Are Two Hands Better than One? : An Instructor’s Dilemma

Abstract

The corporate world needs a host of skills and its incumbent upon the B-schools to impart the same to the managers in the making. Team work, collaboration, decision making, leadership, communication, social skills and many more are the workplace norms today.  Groups are high on productivity, creativity, and motivation when compared with than individuals working independently. Group projects therefore have assumed importance in a management education setting. Therefore, the paper proposes to study the factors affecting social loafing in group projects to enhance effective learning. The research proposes to put forth a model of learning through group projects. It makes recommendations towards a better project and group design so that free-riding gets minimized and learning is ensured for all the group participants.