Teamcraft

In this episode, Mark and Andrew dig into the story of the Ringelmann Effect, a phenomenon first observed by French academic Max Ringelmann that suggests that individuals produce less output when they’re in a group.

They explore the historical context of Ringelmann's research and compare it with later research that coined the terms ‘social loafing’ and ‘the Sucker effect’.

Discussing studies by Ingham, Latane, and Kerr, and their own insights, Mark & Andrew uncover how individual effort can decrease in group settings due to factors like coordination loss, lack of motivation, and perceived fairness. Despite these challenges, the episode demonstrates how teams can still achieve outcomes that individuals never could, as long as there’s proper motivation and shared goals.

Chapters

00:00 Suckers, Social Loafing and the Ringelmann Effect

00:45 Introduction to the Ringelmann Effect

01:34 Exploring the Original Ringelmann Paper

03:58 Ringelmann's Experiments and Findings

08:42 Coordination vs. Motivation in Group Effort

18:20 Steiner's research

19:10 Extending Ringelmann: Ingham's Rope-Pulling Experiments

23:11 Latané et al's research

24:47 Latane's Social Loafing Studies

28:21 Coordination vs Motivation

32:26 Exploring Attribution and Equity

35:46 Understanding Overconfidence Bias

38:47 The Sucker Effect and Social Loafing

47:04 Positive and Negative pulls on team performance

48:49 The Role of Motivation in Team Dynamics

59:52 Concluding Thoughts on Teamwork

Research cited:

Latané, B., Williams, K., & Harkins, S. (1979). Many hands make light the work: The causes and consequences of social loafing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37(6), 822–832 https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1980-30335-001

David Kravitz, Barbara Martin (1986). Ringelmann Rediscovered: The Original Article May 1986 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50(5):936-941 50(5):936-941 https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-3514.50.5.936

Ingham, A. G., Levinger, G., Graves, J., & Peckham, V. (1974). The Ringelmann effect: Studies of group size and group performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 10(4), 371–384. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(74)90033-X

Kerr, N. L. (1983). Motivation losses in small groups: A social dilemma analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(4), 819–828. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.45.4.819

Ringelmann, M. Recherches Sur Les Moteurs Animés Travail De L’homme Par Max Ringelmann. Annales de l'Institut national agronomique : administration, enseignement et Institut national agronomique Paris-Grignon (1913) https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54409695/f14.item.langEN

Steiner, I. D. (1972). Group process and productivity. Orlando, FL: Academic Press. https://archive.org/details/groupprocessprod0000stei

Thanks for listening!

Music by Tom Farrington