Groupthink or Deadlock - When Do Leaders Learn from Their Advisors?

Argues that too much advice can lead to policy deadlock depending on leadership style.
The danger of groupthink is now standard fare in leadership training programs and a widely accepted explanation, among political scientists, for policy-making fiascoes. Efforts to avoid groupthink, however, can lead to an even more serious problem-deadlock. Groupthink or Deadlock explores these dual problems in the Eisenhower and Reagan administrations and demonstrates how both presidents were capable of learning and consequently changing their policies, sometimes dramatically, but at the same time doing so in characteristically different ways. Kowert points to the need for leaders to organize their staff in a way that fits their learning and leadership style and allows them to negotiate a path between groupthink and deadlock.

About the author

Paul A. Kowert is Assistant Professor of International Relations at Florida International University, and coeditor of International Relations in a Constructed World.

Product details

• Authors: Paul A Kowert, Paul A. Kowert
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 24.01.2002
• EAN: 9780791452493
• ISBN: 978-0-7914-5249-3
• No. of pages: 275
• Dimensions: 161 mm x 229 mm x 21 mm
• Weight: 494 g
• Series: Suny Series on the Presidency: Suny Series on the Presidency
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education