The Benefits of the Devil's Advocate (Management Science)

One of the most dangerous risks to strategic management decision making is group think. The best decisions are those that can assess the environment accurately and then make decisions that meet the challenges of that environment and exceed them. That won't happen if people cannot assess and share their knowledge openly in a way that leads to accurate decision making. Where group think is common a devil’s advocate can break the bounds of group rationality.

Think back to some of the major blunders in history and you will find group think as the fiend of fate. In organizations that decline we find a narrowing of perspectives that leads to less and less variety of thought. That variety of thought is what explores the many seen and unseen opportunities an organization may miss because they cannot fathom the options. They can see with their eyes, but they cannot "see" with their understanding.

Organizations often decline quickly if full of "yes men" and "yes ladies" because of that narrowing of exploratory thought. As dominant personalities influence group choice then we see the variety and often quality of new ideas decline thereby minimizing the options. Economics and strategic thinking are choice and if one cannot see the possibilities, they cannot choose those options while their competitors might be able to.

The devil's advocate takes the role of the outsider. He/she thinks of all the alternatives to a decision to uncover breaks in logic, falsities, and erroneous perspectives that force the group to consider alternatives they may not be able to find on their own. It is an official role because from a self-interested and group dynamic people like to say yes and get the rewards. The devil's advocate is rarely the loved person in the room, but they may be the most important player.

Closed-mindedness and insulation in groupthink: their effects and the devil’s advocacy as a preventive measure.

Akhmad, M., Chang, S. & Deguchi, H. Closed-mindedness and insulation in groupthink: their effects and the devil’s advocacy as a preventive measure. J Comput Soc Sc 4, 455–478 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42001-020-00083-8