Individual effort is the basis of success in any endeavour. Yes, I know about teamwork. And it is true that teams are given the credit for winning matches. But it is individuals who score and save the goals that give the results.
So whenever you hear that a Committee has been set up, reach for your worry beads. The overwhelming majority of Committees simply dilute the responsibility which individuals have to get things done properly and quickly. It is absurd, for instance, as I once saw done in a public utility, to establish a Committee to investigate and eliminate waste. Is that not the everyday responsibility of individual managers and employees? A Committee publicised as performing that function will simply give an excuse to managers to set aside their own responsibility and leave it to the Committee.
A long time ago a German scientist named Ringelmann asked workers to pull as hard as they could on a rope attached to a meter that measured the strength of their efforts. Subjects worked alone and in groups of two, three and eight. As group size increased the amount of effort by each individual dropped. One person pulling alone exerted an average of 63 kg of force. This dropped to 53 kg per person in groups of three and 31 kg in groups of eight. The greater the number of people performing the task, the less effort each one applied. This is sometimes called social loafing. Each group member feels the others will take up the slack, resulting in reduced effort by each individual. Anyone in charge of anything should remember the Ringelmann effect whenever he or she thinks of setting up a Committee, Working Group, or Task Force.
