[XaulZan11]

Yes, I agree with Andy eluded to. Sometimes they may want to help but don't know what to do and/or how to do it. I know that was the case for me my first year.

It seems that the problem with with social loafing and/or the bystander effect. There are a few small things to get people more productive.

--have some personal incentive. One problem with group work is that people loaf and don't carry their weight. One way to combate this is have each person's preformance indentifable. For scouting, you could have the person right thier name on the top of their scouting sheets so they know if they don't work, people will know.

--Make the group task seem "challenging, appealing, and involving". These tasks are known to have the opposite effect of social loafing.

-- Instead of asking a group of five or so students "does anyone want to help with this", ask each individual if they want to help. When asking them, use thier name to increase their self-awareness. This will combat the bystander effect.

--Give them a choice of tasks. Instead of asking (telling) them to go scout. Give them a choice between scouting or taking pictures, or between pit and match scouting. This will give them some intrinsic motivation (and cognitive dissonance), which will lead them to do the task better.

-- comaraderie also boosts productivity. Its clear that there is a rift in the team. Perhaps some team building excersizes or just doing fun things together will increase the team spirit and then increase productivity.