Irving Janis did lots of work in the area of group communication. He wondered why intelligent groups of people sometimes made decisions that led to disastrous results. Janis focused on the political arena. Janis was puzzled by the inability of very intelligent people to make sound decisions. His answer was a condition he termed Groupthink.
Groupthink can lead to bad judgments and decisions being made.
It serves as a simple way to deal with difficult issues. The symptoms of Groupthink are clear. The group believes that it is doing the right thing in all circumstances. All of these are symptoms of Groupthink. If one or more of these are commonplace in a particular group, change must occur.