● Research the Ringelmann effect, and discuss how it contributes to our

modern day understanding of teamwork and team dynamics?

Introduction:

Organizations are built around the concept of groups and teams. While these terms

seem to be very easy to understand, it has always been challenging to find the best

combination for forming high-performing teams. In order to achieve that goal a lot of myths

were introduced (Wright, D. 2013), and at the same time a lot of theories and studies too. One

of these theories is the Ringelmann effect (Schneider, T. 2016).

Ringelmann Effect Meaning:

Ringelmann, a French agricultural engineer, has noticed that a person tends to

underperform when they are in a group of people, and that happens in large teams (Schneider,

T. 2016).

Ringelmann effect, and discuss how it contributes to our modern day understanding of

teamwork and team dynamics:

Based on the idea that Ringelmann brought to team dynamics, it made very

clear that people tend to hide behind other team members when they are in a large group or a

team, and that behavior is witnessed during performing group activity, tasks meetings, or any

type of duty that is assigned to a team. The thing that contradicts the common idea is that

more team members mean more productivity and high performance (Schneider, T. 2016).

Later on, and based on Ringelmann's observation, a term was introduced which is

Social Loafing, which explained the behavior that happened during Ringelmann's experiment

more accurately, as it described that people when put in a group lose the sense of

responsibility and tend to slack (Rond, M. 2012).

How to overcome Ringelmann effect within teams?

A lot of suggestions were made, some have suggested building as smaller teams as

possible in order to make sure that every member is involved in the tasks and is easily

observed in order to notice if they are performing well or not, and to emphasize the idea of

shared responsibility within the team to make sure that each individual knows the

consequences of their slackness in case it happened (Rond, M. 2012).

Other approaches were introduced that focused on the ideal team size, one of them

was Scrum, which suggested that the ideal team size is between 5 to 9 members (Lagestee, L.

2012). Or teams could be structured based on Jeff Bezo’s rule the 2-pizza (HADEN, J. 2021).

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the Ringlmann effect or social loafing is a phenomenon that happens in

any type of group. So in order to overcome such observation within the organization we have

concluded that it must be faced by selecting the right team members for the right task and the

right team size in order to reduce its effect on the organization. We have also noticed that

there is no right rule for doing so, but in order to succeed organizations by the guidance of

their managers and leaders must come up with the right formula for their team sizes and skills

that could be brought together in order to achieve their goals.

References:

HADEN, J. 2021, When Jeff Bezos's 2-Pizza Teams Fell Short, He Turned to the Brilliant

Model Amazon Uses Today.

https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/when-jeff-bezoss-two-pizza-teams-fell-short-he-turned-to-

brilliant-model-amazon-uses-today.html

Rond, M. 2012. Why Less Is More in Teams

https://hbr.org/2012/08/why-less-is-more-in-teams

Schneider, T. 2016. The psychological theory that explains why you’re better off working

solo

https://qz.com/848267/the-ringelmann-effect-productivity-increases-when-youre-working-

solo-rather-than-on-a-team/

Wright, D. (2013). The myths and realities of teamwork (1st ed.).

https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/1600330/mod_book/chapter/359021/

wright_teamwork.pdf