It might be worthwhile to reflect and consider where self-interest would figure in an imposed collective action situation. If there is a work that HAS to be done in a group,how different would the effect of the self interest be on the motivation and incentive when compared to a group work that is voluntary rather than imposed?
p30054
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if a person is working voluntarily towards an objective in a group, he has already put his self-interest in the forefront. it was this interest which drove him to volunteer to be a part of this group. on the other hand, in an imposed collective action, he has no choice,he has to submit his interests to the group interest and has to put common good ahead of personal benefit.
Imposition only goes on to decay the foundation of harmony in a group. Suppose, 4 people know each other and they out of mutual interest form an association to a goal which is desirable to all the group members. Since it is out of interest of the fellow group members, they'd really work hard to achieve the objective. However, if the same activity is put onto 4 different people who do not know each other that well or to add some spice and make matters more confusing, they all are at loggerheads with each other; then the entire situation gets a complete makeover.
I think we all understand what I'm talking about here so I wouldn't go into details.
However, the problem of doing something which people don't like with people that everyone don't like is quite a problem to start with. Plus you throw in an arrogant supervisor, people's own problems, etc. the problems goes from bad to worse.
Now it totally depends on what is at stake for each of them and how flexible all of them are to keep their personal problems aside and take care of the work at hand in a mutually beneficial way.
I hope one can imagine the scenario.
I guess a better way of reflecting on this situation would be to consider what we call - the Survival Level of Cooperation and Reflex Level of Cooperation. In both of these one cooperates for survival, though in Reflex Level of Cooperation there is no conciousness and awareness of this fact.However, in both of these the self interest is aligned with the need to cooperate. So one's self interest is nothing but the interest of the group to survive or even perform better. In fact, I think self interest is the sole motivation in an imposed group work or what I would prefer to call Survival Level of Cooperation. In voluntary group work on the other hand one often has many other driving factors and motivation.
The question is very relevant. At this point of time I would refrain to make any comments and rather suggest everyone to wait for Prof Raju's class on saturday. We'll play another game, a modified version of the one we played earlier under Prof Sony. I hope it'll answer some of your queries.
@sarah: I do not agree that common good is ahead of personal benefit like u said..given that u have to work in a group,u would do well to help yourselves for your own good because there is something at stake for you as well..what I wanted to deliberate on is the way that is different from the a voluntary grouping...more along the lines of what Nidhi was saying..
@ sunny & ritesh: thanks for the comments!
An interesting topic...
I wud agree with what nidhi said but haven't there been cases when people have performed excellently and not just 'survived' even under imposed collective action. So it does depend on the individual as well!
@Anshuman: Levels of cooperation like the Survival Level of Cooperation refer to the reason and not to the results. The results can still be exceptional - depending on the individual's ability.
But while talking about the role that self interest plays in an imposed collective action, we are concerned with the reasons.
yeah true...i just thought that performing exceptionally well wud not be possible if someone was just looking to 'survive'
Neway, lets not hijack the thread! :)
-p30004
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