The Problem Advert is a medium sized marketing company.

The company received a special project from one of its most important clients to advertise the launch of a 60-inch plasma flat-screen television. Advert assigned its talented employees: Evan !onner Ale"is #erek and $udy to do this project. They %ere given the freedom to %ork on the project from the &eginning to the end. They could come up %ith their ideas hire the necessary create and maintain the &udget and present the final advertisement to the clients. 'hile discussing this project !onner took the lead and proudly started telling the group a&out his idea for the advertisement. (e told the others that he kne% the clients %ell and that they %anted an )out of the &o"* commercial. Ale"is %as actually %orried a&out his idea &ut she agreed that they had to do something ne%. Evan and $udy did not say anything and &oth agreed %ith !onner+s idea. #erek had also %orked %ith the clients &efore more so than any of the other mem&ers. (e had his o%n different idea than !onner+s. (o%ever &ecause the rest of the team agreed %ith the idea he %ithheld his o%n commercial idea and instead also agreed %ith !onner. The team %orked %ell %ith each other %ithout conflict and finished the commercial a month ahead of schedule. ,n the end the clients disliked the commercial and hired Adverts+ competitors instead. 'hile %atching television a fe% months later #erek sa% a commercial for the flat screen television similar to the commercial he had envisioned during the original meeting. Key Problems -. There is a dominant mem&er in the group .leadership/. !onner %as the dominant mem&er in the group.

0. There is a personality limit: E"traversion - !onner %as the most e"troverted one in the group. (e assumed the leader position from the &eginning and immediately communicated his idea to the group. The rest %ho %ere more introverted felt intimidated and did not convey their ideas. Agreea&leness - The agreea&leness level of the team %as very high in that most of them directly agreed %ith one another. They %ere also very cooperative and avoided conflict &y not arguing %ith other mem&ers of the group. 1. 2c!lelland+s Theory of needs: 3ased on 2c!lelland+s theory !onner %as more eager to satisfy his need for 4o%er .n4o%/ to make others &ehave the %ay he %ants %hile the others are more likely to have higher need for affiliation .nAff/ the desire for closer relationship. 5. 6oal-setting theory and self-efficacy theory: The team mem&ers tended to &e more agreea&le %ith !onner rather than adding their o%n ideas and making the initial &rainstorm a conversation rather than an immediate decision. The goal-setting theory says that specific goals %ith feed&ack lead to higher performance. (o%ever !onner asserted himself as the most dominant mem&er and related more to the self-efficacy theory that he %as capa&le of performing the task. 7. 3iases

8verconfidence &ias 9 !onner %as so confident %ith his ideas that he overestimated the outcome of it. (e should have asked for other ideas rather than asking if his co%orkers agreed %ith him. 'ith feed&ack and constructive criticism the commercial could have &een much more effective. Escalation of commitment 9 #erek having %orked for the client &efore kne% that !onner+s idea %ould not &e ideal. (e had his o%n ideas and opinions: ho%ever he decided to agree %ith !onner &ecause he did not %ant to &ring do%n the moral of the group even though he kne% that the clients %ould not &e as inclined to accept it. 6. !ommunication (aving assumed a leadership role in the group !onner directly conveyed his idea to the other mem&ers and asked for their opinion a&out his idea at the end. (e did not give the other mem&ers e;ual chance to present their ideas %hich ultimately ended in their failure.

Possible Solutions ,n order to improve the group+s internal communication all mem&ers should &e re;uired to develop and propose an idea. ,n the group only !onner suggested an idea for the commercial. Although Ale"is vocalized her dissent her desire to maintain solidarity %ithin the group influenced her not to pitch her idea. ,n order to maintain a fair and un&iased environment each individual+s detailed proposal may &e su&mitted anonymously: as a result this %ould limit groupthink. Although this method may take more time and cost the company more money it guarantees a greater range of ideas and

perspectives and increases individual participation<thus increasing personal autonomy. As a result this method enhances the team+s open-mindedness increases communication e;ualizes participation and improves productivity. Another %ay to resolve the communication pro&lem is to develop a team contract. ,n the case study !onner< a type-A personality e"trovert and close-minded leader< %ill aim to dominate the group due to his personality. 3y developing a &inding contract &oth the company and the team mem&ers %ould agree on appropriate guidelines and steps needed to more efficiently and productively reach their goal. This contract %ould define deadlines guidelines and defiant &ehavior %hile also allocating skill specific jo&s to individuals. Although the a contract %ould limit the group+s autonomy and organizational creativity it %ould ensure that the meetings %ould &e more efficient in creating a %elldeveloped product that %ould more fully meet company standards. =astly in order to resolve the pro&lems %ithin the team+s composition the company should hire a more diverse team. ,f each mem&er is from a different financial ethnic and cultural &ackground and has varying %ork-e"perience and task specialization the group %ill &e more diverse and have a greater perspective on the task. Additionally %ith a greater variety of individuals there %ill most likely &e a greater range in individual+s 3ig- 7 characteristics. Therefore each mem&er+s specific skills and personality type %ill determine their jo& role %ithin the team. This %ill limit unaccredited dominance %ithin a group. ,n regard to the case study the main issue %ithin the group+s composition %as that all the mem&ers had high agreea&leness scores: thus no one %anted to ruin the team+s solidarity. (o%ever %ith varying scores of agreea&leness more team mem&ers %ill &e %illing to speak against the group norm. As a result this %ill increase

idea innovation. Solution After careful analysis of the situation %e have come to the agreement that the main pro&lem the group faced %as groupthink. 6roupthink occurred in this group due to the mem&ers+ rationalization of resistance to their ideas. 2em&ers of the group reinforced this rationalization &y conforming to the opposition that !onner created in order to maintain group solidarity. Another evident cause %as that Ale"is avoided confrontation &y simply conforming to !onner+s ideas. Although she tried to propose another idea to the team she received an evaluation as a fro%n a &ody gesture that e"presses displeasure. ,n addition another e"ample is #erek+s action to remain ;uiet even though he had the &est idea for their client+s commercial. =astly &y remaining almost ;uiet to giving feed&ack to !onner+s idea each mem&er voted )yes*. As the case study sho%s groupthink attacked this group and hindered their performance. The pressure from conformity deterred the group from considering diverse and &etter-fitting ideas and inhi&ited the group+s overall communication. 6iven that %e have an efficient team rather than an effective team %e found that to decrease pressures %e %ill implement a nominal group techni;ue via electronic meeting &ecause it has demonstrated the a&ility to minimize groupthink &y com&ating pressures > conflicts. The follo%ing plan has &een designed to minimize communication during the cognitive process %hich is the main cause of team+s pro&lem. 8ur plan is to have all the individuals %ithin the team develop and propose an idea for the project. ?ominal groupthink %ill restrict communication during the decision making process.

#uring the cognitive period mem&ers %ill independently %rite do%n ideas for the T@ commercial project. After the cognitive period there %ill &e no discussion or criticism of the proposals and mem&ers %ill input their data anonymously into a computer that %ill scram&le the proposals and present them to the group. (ere they %ill &e a&le to e"press their honest opinion &y adding commentary regarding other proposals. Ainally the proposal that &ecomes highly ranked among the group %ill %in and thus this %ill automatically select the proposal+s %riter as the project+s leader. 3y using this process e"cess )chitchat* %hich causes digressions in the discussion %ill &e reduced thus saving time and money. Also there %ill &e limited social loafing. Bince every mem&er is re;uired to participate there %ill &e &oth an increase in idea diversity and mem&er contri&ution. This %ill contri&ute to a high task orientation &ecause each mem&er %ill %ork on the project from the &eginning to the end. There %ill also &e a sense of high task orientation since every mem&er %ill &e focused in the final decision to &egin the process to %ork on the project. =astly &y all individual+s &eing involved in the process there %ill &e a shared responsi&ility in the product. Thus no one individual %ill &e held accounta&ility due to the other+s desire to avoid confrontation and discomfiture. (o%ever this process may decrease group cohesiveness. 3ecause during the cognitive period there %ill &e less group interaction it may reduce individual commitment to the project. This might occur if a team mem&er+s idea is rejected and they are forced to develop another mem&er+s idea. Another potential issue is the e"tra cost electronic meetings. 3ecause they re;uire more resources< such as valued time specialized soft%are and soft%are training< it might not &e the most cost-efficient %ay for the group to interact. =astly the designated leader chosen &y the selection of

hisCher contract may not &e the most ;ualified leader. Therefore due to the selection process conflict may arise due to the leadership skills of the prospective leader. ,t is apparent that group performance is crucial for the success of the company. 'e are confident that %ith the solution provided Advert %ill increase effectiveness of their group decision-making process that %ill eventually lead to great success in their future projects. 3y doing this Advert %ill gain credi&ility %ith their clients and increase the revenue of their company. ,n this manner the success of the employees %ill reflect the performance of the company.