Rising retail superstar Whole Foods has taken teamwork empowerment to a whole new level. Not only do teams operate as independent unit within a store–to the extent of setting their own prices or deciding which items to stock–they even have final say on which applicants are accepted on board.

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This makes a lot of sense in a multitude of ways–after all, they’re the ones who will be spending the most time with these new hires, and good teamwork is obviously a key component to the organization’s success. But there are also dangers to this voting power, one of which originates in our natural tendency towards rationalization.

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In this vein, the team members who’d voted to accept a new hire might subsequently be prone to overlooking this person’s deficiencies, since admitting they were not up to par could be felt as admitting a failure of their own judgment. On the other hand, those who’d voted against the hire, and were overruled, might harbor some resentment over the fact and be more difficult to work with; or they might wish to find fault in the same way the supporters would wish to see stellar behavior. Both sides would simply be seeking to prove their initial judgment right.

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As John Kenneth Galbraith said– “When faced between the choice of changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost every man gets busy on the proof… “