Social Loafing Essay examples - 1411 Words

What is Social Loafing? Social Loafing is something everyone has experienced. Most likely if you do not like group work this is one of the main reasons why. â€Å"Social loading describes the tendency of individuals to put forth less effort when they are part of a group. Because all members of the group are pooling their effort to achieve a common goal each member of the group contributes less than they would if they were individually responsible† (Cherry). This challenges the common belief that group work will be more productive. In 1913 a researcher named Ringelmann designed an experiment involving rope pulling to test the effect of social loafing. His experiment found that when an individual was put in a group his or her effort was less.†¦show more content†¦Having tasks that are too difficult or are unfamiliar are likely to incite social loafing because they group member lacks the ability or courage to provide input. Robbins and Judge (2011) theorize that another cause of social loafing is an uneven equity. When two people are putting in different levels of input and receiving the same level of output the larger contributor will adjust their input to reduce cognitive dissonance. Another reason they believe is â€Å"dispersion of responsibility† group members cannot be held responsible because tasks and roles are not clearly assigned. (Robbins Judge, 2011). In research by Worchel and others (1998) it was found that groups with friends or familiar members are far less likely to loaf when compared with groups made up of strangers (Worchel, Rothgerber, Day, Hart, Butemeyer, 1998) Most people have been in a group made up of friends and colleges they are familiar with and seen that in these types of groups social loafing is drastically reduced. Gender and Cultural Difference Karau and Williams explain there are several outlying factors that affect social loafing such as, gender, culture, and individual/collective rating. Women are less likely than men to social loaf because of the higher importance placed on being part of or fitting in a group while men usually place more value on individual performance. In a study of Japanese people â€Å"about 20% of men and 60% of women† did not social loaf (Kugihara, 1999)Show MoreRelatedEssay on Working in Groups and Social Loafing1810 Words   |  8 PagesSocial loafing is the effect that people will exert less effort if they are working in a collective environment. Working in groups is an integral part of everyday life because it happens in almost every context whether it is sports teams, organizational groups, project groups and even juries. Therefore it is important to understand the underlying factors that influence this construct. The current research composed of 20 parti cipants, investigated the social loafing effect of two working conditions:Read More|Curbing Social Loafing in the Retail Environment | |3837 Words   |  16 Pages| | |Curbing Social Loafing in the Retail Environment | | | | | Read MoreSocial Loafing Essay1313 Words   |  6 PagesSocial Loafing A major component of Social Psychological research is based on social loafing. Social loafing can result in diverse possibilities and also not only affects the individual who is conducting the social phenomenon but also group members are subjected to exposure. Discussion regarding the reasons of social loafing as an occurrence will be based primarily on evidence from literature regarding the specific component, envy. Possibilities of outcomes range fromRead MoreSocial Loafing And Conformity Within Teams746 Words   |  3 Pagesor teams. With this in mind, Fischer highlights that teams have a list of negatives also associated with them. A few examples are general dysfunction and disagreement, longer decision-making processes, and social loafing (Fischer, 2012). This paper will address the presence of social loafing and conformity within teams. The Problem Statement: Young Life Volunteer Team Young Life (YL) is a Christian, nondenominational organization that shares the gospel with students of all ages (highRead MoreThe Term Social Loafing 1543 Words   |  7 Pagesconied the term ‘social loafing’ to describe the idea that people tend to put in less effort when working in groups than when working alone, be it in sports or in academic settings. Now shirking is a term to describe group member who slacks off or avoids working all together based on the fact that he has been put in a group, this essay will try to answer the questions, should shirkers be reported to instructors, and is the group ethically bound to tell the shirker? Is social loafing always shirkingRead MoreCase Study : Business Building, University Of Iowa2200 Words   |  9 Pagesgreat performance, our team maximized process gains by way of information exchange and decreased process losses in terms of social loafing. From lecture, process gains are efforts and actions put forth that help accomplish the task at hand such as information exchange, load balancing, and social facilitation. On the other hand, process losses are high turnover, social loafing, and production blocking. Higher process gains and lower process losses result into superior team productivity (Crawford, 2/2)Read MoreTaking a Look at Social Loafing1178 Words   |  5 Pagesindependently and where the individuals performance cannot be acknowledged as excellent and important are called as social loafing (Joseph Timothy 2012). Social loafing is the characteristic of individuals in a part of their academic life. It may be seen as a failure to willingly satisfy the duties and commitments to others because of the perception of reduced social pressure. Yet, social loafer or free-rider without exerting effort in a team will gain benefits from the work of others as the outcomeRead MoreTavris in Groups We Shrink Essay699 Words   |  3 Pagesdidnt anybody do anything? What were the people thinking? In addition to being afraid of being an individual in the midst of a group, people often look at others to set the example. Another term for this is, diffusion of responsibility or social loafing. For example, Ive been in many classes where the students were afraid to speak out. But eventually there is a brave soul who ventures to raise their hand to answer a question. And this starts the ball rolling. Eventually each individualRead MoreThe Main Features Of A Bureaucracy And The Scientific Design Of Work2034 Words   |  9 Pagestherefore Fayols’ five functions of management are implemented through impersonal control rather than direct face to face control. In contrast to rationalisation, King and Lawley (2013) describe the social organisation as a belief that the key factors in shaping an individual within the workplace are the social interactions between people. King and Lawley (2013) state that the findings from Hawthorne studies have been credited with humanising management, there has been a shift from individuals being seenRead MoreSocial Loafing and Recommendations on How to Reduce Its Occurrence within Groups Working on University Poster Presentations1286 Words   |  6 PagesSocial Loafing and Recommendations on How to Reduce Its Occurrence within Groups Working on University Poster Presentations Abstract Social loafing occurs in groups and reduces group effectiveness and productivity. Various literatures on social loafing reviewed suggest that the group size, the identifiably of the participants, the evaluation of their performance, people’s beliefs about their feelings of uniqueness, envy, task difficulty, how people’s beliefs about their