Social norms are the interaction between humans where they set up informal rules or standards to be followed. These standards can be obtained from a human understanding of their surroundings or written in formal laws. The rules or standards exist only by the acceptance of the majority of the society, cultural group or culture. For example, in a family, it is a mindset or understanding of a member to always respect the elderly, and it is applied to every single group of family. The younger member must always respect the older member of the family. Other than that, the social norm in a workplace is to always dress neatly and appropriately. It is a symbol of respect and professionalism towards our job.

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Join intention, on the other hand, is an agreement that is achieved by certain social groups. They did not follow the social norms but they create their own. For example, in a workplace, join intention can be applied in a situation where all staff agreed to wear whatever they like as long as it does not bother or distract anyone in the office from doing their work.  In a family, join intention can be in a form of individual responsibilities where all the members are responsible for whatever they did. They took care of their own laundry, wash their own dishes and others. This can help maintain the house without needing to divide tasks to each person. However, it is only possible if the majority of the family member came to an agreement.

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Comparing both mechanisms in solving coordination problems can be quite tough as both have their own strength and weakness. But let's find out. Social norms solve coordination problems by following what is common in today society. They believe that it is considered as 'normal' and effective to the point where everybody applies it in their life. The 'usual' is easier to be followed and has been a practice for a long time whether it is still effective or not. Not following the social norms can be labelled as 'weird'. Different from social norms, join intention has also been practised by some groups of people. They believe that, rather than following the usual socializing method, it is easier and way more effective to create their own. By using the voting method to reach an agreement, it will help all members socialize better with each other. Using this method too, members are free to voice out their opinion and thoughts. Through meetings and discussions, they can create their own rules and goals among themselves.

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From both mechanisms, it seems like join intention gave more freedom to its members than social norms. Therefore, in my opinion, it is way better to apply the join intention in our social life rather than following the social norms. But although it is a great thing, let's not forget to follow the stated laws of social norms. Sometimes it can look unbeneficial to an individual but are beneficial to majorities of the group.