GROUPTHINK and NARFE
By
Steve Henderson FLFED Secretary
July 11, 2004
Since the publication of the Senate Intelligence Committee report about how
‘Groupthink’ led the Administration and the Congress of the United States to
make the decision to attack Iraq, various articles have appeared in newspapers.
One such article, entitled “Groupthink Led to Decision to Attack Iraq” by Vicki
Kemper of the Los Angeles Times, appeared on page 7 of The Tampa Tribune on
Saturday, July 10, 2004.
Some of the commentary about the phenomenon ‘Groupthink’ causes me to ruminate
about certain decision-making procedures within the Florida Federation of NARFE.
(Quotes below are from the newspaper article.)
“Groupthink is an insider style of policy making” and “is a decision-making
process in which officials are so wedded to the same assumptions and beliefs
that they ignore, discount or even ridicule information to the contrary.”
The Florida Federation of Chapters of NARFE consists of 17 elected officials and
15 appointed officers. Many elected officials serve for extended periods of time
while only the President has a term limit; often, people whose terms of elected
service have ended are appointed to another important job in the federation. So,
many of the jobs of the Florida Federation of Chapters are held by between 30
and 40 “insiders” who may be “wedded to the same assumptions and beliefs” of the
other members of the board. Often, when dissenting opinions are voiced, the
groupthink members react negatively.
“When members of a cohesive, homogeneous group value unanimity and agreement on
one course of action more than a realistic appraisal of alternatives, they are
engaging in groupthink.” “Group-think is more likely to arise when there is a
strong premium on loyalty and when there is not a lot of … diversity in a
decision-making body.”
The Florida Federation of Chapters of NARFE holds an annual convention and has
Bylaws that establish certain criteria for elected officers. There has been an
element within the Federation that has suggested a realistic alternative –
holding biennial conventions and thus making changes to the Bylaws that
establish new tenures for elected officers. Could it be that groupthink - with
its strong premium on loyalty and because there may be a lack of diversity
within the decision-making body of the Federation – has encouraged advocates for
change to a biennial convention and certain changes in bylaws to forego their
attempts to make changes?
“The Bush administration has been an unusually secretive group of like-minded
people where a very high premium is placed on loyalty.” “Whenever a president
makes a decision about something there is a tendency to get on the train rather
than throwing yourself in front of it.”
The Florida Federation of Chapters Executive Board is NOT an unusually secretive
group; minutes of convention activities and executive board meetings are
routinely distributed to our web site and to chapter presidents. However, when
several elected members of the Federation Executive Board are assertive and
voice opinions during regular meetings about procedures important to our
Federation, there is a tendency by other board members to accept the ensuing
decisions rather than to oppose them. Groupthink may drive the will of some
members of the Executive Board gathered in meetings. Why is it, outside a
regularly scheduled meeting, when a referendum vote is called on a properly made
and seconded proposal and it is distributed via e-mail to individual voting
members of the Executive Board, that individual board members actually vote more
as individuals than as members of the homogeneous group?
“The commonly cited ‘symptoms’ of groupthink are a fundamental over confidence
that gives members an illusion of invulnerability and a belief in the inherent
morality of the group.” “The groupthink dynamic also is characterized by a
pressure to conform that often leads group members with different ideas to
censor themselves.”
Could it be that elected members of the Florida Federation of Chapters of NARFE
– all intelligent and dynamic individuals – feel some pressure to conform to the
will of the more outspoken leaders of the board and this need to conform leads
group members having different ideas to censor themselves?
“Groupthink is most likely to occur when all or most members of a group share
the same values … groupthink is the opposite of collective wisdom.”
The collective wisdom of the Florida Federation of Chapters of NARFE Executive
Board intuitively shows that members of the Chapters of the Federation: support
legislative efforts beneficial to federal annuitants; support the political
action committee (PAC) guidelines of the national organization; work to increase
membership of chapters by recruiting current federal employees and retirees and
to create programs in chapters to retain these individuals; and support the
goals of NARFE. However, has a groupthink attitude of apathy to the collective
wisdom settled in among more than 90% of the nearly 20,000 members of the
Florida Federation? Statistics and experience has shown that few chapter members
attend meetings and facts indicate that the same 2,000 or so people actually
attend meetings and even fewer of those who have done the work of NARFE in
Florida for many years continue to do most of the work.
“What’s really striking about groupthink is not so much that dissenting opinions
are crushed or shouted down but they come to seem improbable.”
Is it improbable, for instance, that the influx of current federal employees
into the Chapters of the Florida Federation will be so great that the “deadwood
retired Chapter members who are seldom seen at any NARFE function” will be
supplanted by dynamic, assertive and younger members of our organization?
Is it improbable, for instance, that the Florida Federation will become the
largest federation with the most active Chapter members in comparison to all
others of NARFE?
Is it improbable, for instance, that this article will get enough reaction from
Chapter members of the Federation that positive actions for change in the
Florida Federation could take place in the future?