I believe that social influence is the reason for diffusion of responsibility. For instance, because emergencies are unexpected and often novel situations, they often possess a certain amount of ambiguity. As a result, bystanders may use the reactions of others as cues to define the situation. Greater ambiguity would yield greater reliance on others and consequently, greater opportunity for social influence. This would serve to suppress helping if others' reactions (or lack thereof) do not permit a clear interpretation of the situation as an emergency (i.e., negative social influence). You can read more: http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_psychology_of_helping#ixzz0OC0R8cRJ

- Stabilizing goalposts :When constantly moving goalposts people lose sight of goals, or feel they will never reach them they cease to care about them any more and are lesser and lesser interested in holding any responsibility related to achieving any of those goals. So stabilizing them make the picture clearer and the people prone to be responsible for their actions when their goals are clearly defined for them. - Decisions have to be very well thought and considering all kind of people in the group. Arbitrary decisions which are not consistent for all members will demotivate the individuals lessen their sense of belonging thus their readiness to take responsibility. Those are some solutions among others to this problem!

Hello Andrea, - This phenomena "diffusion of responsibility " occurs in big groups specially in hierarchical organizations, such as when underlings claim that they were just following orders and supervisors claim that they were just issuing.It occurs as well when people lose motivation thus feel less responsible and hide their responsibility in the group. Many negative traits emerge such as dependence on the others" someone else will do it" ,passivity and careless performance in general. They usually have little incentive to keep going, giving them some of it would possibly alter their attitude to a more positive one. Some ways to achieve that : - A sense of belonging motivates: The bigger the group becomes ,the weaker the loyalty, motivation and effort. That is why it is important to create means of belonging among the group. - Participation motivates : people feel more motivated when they feel their involvement in a project is important and valued. - Motivation needs recognition and reward even if it’s something as simple as a thank you. The bigger the group the less easier to create efficient rewarding systems and the little efforts will be overlooked most of the time. Creating a reward system that acknowledges the effort of individuals in the group in a way or the other will enhance their performance and make them readier to take responsibility.