Any successful organizations must consist of teams who get along and complement each other. However, it is important to have a devil’s advocate in an organization that sees things from a different perspective. When everyone seems to be taking a stand on a situation, a devil’s advocate will take a different approach in tackling that issue. Lindred Greer, a professor in Organizational Behavior at Stanford said, “It’s important for teams to have a devil’s advocate who is constructive and careful in communication, who carefully and artfully facilitates discussion”.
There will be more team productivity when a member of the team, carefully and constructively opposes the approach of other team members to a problem. Although this can only be possible where the opinion of the opposing team member is not perceived as conflict.
Teams who consist of people who have different personality traits and reason differently, tend to outperform other teams where all members are always in agreement.
It’s important for teams to have a devil’s advocate who can challenge the status quo, and has the ability to effectively communicate his or her views without being confrontational.
Organizations need teams where there is at least one member with high emotional intelligence, who is willing to play the devil’s advocate role. Having such a vocal minority can help teams and their productivity.
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