Managing Group Decision Making Processes: Individual Versus Collective Accountability and Groupthink

• NCJ Number: 131633
• Journal: International Journal of Conflict Management Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1991) Pages: 91-115
• Author(s): M B R Kroon; P t Hart; D van Kreveld
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 25 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The hypothesis that accountability can prevent the collective-avoidance type of groupthink and that individual accountability will be more effective than collective accountability in doing so was tested.

Abstract

Subjects were 140, third-year social science students from three universities in The Netherlands. The three experimental conditions differed in the type of anticipated accountability: individual accountability, collective accountability, and a control condition with no accountability. Under conditions conducive to a collective avoidance, individual accountability was more effective in reducing groupthink-like tendencies than collective accountability. Group members expected to be collectively responsible still displayed fewer symptoms of groupthink than control groups. In particular, accountability made groups display more difficulty in reaching consensus, stimulated group members to try to influence the decision making, and resulted in a more equal dispersion of influence within the group and in less risky decisions. 3 figures, 2 tables, 1 appendix, and 38 references (Author abstract modified)