A Case of Group Think?

Hopefully you have been keeping up with some news while on spring break. The latest debacle regarding the AIG bailout has to do with the bonuses given to AIG executives (the very executives responsible for the financial troubles created by the organization in the first place). It included 418 employees, nearly 52 of whom were given $33.6 million. In fact just 73 people got $1 million each. This came during the aftermath of Obama’s denunciations of executive bail outs and provisions in the original stimulus bill which would have prevented such bonuses. So how could this happen? The provisions apparently were taken out. But why? They had wide public support and even bipartisan support as an amendment, but it then died “in conference.” I wonder what those conference conversations were like and if it had any resemblance to group think? The pressure to kill the idea must have been intense. And since no one at this point knows who killed it, there indeed must have been anonymity in the process. Was there also an illusion of in vulnerability? These are characteristics of group think. Let’s stay tuned to see if other characteristics of group think rear their ugly head. If you want to read more about this story go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/business/18bailout.html?th&emc=th