Social Loafing is a result of group size. It is the tendency for persons to exert less effort collectively than when working individually. Thus five people working together will not be five times more productive than a single individual working alone.
We frequently use groups to enhance productivity. When individuals within a group perceive that they can neither receive their fair share of rewards nor the appropriate blame, they frequently hold back — they contribute less than their best effort. This is referred to as Social Loafing.
We are faced with the question: “Why does this occur?”
Perhaps the most probable explanation is that when participants “work together”, their outputs are mutual so that evaluation of individual output is not possible. Thus they can receive neither credit nor blame for their performances.
Recognizing the existence of this phenomenon is useful, but as managers and students of organizations, we also need to ask ourselves how social loafing can be minimized. In part, the answer lies in the paragraph above. If the work being done can actually be reconfigured so that individuals do receive credit or blame for their separate inputs, then social loafing is less like to occur.
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