Tactics, command, leadership

someone believes that someone else shares or understands the
perceptions, objectives or values that are applicable for a certain
situation, a certain decision or a certain piece of information for
decision making. Such failure can also lead to so­called pluralistic
ignorance, where someone believes that he or she is odd, even
when this is not the case. Sometimes there is a mind­set of ‘it’s
better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove
all doubt’, but in decision making situations, this can be a devas-
tating approach. It can be better to bring apparently irrelevant is-
sues to the surface, because they can very well be completely valid
issues that must be addressed before a decision is made. Better to
ask and seem ignorant, than to not ask and remain so.
Group pressure can also entail that the group unconsciously
develops a tunnel vision of sorts, where the primary task to be
conducted only has a single solution from the group’s perspec-
tive. The group overestimates itself and its competence, ignores
warnings and information that can disturb the group’s internal
picture of the problem, and censures all forms of knowledge
that can disrupt the unified group. This exaggerated trust in the
group’s competence results in one ignoring or not even producing
objectives and alternative solutions. One only seeks selective, con-
firming information or does not assess risks. The group is mired
in an internal, self­centred enthusiasm. The accelerating trust in
its own competence causes the group to fall into group narcissism
(self­absorption).
Orasanu et al. (1992b) use the term ‘team’ instead of ‘group’.
The primary difference is that a team works with current tasks in
a wider context, for a specific purpose. The team exists to jointly
solve one or more problems. The participants also have knowledge
and competence that is relevant in relation to the task and the de-
cisions that are to be made or the supporting information for deci-
sion making that is to be produced. One also emphasises that the
team consists of individuals with a high degree of specialisation
and who competence­wise are independent of one another, but
who together in various ways represent the competence needed
to be able to solve a specific problem. It is therefore often difficult
to change members without it affecting the team’s work. A team
thus has a generally higher degree of specialisation than what a
group normally has. It is important to remember that teams, in
order to function as teams, must train as teams. Traditionally,
training is conducted in individual skills with people later being