone whoopdedooing in agreement. Individuals know what is right and wrong, we just learn expedience and all too often that results in other people and ourselves suffering.

Eventually Boisjoly went to see a therapist and soon after began a new career in engineering ethics, expanding this work into other fields and organisations. The Challenger disaster is now standard ethics teaching including business ethics.

“He always stood by his work,” [his wife] recalls. “He lived an honourable and ethical life. And he was at peace when he died.”

Whether you’re a part of a team with huge power and influence, or a member of  a group under increasing financial pressure or a person stuck with a peer group that punishes dissent, having the space to consider what you really want from your own life, rather than someone else’s idea of a good and bad, may save you more trouble than you know.