Laziness is one of the evils of our time. Laziness, rejection of work, voluntary leisure . . . sometimes, when we work as a group, something strange happens: the whole is less than the sum of the parts, that is, the contribution of each one is less when it is in a group. it’s called social laziness.
Social laziness is the tendency to work less on a task when an individual’s efforts form an uninfiable part within a group, compared to when the same task is performed individually. The experience of working as a group can lead people to work less and be less efficient At first glance, some of the causes are lack of motivation and problems of organization and coordination, then we will delve into this concept.
- In 1880.
- Agricultural engineer Max Ringelmann was the first to study social laziness.
- Ringelmann put 14 people to drag a load and checked the strength of each.
- The same people were also placed to drag the load individually.
- The results showed that when people dragged the load individually.
- They put more force than when they were all together.
While Ringelmann attributed stress reduction to poor coordination, subsequent studies found other causes: in a study in which participants were asked to applaud and shout as loudly as they could, each person’s noise level decreased as the group grew. that people hide in the crowd.
People are not afraid to perform lower within a group when their individual contribution is not identifiable. When a person cannot be held responsible for the inferiority of their activity compared to that of others, people tend to make less effort than they could. Social laziness does not depend solely on the ability to identify each individual’s contribution.
Equity and social comparison are also influencing factors, the fact that one person in the group does less will cause others to agree to do the same, i. e. they will be fair; on the other hand, comparing each other’s performance to that of others produces a sense of pressure to do more or less what could be done.
Social laziness doesn’t happen only when tasks that require physical exertion are performed, this also happens in cognitive tasks, especially when we have to think, for example, of one?Brainstorming? (Great idea). The larger the group, the greater the reduction in the number of ideas each person brings. As with tasks that require physical exertion, in those that require mental effort, equity and social comparison can lead to laziness.
An environment where social laziness is very present is in the working groups, when we have to work as a team, our efforts can be reduced, as can those of all members, so good coordination with the assignment of tasks can lead each person to give as much as possible. The fact that one or more people give their maximum can lead others to follow them, but it can also lead them to do the bare minimum.
It also influences the type of task to be performed. Social laziness occurs at a lower level when tasks are interesting; when the level of commitment is high, laziness is also reduced; if each individual’s tasks are necessary to succeed, there will be less laziness due to social pressure to succeed.
Therefore, social laziness does not always occurs in group work, here are some ways to avoid it or at least reduce it:
If we are going to do a group task it is important that all the members of the group have a great motivation, otherwise we can at least try to evaluate the performance of each one, giving importance to the final objective. Good management of group work will require each member to value their work and that of others.