Small groups and communities are two inevitable aspects of the American workplace and college environment in which small groups exist within a community and communities can function as small groups in a wider community. Both endure because it is believed that each can produce good results. However, the negative aspects of community and small groups are sometimes overlooked. Rebekah Nathan's piece, “Community and Diversity,” discusses the failures of community and students' struggle with the fear of conformity and isolation from others over community and the desire for the sense of belonging that comes from a community. In James Surowieki's excerpt, "Committees, Juries, and Teams: The Columbia Disaster and How Small Groups Can Be Made to Work," Surowieki writes about the failures of small groups in which people are often unable to express their opinions due to issues such as polarization and “confirmation bias”. At the same time, however, Surowiecki argues that, when small groups function properly, they can provide great collective wisdom (440-450). Nathan and Surowiecki both argue that there are flaws in resilient forms of community and small groups, yet by implementing strategies to diminish the threats that social hierarchy, polarization, lack of diversity, and individualism pose within small groups and community, we can create a better and more collective working environment. One of the many problems related to small group dysfunction is the ever-present threat of social hierarchy, which can be resolved by implementing new strategies to reduce its effects. Social hierarchy tends to define speaking time and determine which individuals are the decision makers in communities and small groups. Consequently,......middle of paper......freer opinion. Employers can challenge the rules of social hierarchy protocol by asking to encourage employees to express their opinions, asking for the thoughts of everyone in a meeting, and even conducting surveys. Diversity should also be encouraged. Employers should not only strive to create ethnically and educationally diverse small groups and communities, but they should also seek to create galas that reflect the community. Employers and administrators should also offer seminars to educate people about the effects of polarization along with attempting to depolarize small groups. Employers can increase a sense of community unity through mandatory events, but they should also recognize that increased unity stifles the benefits of individualism. Through the application of these strategies, employers will be able to produce a more collaborative environment.