Abilene paradox

The Abilene Paradox is a paradox in which the limits of a particular situation force a group of people to act in a way that is directly the opposite of their actual preferences.

The paradox was observed by management guru Jerry B. Harvey in his book The Abilene Paradox and other Meditations on Management. The paradox name comes from an anecdote in the book that Harvey uses to illustrate the nature of the paradox:

On a hot afternoon in Texas, a family is comfortably playing dominoes on a porch, until the father-in-law suggests that they take a trip to Abilene for dinner. The wife says, "Sounds like a great idea." Although he has reservations because the drive is long and hot, but thinking that his preferences must be out-of-step with the group, the husband says, "Sounds good to me. I just hope your mother wants to go." The mother-in-law then says, "Of course I want to go. I haven't been to Abilene in a long time."

The drive is hot, dusty, and long. When they arrive at the cafeteria, the food is as bad. They arrive back home four hours later, exhausted.

One of them dishonestly says, "It was a great trip, wasn't it." The mother-in-law says that, in actuality, she'd rather have stayed home, but went along since the other three were so enthusiastic. The husband says, "I was delighted to be doing what we were doing. I only went to satisfy the rest of you." The wife says, "I just went along to keep you happy. I would have had to be crazy to want to go out in the heat like that." The father-in-law then says that he only suggested it because he thought the others might be bored.

The group sits back, perplexed that they together decided to take a trip which none of them wanted. They each would have preferred to sit comfortably, but did not admit to it when they still had time to enjoy the afternoon.

This anecdote was also made into a short film for management education.

The Abilene Paradox theory is often used to help explain extremely poor business decisions, especially notions of the superiority of "rule by committee."

The paradox is sometimes also used as a criticism of strategic voting. For example, say a person wants to vote for Candidate C, yet realistically realizes that Candidate C will never beat the much more popular Candidates A and B. The person thus votes for Candidate A, a less desirable choice, but the best alternative to Candidate C. The voter has thus committed the Abilene Paradox by performing an action that contradicts his or her preference.

References

Harvey, Jerry B. (1988). The Abilene Paradox and Other Meditations on Management. Lexington, Mass: Lexington Books.

Abilene paradox

References

See also