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SJ-userguide.pdf

The Challenger Disaster

Hirokawa, R. Y., Gouran, D. S., and Martz, A. E. (1988). Understanding the Sources of Faulty Group Decision Making: A Lesson from the Challenger Disaster. Small Group Behavior, 19 (4): 411-433.

This reading relates to Learning Objective 4-1.

Questions that apply to this article:

1. Why did President Reagan appoint a special commission to determine the actual or probable causes of the Challenger accident?
2. What was the decision structure involved in the flight of 51-L?
3. What are some of the insights based upon the analysis of the factors contributing to the Challenger launch?

Groupthink

Leana, C. R. (1985). A Partial Test of Janis' Groupthink Model: Effects of Group Cohesiveness and Leader Behavior on Defective Decision Making. Journal of Management, 11 (1): 5-17.

This reading relates to Learning Objective 4-1.

Questions that apply to this article:

1. Why is Groupthink detrimental to effective decision making?
2. What are the fundamental limitations of the Janis (1982) experimental studies?
3. Why is the manner in which cohesiveness is defined said to determine both the direction and the strength of its effect on group decision processes?