11.4 How to Communicate: Social Loafing

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HOW TO COMMUNICATE| Video Skills

SOCIAL LOAFING

image One way to improve your communication competence is by adapting your communication in unpleasant encounters. Learn how to handle social loafing by completing the How to Communicate video activity below.

CONSIDER THIS:

As an assignment for your human communication course, you are part of a group that is making a 15-minute presentation explaining the cultural factors that influence communication. One group member, Paul, did not prepare his slides for the meeting in which the group is putting together the final presentation.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

The following advice illustrates how addressing egocentric roles is important for a group to stay on task. As you watch the video, consider how the dialogue reflects both task and maintenance roles. Then, test your knowledge of key skills, and create your own responses to the What if? video prompts.

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image NOTE INSTANCES of social loafing, and use “we” language to remind Paul of his responsibility to the group. (“At the last meeting we agreed that we would all have our parts of the presentation ready for today.”)

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image REMAIN OPEN-MINDED to possible reasons for why Paul is withholding effort, and remind him of how much you value his participation. (“I’m sure you’ve had a lot of other things going on that have kept you from getting your part done. But your contribution is still essential.”)

image PRESENT A CLEAR PLAN for what you’d like Paul to do, making sure to check whether it works for him, so he feels like a solution has been mutually agreed upon rather than him being told what to do. (“How about e-mailing us your slides by Friday so we can get the presentation set up? Does that work for you?”)

Question

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Chapter 11: QUESTION: By confronting Paul about his missing slides and getting him to agree to a new deadline, Maeve is performing a _____________ for the group.