Strategies to Discourage Social Loafing

Strategies to discourage social loafing: Social loafing can be described as a tendency of individuals to exert less effort when they are part of a group. Since, all individuals are sharing their efforts to accomplish set goals; each member of the group contributes less than he/she would if he/she was individually accountable. One of the major reasons behind this behavior is that individuals think that they are not being acknowledged for their efforts. Such believing brings their moral down and therefore team members see no reason to reach high-level performance while working within the team. This behavior also develops when individual responsibilities within a team are not well-defined, or when management cannot track performance with precision. To correct and eliminate social loafing within the team players and to provide positive advantage to organization, the following steps can be taken. By defining clear roles and responsibilities to each team member in the beginning of the project will help each individual to achieve set goals and objectives. – By observing each individual’s contribution closely. -Set up individual assignments that reflect results toward the end project. -Assign individual tasks according to his/her skill set and strengths. This approach will promote the individual to accomplish assigned tasks in an effective manner. -Employ team reviews and member evaluations on regular basis. Simplify the rol es and responsibilities for the team to follow. -Support and persuade team members with loyalty. -Provide timely feedback to each team member on assigned tasks. -Using the management by walking around method can also reduce the social loafing within the team individuals. This practice will help management obtaining a better understanding of the work being done outside as well as building relationship with employees. Similarly, team members will learn that management is coming around anytime that will reduce the possible chances of social loafing.