Social loafing and cohesion

• Group cohesion


  The extent to which a group stay together and united in the pursuit of common goals and objectives
• Task Cohesion


  How committed are the team members to achieving their pre-determined common performance goals
• Social cohesion


  The degree to which team members like each other and enjoy being together. Reflects friendships within the groups
• Social and task cohesion are independent of each other
• A highly skilled and task-motivated team can win if they are not close friends


  Relying more on individual talents to achieve its goals
• How the strategy Leadership helps to improve cohesion

  1. Gives the group a greater sense of power

  2. Entrusts players with setting standards on and off the field

  3. Clearly defines roles for each of its members
• How the strategy Communication helps to improve cohesion

  1. Communicating clearly and regularly so all members understand their roles and responsibilities

  2. Having clear and understood expectations

  3. Having regular team meetings
• How the strategy Roles and norms help to improve cohesion

  Every team has their own group roles and group norms which influence the behaviour of its members as individuals and collectively
• Group roles


  The shared expectation of how an individual should behave in a certain position
• Formal roles


  • Leadership group
  • Coach
  • Medical staff
• Informal roles


  • Social organiser
  • End of season tour organiser
  • Fines master/ judge
• Group Norms


  Shared expectations of how group members should behave
• Formal norms


  • Arriving at the ground in teams/ clubs uniforms and standing together as a team
  • Warm up together and everyone participates
  • All players are required to be at the ground 1 hour before the game
• Informal norms


  Not official rules or policies but a set of expectations developed by a leadership group aimed at introducing new players to the team and its individual culture
• Informal norms


  • Newest member of the team responsible for bringing a bag to the game each week
  • Player who makes the biggest mistake during the game must wash the team uniforms
• How to develop task cohesion

  1. Communicating clearly and regularly so all members understand their roles and responsibilities

  2. Making clear what everyone must do for the team to achieve its goals

  3. Set challenging but realistic goals for the teams as a whole and for individual players
• How to develop social Cohesion

  1. Do team building activities

  2. Encourage social interaction away from the sport

  3. Resolve conflicts quickly
• Benefits of cohesion


  • A group that has a high level of group cohesiveness is much more successful in achieving their goals
  • Communication and motivation within the group is extensive
  • Players work together to achieve team goals ahead of personal goals
• Barriers to cohesion


  • Personality between members
  • Frequent changes to the group
  • Lack of communication
  • Unclear roles among group members
• Social loafing


  The tendency of individuals to lessen their effort when they are part of a group
• When social loafing occurs


  • An individual perceives other athletes to be working at a lower levels which in turn gives them an excuse to put in less effort themselves
  • The task is perceived to be meaningless
  • Individuals feeling like their input is not essential to achieving the goal
• Traits of an athlete who is social loafing

  • Decreased effort at training
  • Misses training
  • Decreased forms
  • Expect team mates to cover their mistakes
• Impact of social loafing

  Social loafing by some athletes in team high in self-confidence. The individual athlete perceives the team will win even without every player performing at their best and consequently puts in less effort. Social loafing has negative impact on individual and team performance. Social loading decreases team cohesion.
• How to minimise social loafing

  1. Write a team contract that states: group expectations, individual responsibilities, methods of discipline

  2. Develop rules of conduct

  3. Create appropriate group sizes

  4. Evaluate all members of a group individually

  5. Rotate responsibility