Inviting Creative Challenge
For a marvelous discussion of how to create group norms that encourage people to speak out without fear, see Kathleen D. Ryan and Daniel K. Oestreich, Driving Fear Out of the Workplace (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991).
While writing this book I participated in a stimulating program that demonstrated how to create an environment that encourages truly creative thinking. It is called the Mind-Free Program, developed by Kathleen Logan Prince and George M. Prince of Weston, Massachusetts.
Overcoming Groupthink
The major work on this subject has been done by Irving L. Janis, Groupthink, Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972, 1982).
Challenging the Use of Language
The following book contains an important discussion on the power of language; it examines the problems of German psychotherapy patients whose families wouldn’t talk about their role in World War II: The Collective Silence, edited by Barbara Heimannsberg and Christoph Schmidt (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992).
Leaders Who Scream
For a detailed process on how to comport oneself in the face of out-of-control screaming, listen to the section about bullying bosses on the tape by Robert Bramson, Coping with Difficult Bosses (New York: Simon & Schuster Audio, 1992).