Groupthink In Social Work

Groups are formed when individuals have a common interest, view, goal, or purpose. While these similarities draw them together, overtime Groupthink can take over and potentially cause issues in the group, and beyond. Groupthink can be described as having a one-track mindset in accordance with the group, simply being a follower. With fear of being ostracized by individual thoughts that differ from the group, Groupthink causes members to remain silent and follow the majority opinion, even if it is wrong or harmful. System theory is beneficial to social workers, as it is used to help them identify, define and address problems in social systems. As Kirst-Ashman (2011) explains, “We have established that systems theories provide an exceptionally useful means for understanding human behavior in many contexts…” (pp.78). In system theory, social workers assume a …show more content…
Per Irving Janis, “There are symptoms including the refusal to consider failure and refusal to adapt or alter the plan to meet the reality of the situation” (Groupthink, 2011, para. 2). Currently in 2016 groupthink seems to be prominent at political rallies. The leader speaks passionately, the crowd cheers, and everyone leaves feeling empowered and confident despite whether or not their candidate is winning the election. To complete this assignment a task group was formed. Members came together to, “Apply the principles of group dynamics to solve problems, develop innovative ideas, formulate plans, and achieve goals” (Kirst-Ashman, 2011, pp.109). Using the language of field theory all five members worked as a group in a positive direction in order to reach a consensus on the assignment. Kirst-Ashman (2011) explains that, “Consensus is the extent to which group members concur about group goals and other aspects of group interaction”