Groupthink

Groupthink

I once had the occasion of experiencing what I believed to be a groupthink situation when the campus organization to which I belonged held its election of officers . That particular election was crucial to the group because we were under pressure from the school administration to do better after two successive years of less than mediocre performances or else face certain sanctions . When the time to elect our president came , a popular male member and a not-so-popular female member were nominated . We expected the presiding male member to allow the

nominees to speak , introduce themselves , and tell us about their plans so that the new members like me would have some basis for our votes However , he immediately asked the group to vote by raising their hands and since majority of the members were male , the male nominee got elected . When the newly elected president took over the process , he followed the same procedure down the line until the set of officers was completed

I was seated beside five other new members and we could only look at each other and shake our heads at the way the election was conducted . We were afraid to stand up and make our desires known because we might be snubbed or even ostracized since of the old members appeared to care . In fact when I tried asking my recruiter about it , he told me to just go along and choose whomever I d . Anyway , he said , the old members already knew who among them are qualified to hold the different positions in the organization . Unfortunately , he was proven wrong because for the third straight year , that organization failed to satisfy school authorities and was consequently suspended for one year

I believe that an organization should take the process of electing its officers seriously . It should carefully consider the qualifications of its members before entrusting them with the responsibility of taking over the helm of the organization , and not just elect whoever is popular . It should be pointed out that the female member who lost the presidency in that election was cited as the best campus organization president the following year - regrettably , she already belonged to a different organization...