Applying social psychological theory to the problems of group work

Kraut, R. E. (2003). Applying social psychological theory to the problems of group work. HCI models, theories and frameworks: Toward a multidisciplinary science(pp. 325-356). San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.

Summary

Kraut discusses the idea of grouping in this article in the context of human-computer interactions (HCI) and computer supported collaborative work (CSCW). By applying social psychology concepts to better understand how people associate, make decisions, and organize their work, this paper shows how HCI can be designed to take advantage of well-understood aspects of human behavior and support CSCW for collocated and distributed teams. Modes of group functioning and concepts explored in this chapter include: Input-Process-Output, Process Loss, and Social Loafing. The chapter goes on to provide practical recommendations for how to address issues that may arise when groups form to do work. This chapter is a good example to additional ways to manage complexity within an organization that works in a distributed fashion.

Experience

What I really resonate with in this paper is the idea of social loafing. On a personal and professional level, it has helped me to reexamine how I interact with people and services. For example, I use Wikipedia all the time, but I don’t donate to keep it going. Social loafing. So, I donated after reading this paper. Professionally, I see social loafing happen all the time in teams where people take part because they want the prestige but do little to contribute to the work. I like how this article presents ways to mitigate things like social loafing and have been able to incorporate them into my approaches with my teams.

KEYWORDS: Grouping, process loss, social loafing , input-process-output, managing complexity, HCI, CSCW