Dr. Jerry Harvey narrated
this story to be the founder of the “Abilene paradox “theory.
Abilene's paradox occurs
when a group of people decide together to do something that each individual is
opposed to do, but fear of being the single voice to opposing, pretend that
they are agree and eager to do that.
Abilene's paradox is one
of the catastrophes that dictators are hitting in large-scale decisions and
giant companies are exploiting employees.
The role of democracy /
good director is to stop the "Paradox of Abilene" and encourage the
citizen / employee to criticize and disagree.
1- To what extent you agree with this?
2- When was the last time you've faced the paradox of
Abilene?
3- What are the ways to resist Abilene's paradox in
your point of view?
Comments
I think the best way to resit it is to be assertive, think about own needs and say what you think.
2. I do not encounter such situations, but the paradox reminds me very much of the situation when you need to choose "of all evils - the least."
3. Impossible to resist is my opinion because each person makes his choice and why do you think that not to make a decision is not a choice? It suits many people, the opportunity to decide nothing if a significant person has already decided or a group of people has made a decision
When it comes to adults there is a tendency to Abilene paradox at work when person do not want to argue or when it's manager idea and someone wants to earn respect in his eyes and they agree with all ideas without any comments.
Personally I think, people shouldnt be afraid to express their opinion and they should learn how to be assertive from the very young age.
So this effect arises unconsciously.
To be fair I can't remember the last time I've faced the paradox of Abilene. Maybe I have never experienced this paradox?
From my point of view, the best way to resist Abilene's paradox is to be more bold and rebellious against others.
Everyone, when opposed to something, is better off to express it than to agree completely with dissatisfaction, but not to express it.
We all sometimes find themselves in a situation where we prefer to be in agreement with the collective view, perhaps because we do not want our opposition to cause any disgrace. Maybe I am kind, one of the reasons for the creation of the Abilene's paradox theory.
The unwillingness to oppose a collective decision in some species of animal is proven. But in most cases, the opposing entities of the community either have been driven out of the small community or have been introduced as an anti-community.
Perhaps one of the reasons that you did not remember when it came to this theory is because we always prefer not to opt for the opposite, for example, going to a party, but you're reluctant to go And, on the other hand, you think that going to a party would change my mood , this dichotomy of decision making can be one of the reasons why a person may not realize in a collective decision that the theory has occurred.
I faced this paradox in my high school once. Actually, I was the one with the fear to oppose. The situation wasn't so horrible in general, but the actions of several people was.
There are several ways to resist it in my point of view. The first one - think out of the current box. Try to distance yourself from events, opinions, people and just think about each aspect from your point of view. Second way - look for the opinion as strong as one that caused paradox and stick to it. This way is also can help you to distance yourself as in the first way. In any case, just use your head first. Think, criticize, question everything that makes you doubt.
I think there are several ways to resist Abilene’s paradox. One of them would be changing the way of how decisions are made, like introducing anonymous voting. When people know that they can express their believes without any negative consequences, bad decisions are less likely to be approved.
In my opinion, in smaller groups, the likelihood of opposition is greater in relation to larger groups.
In my opinion this theory makes sense. I cannot recall when it happened to me last time but I'm sure I've experienced this phenomena.
In case of this video probably there is no need to resist, nevertheless when we are talking about politic, huge companies etc. some crazy idea might come to a governor which can lead to a catastrophic consequences. It seems to me that one of the biggest problems here is that non of the people surrounding that mad governor would realize that they supported that idea. Even being aware about this paradox does not guaranty that some one will realize that.
I guess it is nearly impossible to eradicate the problem just simply because it's complicated to notice it. However paradox can be taught in phycology course at schools so people start to recognize this situation and try to prevent any unwanted deeds.
I agree that this paradox has occurred and continues to exist. Such a phenomenon is noticeable in a more violent environment or in less developed karajas, but I've never encountered it personally.
Unfortunately, I don't agree with people who think that you should always express your opinion and be courageous. There are situations in which such a solution can only harm us, and saying that we will not change anything.