11.4.2 Consequences of groupthink

The symptoms do not appear in every case. Therefore, not all the symptoms need to apply to a group in order for groupthink to be observed and to suffer from the consequences. These consequences may lead to a disaster, but not necessarily. Cases in which groupthink appears might blow over, but that is due to other factors than good decision-making (Janis 1982: 11, 243-245). The cases analysed by Janis, of which some were used in this section, resulted in a fiasco, but more in general groupthink will ultimately lead to a low probability of a successful outcome. This low probability is caused by the consequences of groupthink. Due to groupthink, decision-making suffers from ‘incomplete survey of alternatives, incomplete survey of objectives, failure to examine risks of preferred choice, failure to reappraise initially rejected alternatives, poor information search, selective bias in processing information at hand, and failure to work out contingency plans’ (Janis 1982: 175-176). All these consequences increase the probability of low-quality decision-making, which will ultimately lead to a lower performance of the organisation.