As we are nearing the mid-terms and facing various project submissions for our modules this semester, I have a few tips on how to survive group projects that I would like to share with all my juniors here.
From my 3-year experience in UB, I have gathered that the way to survive group projects is to team up with the awesome people & forge a bond to get around the uselessness of the rest of your group. If you play your cards right, you can overcome more incompetence than you ever thought you could! Here’s how you do it:
1. You & the awesome people will do the majority of the real work. Get used to it. This is how it’s going to be for the rest of your life. If you wanted to not do work, you shouldn’t have been so awesome. Live & learn.
2. You can give a little of real work to the competent with minor prodding people with very specific instructions. Take turns sending them encouraging & over-praising emails. Let these people think they are in with the awesome people. This keeps them happy & semi-productive.
3. Give things that are kind of important but can be done at the last minute—the works cited, executive summary, appendices, & Power Point slides—to the competent but lazy people. The key is to never give them anything that anyone else in your group will have to wait on to be able to do their part. Make them wait for the rest of you, not the other way around.
4. Give things that are necessary but time-consuming & hard to mess up—table of contents, charts & graphs, title page with everyone’s names even though not everyone worked on the project—to the incompetent but not lazy people. These are also excellent people to be put in charge of the printing, but someone from one of the competent groups needs to check everything before you turn it in.
5. Have the incompetent AND lazy people “proofread” everything. Make sure that you save the version you have before they get their hands on it.
6. When peer evaluations come around, agree with everyone that these people did not make positive contributions to the group. Do NOT do anything unless you are sure the rest of your group agrees to do it together. If you are the only giving a bad peer eval to a person & that person gives you a bad eval too, the professor will have no choice but to assume that the two of you had a personal vendetta. However if everyone in the group gives the person a bad eval & that person gives you a bad eval, the professor will assume that that person is “not a team player.” And that is the sweetest revenge.
I guess I sound a little angsty when I wrote the above tips, but I guess it's always good to heed some advice from a senior who has been through much more than you :D
Thanks for your advice! :) Working in a group always have its benefits and problems. Working in a group is often presented as a good way of dividing work and increasing productivity but it can also be an exploitation of the different skills, knowledge and experiences that people have. However it is definately a skill we all have to learn to progress in society because we are all surrounded in group-based environments for at least half our lifetimes.
ReplyDeleteI think that working in a group always beats working individually. Forming groups in our lives are a fundamental part of human experience. They allow people to develop more complex and larger-scale activities; are significant sites of socialization and education; and provide settings where relationships can form and grow, and where people can find help and support.Productivity and efficiency will also pick up because ideas and work loads are easily passed on and collectively recorded as well.
ReplyDeleteI’m not someone who does a lot of in-class group work. I have always mistrusted group work, because I always feel left out: Whatever’s going on in some other group is inherently more interesting. Plus, it’s hard to generate a sense of common intellectual work in small groups. There are alway people who learn more or learn less, do more or do less in a group project.
ReplyDeleteGroup work is an idea that seems to be gaining popularity, but not with me. I've never been a happy participant when it comes to group work. It always takes up more of my time than necessary and never seems to work out quite right.
ReplyDeleteIn high school, I threw such a fit that I didn't have to work in groups in my English class. I couldn't stand everyone else skipping out on their work, leaving me to try to finish at the very last minute.
I couldn't agree more! I can not stand group work and trying to find a time to meet. I work too and I don't have time to be doing all these meetings and stuff.
ReplyDeleteOn top of it. I'm not too keen on the idea of SOMEONE ELSE effecting MY grade.
Professors need to realize this and stop the group work or if they want group work then they need to alter their classes to let us meet DURING class time.
I agree with Wanting. It was impossible for me to participate in group projects because of my work schedule and I was a commuter student. It was frusterating because my professors assumed everybody lived on or near campus. While I would try my best to make it to meetings and contribute, sometimes, it was impossible because the group wanted to meet at 10 at night. I really didn't feel comfortable driving the 45 minute drive back home, alone, in the middle of the night.
ReplyDeleteI also didn't like my grade depended on the rest of the group.
I don't trust others when doing a group assignment. Is that my fault? I don't think so. I will only take others' part when they are simply not moving forward with the task at hand.
ReplyDeleteEnough of it! I think that I'm always good. Is it wrong to say so when you really are a good worker? *tongue in cheek*
haisshh...!
teamwork sucks.
I guessed many of the above commenters have had bad experiences in groupwork but groupwork can have many emotional benefits too such as getting to know each other better, receiving & providing support to each other;lessens anxiety of working alone etc. Most importantly, we all need to learn to work with each other as it is a form of social need to be with others and be in a cohesive group environment!
ReplyDeleteAll teams are groups of individuals but not all groups of individuals necessarily demonstrate the cohesiveness of a team. Teams outperform individuals because teams generate a special energy. This energy develops as team members work together fusing their personal energies and talents to deliver tangible performance results.
ReplyDeleteHigh performance teams do not result from spontaneous combustion. They are grown, nurtured and exercised. It takes a lot of hard work and skill to blend the different personalities, abilities, and agendas into a cohesive unit willing to work for a common goal. Behind every great team is a strong and visionary leader. A leader whose job is not to control, but to teach, encourage, and organize when necessary.
I think that working in group is generally good. Everybody knows something we don't know and can do something we can not do, one person once said:" Everyone is a library, though capability is different."
ReplyDeleteI believe that we can derive a big number of qualities by working in groups for instance
ReplyDeletewe learn how to communicate and how to tolerate and exchange our ideas and experiences we can through working in groups feel good psychologically because we will feel that we are an efficient member of the team . More than this , working in groups gives us the opportunity to improve our skills in different fields and so on...
I think that your advice on group communication is interesting and insightful but I feel that one should not get back at others during the evaluation stage as they would eventually find out and conflict may arise.
ReplyDeleteI used to be part of a canoeing team and I think there's really something to be said about working out with the team. We push each other at practice. It's a matter of respect for the people on whom you're depending and who are depending on you. We have a great time together and, more than any other benefits (there are many!) you become close and tight-knit with your running/rowing/exercise buddies. Great people who know exactly what you're struggling with because they're right there next to you.
ReplyDeleteGroup work is rarely flawless. Two methods for dealing with problems are monitoring the group and discussing the problems. If you agree ahead of time about how to resolve problems, you can avoid involving your instructor in the situation; however, if you can't resolve the problem it may be a good idea to ask for assistance than trying to settle things out of your own accord.
ReplyDeleteThese are all very proactive (and very good) tips!
ReplyDeleteOne tip that I’d like to add is the importance of watching body language – you can usually tell what kind of impression you are making by the other person’s body language. If they are recoiling from you or making defensive gestures (folded arms, stepping back) you might be coming on too strong. If their body language is open, i.e., arms to the side, head tilted, you are making a good impression.
Remember, what happens in your group is often similar to what occurs in a real civic, administrative, or political group. Problems such as coordination, division of work, leadership, disagreement, voting, dissent and even evaluation all have their counterparts in events which you will encounter life in your life. How you handle these issues now will give you ideas for constructive participation in the "real thing." Therefore, learn from your groups, do not withdraw from group work!
ReplyDelete