Working in groups has always been a very inconsistent experience for me. Everyone has a different method of how they approach things, some are really motivated to get things done, and others do not feel the pressure. The textbook defines a group as “two or more people who […] interact with and influence one another and perceive one another as ‘us’” (266). People tend to act differently when surrounded and working with others. That collective influence effects everyone differently. Some do better than their normal, some fail under the pressure, and then their are those who are fine with letting others pick up the slack. Theses occurrences are caused by how social facilitation and social loafing effect people when they are in a group setting.
When working in a group, most of the time, everyone is working towards the same goal. Social facilitation is what causes “an improvement in performance produced by the mere presence of others” (Simply Psychology). When doing a simple task in the company of another the performance will increase. In 1898 Norman Triplett published a study that found “children reeled more fishing line when working alongside another child similarly occupied than when teeing alone” (Harkins). This is a relatively simple task but the performance was better when in the presence of another. Humans are aroused by the company of others; our need for others to view us positively has an effect on our performance. When on is working towards a gail and their performance can be directly judged they are more likely to put forth more effort. When the individual no longer becomes directly accountable that is when social loafing comes into play. Social loafing is “the tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their ...
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...e group should be aware of their own performance.
Learning more about the phenomena of why people behave certain ways in a group setting has really helped me. I have had some pretty bad experiences with groups in the past, and now that I am aware of some of the reason, hopefully they will continue to get better. Just knowing that it helps to make people accountable for their own piece of the work has already helped. Instead of all working towards the same goal, dividing the task up in pieces will excel everyone’s performance. People do better when individually judged, and to make sure that they are confident in their work it helps to identify everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. The most important thing is just to make sure everyone is comfortable and confident in doing their part, that way the group can avoid instances of social loafing and evaluation apprehension.
To comply and conform in society is sometimes ideal in some situations especially when everyone has their own ideas, beliefs, opinions and ways of thinking. So to comply and conform when group work arises is a situation many people do to avoid confrontation, possible embarrassment, and generally being `the odd one out'. Psychologists have done many experiments to tests compliance and conformity. They have tested why people do it, when people will do it, which people do it, how people do it, and what situations people are more likely to do it. I will discuss mainly what enhances and what reduces this type of behaviour through research done by Asch, Milgram, and Sherif.
The present study identified social loafing is less likely in collective conditions than coactive conditions although results were non-significant. This study supports the research of Worchel, Rothgerber & Day (2011) as participants who worked in newly formed groups worked harder in the group setting than alone. This was shown to occur due to a number of reasons including group goal setting and group level comparison between participants. Future studies should consider the influences of group tasks for group development. In conclusion, social loafing in collective groups are not significantly less than the coactive condition however results may vary in future experiments due to having new variables, different participants and a change methodology in future experiments.
Edgar Allan Poe has been debated to be the author of the most dark and horrific pieces of literature. He was favored by many for his complex pieces of literature that have ultimately impacted the world of literature today. However, Poe’s pieces of work did receive harsh criticism before and after his death. Because Poe was generally known for his thought-provoking short stories, his short stories often received mixed reviews. One of Poe’s most arguable short stories is “The Fall of the House of Usher”. This short story was “regarded as an early and supreme example of the Gothic horror story” (Plot Summary: "The Fall of the House of Usher"). Poe himself described this piece as “arabesque” due to its ornate prose (Plot Summary: "The Fall of the House of Usher"). However, many critics disagreed with each other on their views of “The Fall of the House of Usher”.
Normally in a group, the work will be divided into the number of members in the group and may be arranged to each of the members to receive the part where they are more confident and have more knowledge of it. In addition, if a member is confused with their work, he can receive assistance from his teammates rather than just being alone and figure it himself independently. However, I believe sometimes been in a group can have its cons. A common pitfall associated with working as a group is disagreement about the way something is being done, a particular issue, or an opinion. Sometimes one member might have his own beliefs and want to perform a task in their way and conflict can arise from this. Once conflict arises, the members can discuss their own opinions and might arrive to a solution, but this can cause a member to not show their full potential because something was not done the way they wanted. I believe this is very common but if you are open minded, it can be overcome for the sake of the team to be
Based on our assessment of Talbot County, Georgia, we believe the following two community nursing diagnoses are valid for members of the community: physical inactivity related to lack of knowledge as manifested by Talbot County’s obesity rate of 34.7% and physical inactivity related to limited community resources as manifested by lack of safe exercise facilities, sidewalks and parks with walking trails. While both community nursing diagnoses are pertinent to Talbot County, we believe physical inactivity related to lack of knowledge as manifested by Talbot County’s obesity rate of 34.7% would be given the first priority. Without any understanding of the importance of physical activity community resources may not be utilized. Therefore, educating the community on the importance of physical activity cannot be stressed enough. Based on a study conducted, knowledge deficits were linked to a lack of physical activity in socially disadvantaged communities (Clark, 1998). Unfortunately, rural communities tend to have lower education levels (Clark, 1998). Rural Georgians are less likely than their counterparts to complete high school or to complete a bachelor’s degree (Vinson, 2013). In Talbot County, only 47.2% of the population graduated from high school, 20.6% had some college or an associate’s degree, and only 5.1% had a bachelor’s degree (Vinson, 2013). Also contributing to the lack of knowledge on the importance of physical activity is limited community health resources to facilitate adequate health education on lifestyle activities that promote physical activity within Talbot. Talbot County’s Health Department consists of only one nurse daily and a nurse practitioner who is only available on...
...and show an open mind to everyone’s ideas. I’ve found that this makes for a lighter and more fun environment and we’ve shown success in completing our task. Most times I’m put into groups, I don’t know the other people very well. This is common at school with my classmates. I’m used to having no leader in the group and everyone fighting to have their ideas chosen. Once a leader was chosen in the group we started discussing openly everyone’s ideas with the chosen leader voicing their opinion on which idea to choose and why. Usually when it comes to my friends I take the leadership role and make an try to hear everyone’s opinion before making a decision. I believe that for a team to find success and reach their goal someone needs to take leadership and voice an unbiased opinion. The team needs to hear everyone’s ideas and choose one based on which will lead to success.
In order to evaluate my role within the group, it is important to identify what makes a group. A group must firstly consist of more than three members, “Two members have personal relationships; with three or more there is a change in quality” of the personal relationship. (Bion 1961, p26) The group must have a common purpose or a goal in order to succeed. Having now completed my group work task, I can look back and reflect upon the process that my group went through to get to the presentation end point.
Stewart, G., Manz, C., & Sims, H., (1999). Teamwork and Group Dynamics. New York: Wiley. pp. 70- 125.
A group can be define as ‘any number of people who (1) interact with one another; (2) are psychologically aware of one another and (3) perceive themselves to be a group’ (Mullins, L, 2007, p.299). Certain task can only be performed by combined effort of a group. Organisation can use groups to carry out projects, which will help to achieve its overall aim. However, for the group to be successful they must understand what is expected of them and have the right skill to complete the task. . (Mullins, L, 2006)
When working on a group project, there are certain skills that are required to make sure that the tasks are being carried out smoothly. With that in mind, it is critical to keep an open line of communication as well as an understanding of the other individuals in the group. The following scenario is of a group project I was a part of that had a breakdown in the two points expressed above.
Social Loafing is something everyone has experienced. Most likely if you do not like group work this is one of the main reasons why. Cherry explains social loafing as an event when members of a group have less input per person in a group than they would if they were working by themselves. (Cherry). This challenges the widespread belief that the net output of a group is more than that of an individual and therefore a group will be more productive. In 1913 a researcher named Ringelmann designed an experiment involving rope pulling to test the effect of social loafing. His experiment found that when an individual was placed in a group his or her effort was less than their individual effort. This effect continued to increase as the group size increased. Originally, there was a debate over whether the loss resulted from social loafing or loss of coordination as the group size increased. Latan, William, and Harkins (1979) conducted research that deceived participants into thinking they were working with a group and proved the decrease in effort was from social loafing not coordination loss (Latan, William, & Harkins, 1979).
In a team environment individuals lack the motivation to fulfill their full potential because there is no internal or external evaluation for their contributions, so they rely on others. Social loafers will tend to exert less work towards a task because the final evaluation does not just result on the individual but the team itself, which leads to less self awareness (Curt, 2007). An example of this is a sales team at Foxtel, that needs to exceed a certain expectation in the month sales, but they are not evaluated or assessed or an individual basis but a team.
In order to gain some purpose while working in a group, I know it can be challenging task to do because every group member is required to agree and cooperate. I am privileged to become a part of a group and completed our task successfully. Our group consists of 5 members and we experienced the stages of group development along with which different roles being considered. Our group formed with the common interest of competing and representing ourselves as competent and knowledgeable. The storming phase involved a trial being held to determine the capabilities of each other and positions were found to be disputed due to which we voted on leader of team. In the norming stage, roles of every group member have been stated and identified with the
Working together with other people for an assignment can be a challenging task in some cases but luckily, I worked well with my group members. The decisions we made were anonymous although we paced ourselves individually when it came to completing our separate parts of the essay. As a group I believe that we connected well on an interpersonal level as all four of us were able to make alterations to any problem together . Furthermore, we did not give each other a chance to get angry at one another as we knew that this would only cause conflict that would disrupt our flow as a group. There was an equal divide in the amount of work that we all did; our contributions were fair and no one was lacking behind. In addition, my group members were great at keeping each other informed if one of us were not able to attend a group meeting; emails were sent out informing us what we missed and ideas that were formulated. Everyone in my group worked according to deadlines and in synchronization with each other; we did not have to nag anyone to complete work or wait on a member to complete their task.
Several experiments and researches have been conducted that have focused on how people behave in groups. The findings have revealed that groups affect peoples’ attitudes, behavior and perceptions. Groups are essential for personal life, as well as in work life.