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Four Tips for Better Strategic Performance

How Understanding Minority Slowness Helps Business Leaders

Sep 18, 2009 Paul Larson

There are powerful lessons for boards of directors and other management groups that can be found in the field of social psychology.

The minority slowness effect is the term used to describe the subtle inhibitions in the expression of views not shared by others. It occurs when people who feel they have a point of view that is not shared by the majority of members become hesitant to express that viewpoint.

How Understanding Minority Slowness Helps Business Leaders

In it’s deadliest form, this affliction can derail the otherwise good efforts of a board of directors or management group by turning the group’s attention away from serious issues that need to be addressed.

Most assume that because of their stature that directors are immune from being affected by this phenomenon but that may not be so. Several studies have revealed that people who hold the minority opinion express that opinion less quickly than those who hold the majority opinion. Directors and top managers are just as susceptible to this as anyone else.

The difference in speed in the expression of the minority and majority opinions grows as the difference in the size of the minority and majority increases. In these studies, those with the minority view were particularly slow when they assumed the majority to be large. The opposite was true for those with the majority view.

Hesitancy Comes Before Inaction

Hesitancy is the first step to paralyzing inaction so this pluralistic ignorance in corporate boards can be the cause of strategic persistence in response to relatively low performance by the organization. This phenomenon suggests that under conditions of low performance, there may be a systematic tendency for outside directors in particular to underestimate the extent to their fellows share their concerns about the viability of the company’s corporate strategy.

A reduced propensity for individual directors or managers to express their concerns about strategy in board or management meetings lowers the likelihood that those groups will initiate strategic change in response to poor performance.

Four Tips for Better Strategic Performance

Here are four simple but important steps that can reduce this tendency and lead to improved performance in this area.

Strive for a demographic homogeneity among outside directors (gender, functional background, education, and industry)
Look for strong friendship ties among the members to significantly moderate the occurrence this pluralistic ignorance.
Set clear ground rules to encourage members to express their attitudes if they believe that they are not in the majority opinion. Make it clear there will be no social isolation for holding opinions that may be deviant from those of the majority.
Recognize up front that for some people, concealing is preferred to disclosure when it comes to certain topics. Some may believe that by disclosing their experiences, opinions or views, they will become ostracized. While concealment may provide relief from social disapproval, in the long run can be quite detrimental because concealment can lead to poorer physical health.

The copyright of the article Four Tips for Better Strategic Performance in Business Management is owned by Paul Larson. Permission to republish Four Tips for Better Strategic Performance in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Understanding Minority Slowness Improves Strategy