THE RISE OF THE NEW 'GROUPTHINK'

By: Susan Cain

Published: January 13, 2012, The New York Times; www.nytimes.com

Level of Difficulty: **** (This is an easy level **** but too hard in parts for a lower level)

Thanks are due to my friend and colleague Füsun Savcı for providing this interesting text

BEFORE YOU READ

• How do you perform better? In groups or on your own?
• Which is more affective in your view? Group work or individual work? Explain

ADD THE SUBTITLES

• Look at the subtitles below, read the text and place them in their correct places. The subtitles are in the order they should appear in the text but you need to decide how many paragraphs fall under each heading; it may be a single paragraph or many.

• Introduction
•  A Marriage Made in Heaven
• The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating
• It is Spreading Like a Rash
• It Doesn’t Work
• Privacy versus Brainstorming
• Group work yet not group work
• The Dilemma
• The Way Out

Before you go on to the questions, check your answers.

QUESTIONS

1. Look at the first sentence of paragraph 2. What does “this view” refer to and what is “the problem”?
2. The two reasons why introversion is so closely linked to creativity are the fact that ………….
3. Picasso, the prophets and Steve Wozniak are provided as examples to prove that ………………
4. Read the example of the New York City classroom. Now state clearly what conclusion we can draw from it?
5. Look at the section of the text which you labeled “It Doesn’t’ Work”. Which of the ideas expressed below isn’t’ true according to this section?

• Physical and psychological problems may be observed in open plan offices
• Being linked to a group where there is division of labour is wrong
• Mike Maca thought that his staff would enjoy working in open plan offices
• Mike Maca was surprised when he found the staff preferred cubicles

6. In the study known as “               The Coding War Games” it is implied that performance was expected to be positively correlated with ………………………………………………………………………………………………
7. Look at the section titled “Privacy versus Brainstorming”.  Why exactly are “brainstorming sessions one of the worst ways to stimulate creativity”?
8. The text states that group performance gets worse as group size increases. Why exactly is this so?
9. The internet and reading are similar in that ………………………………………………………………………..
10. Mr. Wozniak’s work experience at Hewlett – Packard shows that the way to have the best of both worlds in the work place is to …………………………………………………………………………………………

WRITING TASK

You have just been appointed CEO of Yahoo and have been given free rein to do whatever is necessary to increase creativity and innovation. Use the information in the text to discuss how you would manage the office.  While writing your essay, imagine you are addressing the board of directors who are averse to change of any sort.

THE RISE OF THE NEW GROUPTHINK KEY AND TEACHER’S NOTES

This text is a harder version of a reading task in level three “How your boss accidentally makes you less creative”. The main theme is very similar but knowing that a variety of people access this site for a variety of reasons, I have opted to include the activity. This text has given me the opportunity to write some different kinds of questions too.

SUBTITLES KEY

• Introduction: first paragraph
• A Marriage Made in Heaven:  second and third paragraph
• The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating: fourth paragraph to the end of Steven Wozniak’s quote
• It is Spreading Like a Rash: the following two paragraphs
• It Doesn’t Work: the next two paragraphs ( Beginning: But it’s one thing)
• Privacy versus Brainstorming: beginning “privacy also makes productive” and ending “the pain of independence”
• Group work yet not group work: the next paragraph
• The Dilemma: beginning “My point…” ending “… privacy and autonomy”
• The Way Out: last two paragraphs

QUESTIONS KEY

1. (Lone geniuses are out)Collaboration is in. The reason we should take them both is that normally these two would be one sentence with a semicolon. People are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruptions.
2. It concentrates the mind on the tasks at hand; it prevents the dissipation of energy on social and sexual matters unrelated to work
3. Solitude has long been associated with creativity and transcendence.
4. Our schools have also been transformed by the new  Groupthink
5. The Second
6. Greater experience and better pay
7. (If you want to improve, you have to be the one who generates the move.) In a group, you are the one generating the move only a small percentage of the time.
8. Because people in groups tend to sit back and let others do the work; they instinctively mimic others’ opinions and lose sight of their own and often succumb to peer pressure
9. They are places where people can be alone together
10. Encourage casual café style interaction but allow people to disappear into personalized, private spaces when they want to be alone