TY - GEN
T1 - The role of the Abilene paradox in group requirements elicitation processes
AU - Appan, Radha
AU - Mellarkod, Vidhya
AU - Browne, Glenn J.
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - Systems development endeavors usually occur in highly complex, politicized environments in which diverging interests of stakeholders result in a variety of conflicts. Therefore, conflict management has been an important focus of research in information requirements determination (IRD). However, research has failed to recognize that organizational politics and pressures on the participants might lead to an illusion of agreement among participants. The illusion of agreement phenomenon subsumes a wide range of dysfunctional group behaviors that lead to a superficial illusion of conformity among the members of the group. Two specific variants of this illusion are groupthink and the Abilene Paradox (AP). While the problem of groupthink has received some attention in the IRD literature, the concept of AP has not been considered. AP refers to the tendency of each group member to believe that every member wants to pursue a particular course of action, which leads everyone to agree publicly while disagreeing privately. This study empirically demonstrates the role of AP during a group requirements elicitation process (JAD). Implications of the findings and prescriptive guidelines are discussed.
AB - Systems development endeavors usually occur in highly complex, politicized environments in which diverging interests of stakeholders result in a variety of conflicts. Therefore, conflict management has been an important focus of research in information requirements determination (IRD). However, research has failed to recognize that organizational politics and pressures on the participants might lead to an illusion of agreement among participants. The illusion of agreement phenomenon subsumes a wide range of dysfunctional group behaviors that lead to a superficial illusion of conformity among the members of the group. Two specific variants of this illusion are groupthink and the Abilene Paradox (AP). While the problem of groupthink has received some attention in the IRD literature, the concept of AP has not been considered. AP refers to the tendency of each group member to believe that every member wants to pursue a particular course of action, which leads everyone to agree publicly while disagreeing privately. This study empirically demonstrates the role of AP during a group requirements elicitation process (JAD). Implications of the findings and prescriptive guidelines are discussed.
KW - Abilene paradox
KW - Group conformity
KW - Group requirements elicitation
KW - Illusion of agreement
KW - JAD
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84869808776&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84869808776
SN - 9781604235531
T3 - Association for Information Systems - 11th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2005: A Conference on a Human Scale
SP - 1482
EP - 1492
BT - Association for Information Systems - 11th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2005
T2 - 11th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2005
Y2 - 11 August 2005 through 15 August 2005
ER -