Social loafing describes the tendency of individuals to put forth less effort when they are part of a group. Because all members of the group are pooling their effort to achieve a common goal, each member of the group contributes less than they would if they were individually responsible.

At rope pulling exercise:

• When working alone, an average person exerted 63kg of force
• In group of three, an average person exerted 53kg of force
• In groups of eight, an average person exerted 31kg of force

Source: Ringelmann (1913); Kravitz and Martin (1986)

The major reason is the diffusion of responsibility, we expect somebody else to take responsibility.

How to manage social loafing:

• Use smaller teams
• Address early
• Assign meaningful tasks
• Assign unique roles
• Make individual contributions identifiable
• Use hybrid (team-individual) reward structures
• Invest in relationship formation in teams