The Abilene Paradox is a state wherein a collective decision is made by a group that contradicts the thoughts and feelings of its individual members. It occurs because of the individuals who don't wish to ‘rock the boat,’ although their perceptions regarding the other members’ thoughts aren’t always right.
Even though one of the team member does not find the proposal a good fit, he don’t express his genuine opinions. Due to the fear of probable negative consequences or the desire to preserve the group’s harmony. This results in the team beginning to act on disagreements or inaccurate data. The teammate who proposed the action may be unsure if it is the right choice. However, when no other teammate expresses a difference in opinion, it leads to poor decision-making.
For example, An application development team of a company had its daily meeting.
Abilene Paradox leads to unsatisfactory results and decisions, and that is when the organization will start facing the consequences.
The major factor giving rise to such a situation is when the leader possesses the character of being adamant and announces his decision early without giving other teammates a chance to raise their opinions. Instead, the leader should keep his idea at the end after gathering inputs from other teammates. Also, they should never disregard other opinions altogether.
Every member of the team should be allowed to suggest, discuss, and work on the ideas. It will create a positive culture where employees are interested in representing themselves without having fear of losing job or identity and not following the herd.
Besides, it is not fair to put the pressure of team action and responsibility over a single person (group leader in case of this paradox), but every individual member should participate in problem solving. Confronting and expressing ideas will prevent anti-social behavior and group tyranny.
On the whole, both the situations are similar with only one difference.
In groupthink, all the individuals participate collectively for a discussion as a cohesive group. They altogether agree with the group’s final decision both individually and as a team.
On the contrary, in abilene paradox, the individual members agree with the decision as a team so that they don’t upset anyone in the group. But their personal thoughts don't match or are opposite from the collective decision.
Your organization is caught into abilene when the employees in a group shows the below symptoms.
