Question

How can you reduce social loafing in groups? Think of any two incidents of social loafing in school. How did you overcome it?

Answer 1

It has been found that individuals work less hard in a group than they do when performing alone. This points to a phenomenon referred to as ‘social loafing’. Social loafing is a reduction in individual effort when working on a collective task, i.e. one in which outputs are pooled with those of other group members. An example of such a task is the game of tug-of-war. It is not possible for us to identify how much force each member of the team has been exerting. Such situations give opportunities to group members to relax and become a free rider.

This phenomenon has been demonstrated in many experiments by Latane and his associates who asked group of male students to clap or cheer as loudly as possible as they (experimenters) were interested in knowing how much noise people make in social settings. They varied the group size; individuals were either alone, or in groups of two, four and six. The results of the study showed that although the total amount of noise rose up, as size increased, the amount of noise produced by each participant dropped. In other words, each participant put in less effort as the group size increased.

Reasons for the occurrence of social loafing :-

1. Group members feel less responsible for the overall task being performed and therefore exert less effort.
2. Motivation of members decreases because they realise that their contributions will not be evaluated on individual basis.
3. The performance of the group is not to be compared with other groups.
4. There is an improper coordination (or no coordination) among members.
5. Belonging to the same group is not important for members. It is only an aggregate of individuals.

Two incidents of social loafing in school :-

• Some students work very less in group projects and works.
• Sometimes during sports competition, some students practice very less and thus this affect the whole team.

It may be reduced by :-

1. Making the efforts of each person identifiable.
2. Increasing the pressure to work hard (making group members committed to successful task performance).
3. Increasing the apparent importance or value of a task.
4. Making people feel that their individual contribution is important.
5. Strengthening group cohesiveness which increases the motivation for successful group outcome.