Countering Social Loafing as a Project Manager

There is a proven risk in teams called “social loafing”, identified and summarized in a study by French engineer named Maximilian Ringelmann over one hundred years ago – back in 1913. His simple study concluded that the power of two horses pulling a coach did not equal twice the power of one animal pulling. This observation can be extended to people working on teams in a variety of ways. It is potentially very disturbing to think about this in today’s team-intensive environment.

In today’s knowledge economy, working on teams is more common than ever. Working in teams has a variety of benefits, such as:

People are not workhorses. the need for teamwork goes a step further, as it is downright essential for complex work where specialists with deep expertise are needed.

If we can accept that social loafing is real and project managers need to be aware, but also accept that the need for teamwork is real and even more essential than ever, we can begin to look at ways to manage the social loafing effect.

Are you organizing your team tasks for optimal productivity, balancing concern for the social loafing effect with the benefits of teamwork?

Countering Social Loafing as a Project Manager

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