4 ms·
I think they have the right idea but for the wrong reasons. Having a person whose sole job is to play devil's advocate on every idea can help minimize the risks
by mbellotti 14y ago
I think they have the right idea but for the wrong reasons. Having a person whose sole job is to play devil's advocate on every idea can help minimize the risks of group think. Often truly bad ideas are not a mystery, plenty of people on the ground level of a company think they are bad ideas but also know that speaking out will hurt them politically within the company. There is nothing a company can do to prevent this feeling, it's a natural part of human behavior. Having someone who does nothing but question and criticize might give these voices a safe channel from which to express their perspective, preventing bad ideas from moving forward in good companies.
- smacktoward 14y agoI would argue it wouldn't help that much, because the rest of the group would quickly start ignoring the designated devil's advocate's feedback. "Oh, don't mind him, he's just saying that because it's his job." Not that they wouldn't sit there and politely listen, of course (especially if he's a C-level exec), but unless he had some actual authority over the people he's advising they're not likely to think about what they hear.