Are Group Debates Beneficial to Teams?

Group Debates Analysis

Group debates are beneficial tools when used properly to engage individuals and promote creativity. Group debates can provide critical evaluation and thought concerning different ideas. While group debates are beneficial in these ways they can also be negative in their impact on teams and other groups.

A team According to Schermerhorn, (2011) a team is defined as:

…a group of people brought together to use their complementary skills to achieve a common purpose for which they are collectively accountable. Real teamwork occurs when team members accept and live up to their collective accountability by actively working together so that all their respective skills are best used to achieve team goals.

Teams are especially prone to problems which are derived from the strength of personalities in the group in which individuals can end up leading the group. This is a serious disadvantage for groups which is known as groupthink. Groupthink occurs when members of a group begin following the lead of a single group member. In this situation, there is almost no feedback and criticism of ideas. This leads to a lack of creativity and constructive thinking. When groupthink occurs “group pressures lead to a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment” (Chadwick, 2014). When individuals are impacted by groupthink, they begin ignoring possible alternatives and lose originality.

Groups debates also have the disadvantage of being disorganized and lacking focus. When there is a lack of leadership or if individuals in the group are resistant to other members this makes the group prone to resistance (Chadwick, 2014). Groups can experience resistance in this manner and this can bar the group from achieving its goals.

Despite these disadvantages, the benefits of group debates can be highly beneficial to achieving goals and problem solving. Providing that a group is focused through clear goals and objectives, the group debate can inspire many different ideas. In order to achieve this end, group debates need to be structured in a manner which provides quality feedback and communication.

References

Chadwick, P. (2014). Groupthink. Retrieved from Oregon State University: http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/theory/grpthink.html

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