Groupthink (London)

BBC Radio 4’s programme on Groupthink calls to mind something that happened in the 80s when I was temping at SBTC (Sino-British Trade Council), now CBBC (China-Britain Business Council).  

SBTC was a quango (quasi NGO) helping British companies enter the Chinese market.  They organised outward missions (British delegations going out to China) and inward missions (Chinese delegations coming over to Britain), among other things.

One day, I was given the task of going to the airport to meet a delegation of 14 at the airport, taking them to their hotel and settling them in.

At the hotel, they had to do registration and be assigned rooms.  I sat with them in the foyer, helping them with the form-filling, as they didn’t know any English.  (This being the mid-80s, the Chinese were still fairly inexperienced when it came to dealing with the outside world.)

As this process was going to take a while, I thought I’d let them know where the toilets were, in case they needed to go.  I asked the ones nearest to me, “Does anyone need to go to the toilet?  They are in the basement — the stairs to the basement are there.”  One of them looked interested, but asked his colleagues first, each one in turn, “Do you want to go?”  Every one of them said no — the chap then said to me, “In that case, I’m not going.”

After a few more minutes, one of them had to go, “Where did you say the toilets are?”  I pointed at the stairs to the basement.  He got up and started walking towards the stairs.  One of his group then said, “I’m going too, then,” and followed him.  A third one got up, “In that case, I’m going as well.”  They then made their way to the basement in a bunch of six or seven.

These men were in their 20s and 30s!

(London, 1985)