Question

As you may recall in the work of Triplett (1898), the presence of others in a bicycle race was found to enhance individual performance. This is called social facilitation (Williams, Harkins, & Karau, 2007). At times, however, the presence of others can detract from individual performance, which is termed social inhibition (Crisp & Turner, 2007). Similarly, social loafing can occur when an individual’s performance within a group decreases due to his or her reliance on others in the group (Crisp & Turner, 2007).

For this Discussion, review the media program, Week 5: The Virtual Office. Focus on the characters in the media and determine which characters displayed social facilitation, social inhibition, and social loafing.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 3 a description of the characters in the media program demonstrating social loafing, social inhibition, and social facilitation. Explain how you identified them. Then, select one of the characters and, using the current literature, explain two ways you might mitigate their behavior.

Media Program

(Onscreen Text: The employees at the United Cardboard Company often work individually on projects, but as with most environments, they are occasionally asked to participate in group projects. One such group is about to meet right now to plan a presentation for the Board of Directors. Observe the conversation and reactions of various group members to determine which group members exhibit signs of the following: Social Loafing, Social Inhibition, and Social Facilitation.)

(Interior of an office. Ken stands at the front of the conference room.)

KEN: OK, I guess we might as well all get started. As we all know, the big man has requested the five of us to get together and write and conceptualize a presentation to the board on our new packaging system. Maybe we can start by going around and throwing out some initial ideas.

KATHY: Sounds good to me. I think a PowerPoint presentation would do the job well.

GAVIN: I agree. We could follow it up with a physical demonstration of how the packaging looks and folds-- maybe a video of the larger pieces that won't fit into the boardroom.

KEN: Sounds perfect to me. Amanda, Brian, what do you guys think?

BRIAN: Yeah, what you guys said sounds fine.

(Amanda thinks, “I don’t know what to say!”)

KEN: Amanda?

AMANDA: I don't know. I didn't really get much chance to think about this. We only found out we needed to do this together three days ago.

KEN: OK, no worries. Let's focus on the PowerPoint idea. I've been doing a lot of them lately, so I'm happy to take the lead on the design aspect. What do you guys think we should all incorporate into the slides?

GAVIN: I think we should start with where we got the idea for this new packaging -- the company that designed it and the different sizes that it comes in.

KATHY: We should follow that with a graph comparing the old prices to the new ones to illustrate how much we'll be saving over time. Amanda, didn't you have most of that information collected at some point?

(Amanda thinks, “Oh no! What if I deleted that?)

AMANDA: I don't know, maybe, it's been so long. I didn't think I'd need it again for a group project like this.

(Gavin thinks, “I wonder what’s gotten into her. She’s not usually this tense.”)

KEN: That's OK, Amanda, I'm sure we can easily dig it up again. Brian, do you have any other ideas for the PowerPoint slides?

BRIAN: Nah, I think what you guys mentioned sounds right.

(Kathy thinks, “Wow. Way to contribute Brian.”)

KEN: OK then, Kathy and Gavin why don't you send me all of the info and I'll write it up and make the slides. Amanda, don't worry about the cost saving document, I'm sure I can dig it up from my old emails and put it into that slide too.

AMANDA: Are you sure? I'm happy to look. I mean I'm sure I have it somewhere. (Kathy thinks, “She really needs to get it together. Why is she so nervous?”) At least I think I have it somewhere. You won't tell the Board of Directors if I lost it, will you?

KEN: Of course not, we're in it together. So as I was saying, I'll write up and prepare all the PowerPoint slides. Then we can start our presentation with reading and explaining each slide. Then, what?

KATHY: Well, and then I think we should show them the packaging live, and the quick deconstructing techniques.

KEN: Great idea. You and Amanda can demonstrate the folding, while I narrate what you're doing.

(Amanda thinks, “Is he doing too much of the work? And what if I drop everything while he’s talking?”)

GAVIN: And after you all demonstrate the smaller packaging, we could show a quick video of how the really big ones function down at the warehouse. Brian, would you be able to go film that quickly one of these days?

BRIAN: I don't really have any experience with video cameras or anything like that, so...

(Gavin thinks, “I should have seen that one coming.”)

KEN: That's OK. My wife actually just got me this great little camera for our anniversary. It takes great videos. So I can just run down to the warehouse, get some footage, then put it together on this new editing software I just downloaded. Maybe add a little music. It's going to be really slick!

KATHY: Are you sure, I wouldn't mind doing that too.

KEN: Oh no, it's fine. I love this kind of stuff; just leave it to me. But I suppose that's enough planning. Now it's time to get to work and make the presentation a knock out. Go team!

(Everyone except Ken thinks, “Team?”) ©2012 Laureate Education, Inc.