Groupthink - 1185 Words

On October 15, 1962, the United States viewed reconnaissance photographs of Cuba and discovered Soviet missiles which were under construction. The next day President John F. Kennedy was informed of the discovery and the President formed a group of twelve advisors to plan and handle the crisis. The advisors met for seven days to plan a strategy on how to handle the crisis and on October 22, 1962, President Kennedy revealed the crisis to the American public and of his decision to surround and blockade Cuba. President Kennedy also made the announcement that the Soviets would need to remove their missiles from Cuba and any missiles fired from Cuba would be considered a direct threat to and attack on the United States. President Kennedy†¦show more content†¦The next change was the change in group atmosphere. The sessions would be devoted to open and frank discussion and the usual rules of protocol were to be suspended (Janis, 1982). A formal agenda was not followed during the ses sions (Janis, 1982). Outside experts were invited to the sessions to give their views and were questioned about their conclusions (Janis, 1982). New advisors were brought in from time to time as visitors, and members of the group would ask these visitors for input during their discussions (Janis, 1982). The third change was the added meetings of subgroups. The Executive Committee was broken into two subgroups to facilitate critical thinking (Janis, 1982). The subgroups would meet separately to come up with a policy decision and would then come back together as one to debate and cross-examine each other’s decisions (Janis, 1982). The last change was the leaderless sessions. President Kennedy would deliberately be absent from the meetings, particularly in the beginning, to avoid influence on his advisors (Janis, 1982). When the President was absent from the meetings either Robert Kennedy or Secretary of State Dean Rusk would chair the meetings and were also instructed to not tr y to direct the group in decisions (Janis, 1982). TheShow MoreRelatedEffect Of Groupthink On Investing989 Words   |  4 PagesFinance 393 Professor Hocter 21 November 2016 Effect of Groupthink on Investing Groupthink is something that influences most things that people do on a daily basis. People use groupthink every single day to make decisions, to confirm their decisions, or even to compare to the decisions that they have already come to. Although groupthink has its distinct advantages in certain situations, there are without a doubt situations in which groupthink can be seen as a hindrance. How companies, and even individualsRead MoreGroupthink: Problem Solving and Groups Essay1742 Words   |  7 PagesGroupthink The Challenger space shuttle explosion. The Bay of Pigs invasion. The Korean War debacle (Janis 1-28). 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