So there are four of them in this car heading north from Coleman in the heart of Texas to the town of Abilene  , some 53 miles away. It is a hot day, and the drive is dusty and boring. Someone has had the bright idea to interrupt a nice family game of dominoes   to go on a four-hour round-trip to eat at a really not very good restaurant. When they are back home again, one family member admits that she hasn't enjoyed herself all that much. One by one they all confess that they would rather have stayed at home. "I only went along with it because I thought the rest of you wanted to go," says everyone. No one wanted to go to Abilene. It had just happened. This story was first told by Professor Jerry Harvey in an article published in 1974 calledThe Abilene Paradox   and other meditations on management. It offers a wonderful insight into the way that decisions can sometimes just emerge, without ever being consciously "made". Whether they mean to or not, groups exert a pressure to conform  . A senior management team can find itself a long way down the track to a bad decision without realizing that the idea has very little support around the table. Close-knit   teams are easily influenced by the pull of groupthink. The late Professor Janis suggested several ways in which teams can avoid it. Two key steps are to invite experts from outside into meetings, and to appoint at least one person to the role of "devil's advocate" -- a role that should be played by different people in different meetings. According to Professor Janis, at least one person should be appointed to the role of "devil's advocate " at each meeting so that   _  .
the pull of groupthink can be avoided each member will play a different role team members can agree with each other more easily experts from the outside can be invited into meetings