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Groupthink: It’s necessary for your business and employee management strategy

In this era, innovation is key to getting the competitive edge. Organisations actively seek out pioneers and 'out-the-box' thinkers. Groupthink, a pattern of thought characterised by self-deception as well as conformity to group values and ethics, is seen as an obstacle to success – of both your business and employee management strategy. In practice, however, the opposite is true, revealed Dr. Werner Barkhuizen, CEO and organisational psychologist at Saville Consulting at the company's lead launch held on Friday.

How can groupthink lead to business success?

All successful businesses, says Barkhuizen, have achieved the alignment between their employees' and the business goals, which means that groupthink is actually necessary because employees need to share a common goal and conform to certain values to align with the business's vision. When designing your employee management practices, you need to keep this in mind.

Employers need to ask: 'What's happening today?'

Barkhuizen identified corporate culture as a key tool to achieving the alignment between employees' goals and the business goals. Employers, advised Barkhuizen, should assess their corporate cultures and identify:

• The actual culture, and
• The preferred culture.

Alignment of business and employees' goals can be reached by incorporating values, which complement the business vision, into the corporate culture. This is where leaders play a crucial role.

Leaders set the example and become role models to other employees, which often leads to employees mimicking their behaviour and attitudes.

Alignment of business and employees' goals can only be reached if the leadership in place promotes and acts in accordance with the company vision.

In conclusion, every organisation that desires success needs to answer this question, concluded Barkhuizen:

"Is your leadership aligned with what your business wants to achieve?"

Frew Murdoch is the assistant editor of HR Pulse. She has a BA degree in communications and English and a passion for HR technology. Christine Botha, co-author of 'Ethics in HR Management: A guide for HR professionals and line managers', had this to say: "I stumbled across your review of our Ethics Guide published 28 June 2012 and wish to thank you for the positive and complimentary comments made – this was a lovely surprise and most rewarding. I will certainly pass this on to all co-authors of the Guide."