In a feature article, SMU Dean of Postgraduate Professional Programmes and Associate Professor of Accounting (Practice) Themin Suwardy noted that the 2018 Singapore Code of Corporate Governance advises companies to avoid the pitfalls of “groupthink” by ensuring that there is sufficient diversity among the members of the board and board committees. He quoted Director of the SMU Behavioural Sciences Institute and Professor of Psychology David Chan’s definition of “groupthink” as "the phenomenon where a highly cohesive team makes bad decisions because team members withhold dissenting views to go along with majority opinion in order to maintain consensus and avoid conflicts". Prof Chan added that "groupthink happens when the team climate either forces or nudges members to keep quiet, agree with the leader and senior team members, or express only views that they think those in power want to hear". Assoc Prof Suwardy discussed recent scandals and failure resulting from corporate groupthink, listed symptoms of the behaviour and proposed strategies to guard against it. “The inclusion of a warning against groupthink in the 2018 Code is timely. The phenomenon is real and leaders need to be aware of its insidious effects and take active steps to prevent and combat it,” he concluded.
Source
The Business Times