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I feel as though there is probably a more elegant and succinct way to describe that kind of behaviour. Imagine a group of friends going to an event and everyone thought the other was bringing the tickets so no one did. There is no active avoidance of responsibility but also no active responsibility. Any ideas?

Mr Charles S Taylor
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2 Answers2

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Yes, there is. That group is on the road to Abilene.

"On the road to Abilene" is an idiom based on the eponymously titled parable called "The Road to Abilene," which is often referred to in the arenas of group dynamics and personnel management. While already a parable, the idiom came about from a 1984 short film made to illustrate it. The short film and/or its parable has been shown or explained prolifically by businesses and schools in order to prevent such an inefficient and counterproductive group dynamic, so prolifically, in fact, that the idiom "on the road to Abilene" has come about as a result.

The parable "The Road to Abilene" is about a group of people who are set to go quite some distance to a town called Abilene on a particular day. None of them want to go, though, and none of them have any need to go. All of them, in fact, very much don't want to go. They also sense that there are others among them that likewise don't want to go. Yet, despite all that, none of them wants to rock the boat, so to speak, so rather than speak up, they each just hope that someone else will. Well, no one else does, so they all end up spending the entire day going to Abilene for no good reason and against everyone's unspoken wishes, each one of them completely miserable throughout the trip, all because, out of fear of going against the group or out of politeness or out of simply wanting to be seen as agreeable, none of them spoke up and just fruitlessly hoped someone else would.

When a group incurs such paralysis out of a fear of speaking up and/or hoping someone else will but no one does, one would idiomatically say, "They're on the road to Abilene."

Here's a link to the 1984 short film The Road to Abilene, which is based on the parable and which begat the idiom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7m6byv89mc

This scenario is now commonly referred to as "The Abilene Paradox."

Benjamin Harman
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    This seems to indicate primarily that people are not communicating because they don't believe their needs serve the group. The question is about people assuming that the tasks and planning are getting done by others, so they don't bother doing them. – GArthurBrown Jul 08 '21 at 21:17
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This is related to Bystander Effect, where people appear less likely to act when there are others who are capable of acting, so they assume the others will take care of it. Psychology Today says:

The bystander effect occurs when the presence of others discourages an individual from intervening in an emergency situation, against a bully, or during an assault or other crime. The greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is for any one of them to provide help to a person in distress. People are more likely to take action in a crisis when there are few or no other witnesses present.

That's generally used in the context of emergency situations, but Wikipedia says:

More recent studies also show that this effect can generalize to workplace settings, where subordinates often refrain from informing managers regarding ideas, concerns, and opinions.

This seems to indicate a potential broadening of usage which may encompass your purpose.

GArthurBrown
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