What is an abilene paradox?

Paradox is defined as a contradiction. The paradox of Abilene is thus named for an example used to describe the phenomenon of the originator of Jerry B. Harvey. In his 1988 book, Paradox and other meditation on management , Harvey describes a group of people who have decided to take a trip to Abilene, because they think the rest wants to go. In fact, none of them wants to go.Roupthink . This happens when the group members tend to avoid swinging the ship to say so, and achieve a consensus that may or may not represent the ideals or opinions of each member. Groupthink generally leadsto a bad or hasty decision because no one wants to critically analyze the opinion or statement of another.

In the management applications, the Abilene paradox is used as an instructing tool. There is even a short teaching video that outlines the core of the abilene paradox and is used in some steering seminars. In principle, this suggests that group members must manage their agreements as well as their disagreements. It teaches that in any type of committee, before any decision is made, the group members should ask each other "Will we go to Abilene?" In an effort to ensure that the decision is based on real opinions and not only the form of the group.

Socias agreement plays a big role in the Abilene paradox. Among psychological experts, it is commonly understood that a person can make significantly different decisions when he is in a group than when he is left alone. Reasons are diverse but may include wanting to avoidconfrontation or embarrassment. Many psychological studies focus on determining how and why people decide and how they differ in the social environment.