Question

1. What are some of the qualities of good leaders versus qualities that may make leaders ineffective?

2. Describe the concept of "Groupthink" and discuss an example that you are familiar with.

(This is referring the subject of industrial psychology).

Answer 1

1) Leadership has many forms but ultimately it is about working with other to achieve the desired goal and thus the main attribute of being a good leader is to be a team player first.A good leader must posses appropriate vision, knowledge and the experience to guide his team in the right direction and take the right decision demanded by the situation. Also, a good leader should be unbiased while taking decisions. He should be good at communication and approachable by his team. He must know the capabilities and the strengths of his team so that the work can be divided according to the capabilities of each individual. A good leader always encourages his team members and works with them to achieve the aim.

While a bad leader may lack these qualities. A bad leader may take the complete share of the success and may blame his team for the failures.

2) 'Groupthink' is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when every/most of the individual/individuals of a group, making a decision suppress their own view point due to various reasons such as avoiding conflicts, loyalty pressure, stereotypes,rigid leadership etc. This should be avoided as it may lead to the ignorance of unpopular opinion and alternative solutions.One of the classic example of this phenomenon is that of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Despite being warned by the Washington, the officers at Pearl Harbor ignored the threat of an assault by the Japanese assuming that Japanese would not dare to attack the harbor.