Social Loafing
Brian, a class colleague, is someone who counts on the group's high achievers to do the majority of the work. This behavior is known as social loafing. Social loafers thrive because they know the high achievers cannot do less than their best; that is precisely what makes them high achievers. Adding to the problem, if it is the group product that is evaluated rather than individual contributions—then Brian will be less motivated to participate. That is why social loafing is rampant in university classrooms where grades are based on the finished group product.
For this Discussion, you examine methods to motivate social loafers.
Review the Learning Resources for this week and consider motivation methods that a social psychologist might use to encourage a social loafer to do his or her share.
Recall a time when you observed social loafing.
Post a situation when you experienced or observed social loafing. Informed by social psychology theory, suggest ways to motivate social loafers to carry their weight.
Social Loafing Essay
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Social loafing is a person’s inclination to reduce their contribution or effort compared to their counterparts performing the same activity within a group. It can also be delineated as a person’s less-than-expected effort when engaging in group work (Tosuntaş, 2020). I experienced social loafing in the workplace when working on a team project. Some team members failed to achieve their fair share of the deliverables, leading to frustration and a lack of progress among the other members. We had common goals, thus making some members feel they did not have to work as hard to reach them. Some group members believed that they worked harder compared to others. They felt that other team members were not putting in the same amount of energy and time; thus, their efforts decreased. This made the set goal an end rather than a crucial step in the long journey of completing the project. This led to reduced productivity and the inability to complete the project on time and within the allocated budget.
Social loafing is an important problem in social psychology and thus requires subject-informed intervention. For instance, psychological encouragement is a practical strategy to encourage social loafers to carry their weight because it improves individual performance. Social loafing behaviors will plummet with increased psychological motivation. Individual psychological encouragement makes the social loafer feel competent in completing their tasks and can execute them independently (Daryono & Foertsch, 2023). Creating an evaluation system to appraise the team member’s contributions to the project was also crucial. Performance would be measured in terms of timeliness, effectiveness, satisfaction, and efficiency by using the behaviors and actions of the respective team members (Daryono & Foertsch, 2023). The evaluation system will entail informing the team members in advance on how individual contributions and team results will be evaluated. This would motivate the social loafers to genuinely contribute toward achieving project deliverables and milestones.
References
Daryono, D., & Foertsch, C. (2023). The Role of Active Social Loafing and Psychological Encouragement in Human Capital Development. Jurnal Manajemen Bisnis, 14(1), 143-161. http...