Formally speaking, a social dilemma arises when the choice or
behavior that is best for the individual results in undesirable consequences for
the group, should all members behave similarly.
Great example of this comes from a historical case called the tragedy of
the commons.
And the tragedy of the commons had to do with a small English village
that had a commons.
And the commons was considered a grazing area that anyone could use.
The problem of course, is that if anyone overgrazed their cattle on the commons,
they would kill the grass and
then the commons would not be available for everyone to use.
So everyone had to limit their use of the commons, so
that everyone would be able to use the commons on a long term basis.
Social dilemma is really about selfish behavior,
to the extend that people are selfish and don't take into account other people's
issues, then we run the risk that we are not creating value in our organizations.
Lets take a couple of examples of this.
One of my favorites is something here in Champaign that was recently built,
which is the dog park.
The dog park is a facility that anyone can use, it's a public good.
Anyone can bring their dog out to the dog park.
The city sells memberships to the dog park at about $25 a year and
the membership revenues are used to pay for maintaining the dog park.
If there are no memberships, there is no money to maintain the dog park.
No one really checks memberships at the dog park because it's all basically on
an honor system.
So the problem here is that it's in everyone's selfish interest to free ride,
that is to not buy a membership.
To just show up and let your dog use the dog park and not worry about paying.
The problem is if everyone free rides, that is if everyone just shows up and
lets their dog use the dog park, but nobody pays for
membership, then there's no membership money to maintain the dog park.
So the problem here is attention between what's good for the individual, and
what's good for the group.
In many situations, it's very much in an individual's interest to be selfish,
but if everybody is selfish, then the group doesn't really create value.
And then there's no value created for the group to enjoy.