Do many hands make light work?

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to challenge the assumption that process losses of individuals working in teams are unavoidable. The paper aims to challenge this assumption on the basis of social identity theory and recent research. Design/methodology/approach -The approach adopted in this paper is to review the mainstream literature providing strong evidence for motivation problems of individuals working in groups. Based on more recent literature, innovative ways to overcome these problems are discussed. Findings -A social identity-based analysis and recent findings summarized in this paper show that social loafing can be overcome and that even motivation gains in group work can be expected when groups are important for the individual group members' self-concepts. Practical implications -The paper provides human resource professionals and front-line managers with suggestions as to how individual motivation and performance might be increased when working in teams. Originality/value -The paper contributes to the literature by challenging the existing approach to reducing social loafing, i.e. individualizing workers as much as possible, and proposes a team-based approach instead to overcome motivation problems.

Specificity of partner feedback as moderator of group motivation gains in Olympic swimmers

“…Although our theorizing in this respect is closely derived from both the actually existing differences between the two types of relays and previous theorizing (Karau & Williams, 1993, 2001) and research (Hertel et al, 2008; Kerr et al, 2005; Messé et al, 2002), other factors may also be involved in the absence of motivation gains in medley relays. It may for instance be argued that this absence is due to lower group cohesion (e.g., Everett, Smith, & Williams, 1992) or lower identification with the group (see van Dick, Tissington, & Hertel, 2009, for a recent review on group identification and group motivation and performance). Although these processes may appear plausible at first sight, there are good reasons to assume that they are not the main factors in this research.…”

The Identity‐Matching Principle: Corporate and Organizational Identification in a Franchising System*

“…In the social psychological literature, this phenomenon is discussed as one of ‘social loafing’, and a ready solution has been offered to the problems it creates. In a meta‐analysis of the phenomenon, Karau and Williams (1993) reported that social loafing is eliminated when individuals work in highly valued groups (see also Van Dick, Tissington and Hertel, 2005). Likewise, Haslam (2004) argues that understanding of social loafing can be improved by enhancing the match between individuals' self‐definition and the forms of activity in which they are required to engage.…”

Inspiring a Self-Reliant Learning Culture while Brewing the Next Silicon Valley in North Wales

“…Failure to identify individual contributions within groups has been linked to decrease in individual effort [23] and the strategic shift of commitment towards individually assessed modules. [24] described an effect in which the most hardworking students reduce their effort in order to avoid being taken advantage of by less committed "freeloaders".…”