S ome self-managed teams encounter a vexing problem: One or more members engage
ID: 374912 • Letter: S
Question
S ome self-managed teams
encounter a vexing problem:
One or more members engage in
social loafing, and other members
are reluctant to try to rectify
the situation. Social loafing can
be especially troubling if team
members’ pay is based on team
performance and social loafing reduces the team’s performance
and thus the pay of all members
(even the highest performers).
Even if managers are aware of the
problem, they may be reluctant to
take action because the team is
supposedly self-managing.
Questions
1. Either individually or in a
group, think about the ethical
implications of social loafing
in a self-managed team.
2. Do managers have an ethical
obligation to step in when they
are aware of social loafing in
a self-managed team? Why
or why not? Do other team
members have an obligation to
try to curtail the social loafing?
Why or why not?
Explanation / Answer
Social loafing takes place when the participants of a group project reduce them efforts as they feel they will be held accountable for the outcome. This results in issues among the self managed teams wherein the leadership roles rotate and the members are mutually responsible for fulfilling the management goals.
Social loafing causes damage to the corporate performance and it also leads to lack of accountability, poor morale and cohesion.
A manager had to act against loafing in the self am aged team as this results in low productivity. It causes problems to complete the tasks and the company has to bear higher costs when the teams perform badly.
Team members also have a responsibility to curtail social loafing as it causes complications in the group and cohesiveness. This is not ideal environment for productivity to occur.
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