College Group Projects

Saint Nick

Lifer
Jan 21, 2005
17,722
6
81
You know I can't understand some people. The past three weeks I've been doing group projects and have seen a few of them just go down the toilet. I've been blessed with some great groups to work with the past few weeks, but I can't imagine what some other people are dealing with.

In our marketing class, I saw a kid ask a teacher if "it had to be done in a group". In my ethics class, he splits us into groups every Tuesday to discuss cases and nobody wants to say anything. I can't understand for the life of me why these people are so terrified to talk to others in a group and put themselves out there. I find it to be a lot of fun and can even be interesting. And again in my ethics class, I was in a group of five people, three of us did the work. The other two met up with us in the technology center and just bitched about finishing the whole project right then and there, they didn't even want to put effort into it. Why are these people in college? Lots of stuff during their careers involve GROUP WORK.
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,679
119
106
this might be a surprise to you, but some people actually do NOT want to have to work on stuff
 

Saint Nick

Lifer
Jan 21, 2005
17,722
6
81
Originally posted by: slayer202
this might be a surprise to you, but some people actually do NOT want to have to work on stuff

I am definitely suprised :laugh:
 

Gooberlx2

Lifer
May 4, 2001
15,381
6
91
Yeah, especially in the case of your ethics class, having a group that doesn't debate the issues saps all the fun out of the class. I had that happen to me in a Nazis and Germany class. I had to ask to be switched to another group that actually discussed the issues.
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,231
118
116
I find they generally fall into 3 groups:

1. They are lazy

Easy to spot because they do shit all, take the least important/demanding tasks and usually end up missing meetings and not completing some or any of the work. Not much you can do here except either rat them out in hopes of getting a new partner, or just allocate them the most inane tasks and cover the important tasks yourself or with the rest of the group

2. They are afraid of looking dumb

These are the ones that say "yeah, that's what I was going to say" or "I agree" a lot and do not really contribute too much of their own. Genrally these people can become a little bit better as the projects progress and they become more comfortable with thr group. Be careful though, because these could just be lazy people that feel like they are contributing by saying "I agree" all the time.

3. They are just naturally shy

These people will usually come out of their shells if you just be super nice to them or even by putting them on the spot. I've worked with very shy people that were just really nervous about talking in front of others, but if you ask them something specific about a topic you know they should have a decent answer to, that will help build their confidence and hopefully encourage them to add more to the group.

This has been my experience anyway.

KT
 

rocadelpunk

Diamond Member
Jul 23, 2001
5,589
1
81
I disliked group projects until junior/senior yearish.

First two years it was randomly assigned. Any group project there would be 1-2 people who wouldn't do anything. Just made for much more busy work and a slightly awkward conversation when we told the prof that the guy didn't do any work whatsoever.

At least once got further into the major, people generally cared slightly more..
 

krunchykrome

Lifer
Dec 28, 2003
13,413
1
0
Originally posted by: jndietz
You know I can't understand some people. The past three weeks I've been doing group projects and have seen a few of them just go down the toilet. I've been blessed with some great groups to work with the past few weeks, but I can't imagine what some other people are dealing with.

In our marketing class, I saw a kid ask a teacher if "it had to be done in a group". In my ethics class, he splits us into groups every Tuesday to discuss cases and nobody wants to say anything. I can't understand for the life of me why these people are so terrified to talk to others in a group and put themselves out there. I find it to be a lot of fun and can even be interesting. And again in my ethics class, I was in a group of five people, three of us did the work. The other two met up with us in the technology center and just bitched about finishing the whole project right then and there, they didn't even want to put effort into it. Why are these people in college? Lots of stuff during their careers involve GROUP WORK.

I prefer to work independently, but I can definetly work in a group as well. In college, I had plenty of group projects where there would be a few people in the group who would not contribute an honest share. I remember during my last semester of undergrad, I had a group project in an accounting course. Two weeks before our presentation was due, we were all to meet after class and discuss/share what we have done so far. Nobody in the group, except for myself, had anything to contribute and it was evident that they had spent zero time on the project thus far. I emailed everyone later that night and lectured them; I told them that if I can find the time to do my share, they can do the same, etc etc.

If it really becomes an issue, and it has in a few experiences of mine, contact the teacher and let him/her know the situation.
 

sindows

Golden Member
Dec 11, 2005
1,193
0
0
Most people are uncomfortable with other people outside their "clique/stereotype". If you work in a group project, you have to have the balls to tell nonperforming members to step up or they're fail.
 

Saint Nick

Lifer
Jan 21, 2005
17,722
6
81
I guess on the plus side, we get these group evaluation forms and will allow you to evaluate your group's performance.

I won't rape their grade, but I generally don't favor them either.
 

Jeeebus

Diamond Member
Aug 29, 2006
9,181
901
126
I took a marketing class back in college, in which we had a final project to create a magazine ad and then pitch it to the class (this represented something like 75% of your grade). The kick was that your grade was entirely determined by peer evaluation (other members of your group). I do not lie when I say that I created the entire magazine spread myself right down to the idea for it itself. About a week before the presentation, the group met to go over the presentation, and I was floored with something like a 102 fever for two days... couldn't stand up out of bed without puking, so I had to miss the one meeting (there was another one later that I did attend). We do the presentation, I'm there and take part, professor loves it, thinks it's the best of the class... get my final grade for the semester... D- Apparently the group decided that I wasn't seriously committed to the project, and refused to meet to prepare for the presentation.

Needless to say, I was less than pleased.
 

hanoverphist

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2006
9,867
23
76
Originally posted by: sindows
Most people are uncomfortable with other people outside their "clique/stereotype". If you work in a group project, you have to have the balls to tell nonperforming members to step up or they're fail.

this is how you separate the leaders from the followers. sucky part is when you get a group of followers and no one steps up to lead.
 

Saint Nick

Lifer
Jan 21, 2005
17,722
6
81
Originally posted by: Jeeebus
I took a marketing class back in college, in which we had a final project to create a magazine ad and then pitch it to the class (this represented something like 75% of your grade). The kick was that your grade was entirely determined by peer evaluation (other members of your group). I do not lie when I say that I created the entire magazine spread myself right down to the idea for it itself. About a week before the presentation, the group met to go over the presentation, and I was floored with something like a 102 fever for two days... couldn't stand up out of bed without puking, so I had to miss the one meeting (there was another one later that I did attend). We do the presentation, I'm there and take part, professor loves it, thinks it's the best of the class... get my final grade for the semester... D- Apparently the group decided that I wasn't seriously committed to the project, and refused to meet to prepare for the presentation.

Needless to say, I was less than pleased.

good god. Did you talk to your professor about it?
 

steppinthrax

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2006
3,990
6
81
Originally posted by: jndietz
You know I can't understand some people. The past three weeks I've been doing group projects and have seen a few of them just go down the toilet. I've been blessed with some great groups to work with the past few weeks, but I can't imagine what some other people are dealing with.

In our marketing class, I saw a kid ask a teacher if "it had to be done in a group". In my ethics class, he splits us into groups every Tuesday to discuss cases and nobody wants to say anything. I can't understand for the life of me why these people are so terrified to talk to others in a group and put themselves out there. I find it to be a lot of fun and can even be interesting. And again in my ethics class, I was in a group of five people, three of us did the work. The other two met up with us in the technology center and just bitched about finishing the whole project right then and there, they didn't even want to put effort into it. Why are these people in college? Lots of stuff during their careers involve GROUP WORK.

A group just complicates things. When you have a group you have to delineate the work among the group members. This increases the complication because you have more people working on the same thing. Since people are human and they get sick, personality issues, drop out, die, argue or get angry you increase the probability of complication. Yeah of course when you get out in the real world you will work with groups but there is a major difference. If that person in the real world does the same things that a person in class does he/she will get fired and or disciplined.

Example: I?m taking an upper level graduate course for my Masters Degree. I?m in a group. We are working on developing a system (computer) for a corporation and doing this by going though the entire SDLC (Software Development lifecycle). Well for you newbie?s that is Planning, Analysis, Design, and Implementation. Each design phase has a set of deliverables we have to produce to the professor. The Planning phase has feasibility study and analysis. Well to make a long story short part way in the class one of the group members was supposed to show up to deliver his portion of the group work. This was a finished Design prototype. He didn?t show up, so we considered that he might have been sick or already delivered his portion. Well the professor gets an email from the student part way on that day that he was going to drop out of class. Well we get shafted because our work is not done due to him. In the real world he would have the punishment or possibility getting fired which would possibly motivate him more not to do this kind of bull shit. Anyway we had to do his portion and turn it in late. The professor didn?t knock off any points.

Another example we worked in a group where we had a kid who didnt' do shit. We did everything. We ended up going to the professor after the class and had to spend time complaining to him. The professor ended up failing him. That felt sweet.
 

Regs

Lifer
Aug 9, 2002
16,666
21
81
Hah. This is what college is now, especially in Business and I hated it too. I like being social, but I just can't work with people on school projects!
 

Saint Nick

Lifer
Jan 21, 2005
17,722
6
81
My dad told me back in the day nobody had a problem talking to each other in group projects. He said that it was quite the opposite -- that you met a lot of really good friends through those projects.
 

nageov3t

Lifer
Feb 18, 2004
42,808
83
91
I soured on group projects after almost getting burned on one during my sophomore year.

every year I was in college I (along with just about everyone else at the school who lived out of state) cut the monday/tuesday before Thanksgiving, because it's soooo much easier getting a ride home on a Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, as opposed to the day before thanksgiving. my group decided to have a meeting that Monday, but no one told me until the Sunday before, at which point I was already home for break. I told them that I wouldn't be able to make it, since I didn't have a car and couldn't ask my parents to drive me 6 hours in a day just to go to a meeting. so the group just took me name off the entire project :frown: this was worth 20% of the grade, and they didn't tell me they took my name off of it until after we got back from break, and by that point, they'd already done the entire project. :roll:

I was able to save my ass by going behind their back after they turned the project in, and told the prof that they just forgot to put my name on it ;) ended up with an A in the course.
 
Feb 6, 2007
16,432
1
81
I hated group projects in college. I still hate working in a group. Leave me to my own devices and let me finish the way I want it done; it will be good, I guarantee. Here's the problem I have with groups, and I think I speak without hyperbole when I say this: everyone else on the planet is a fucking idiot. You can take the smartest person in the world, you stick him in a group with other smart people, and you can just watch the quality of work deteriorate. Either they're going to argue about nitpickety shit about something that doesn't even matter, like what font the title is in, or they're going to get drunk and play Grand Theft Auto. It's a basic law of nature; as the size of a group increases, the mean intelligence plunges. That's why I don't buy the "million monkeys at a million typewriters" idea. Take one monkey, give him a keyboard, and he may well produce Shakespeare. A million monkeys will spend their time throwing feces at each other and playing Grand Theft Auto.

The problem with group work as I see it is there are basically three types of people; people you like, people you are neutral towards, and people you hate. If you are in a group with people you hate, you're just going to try to fuck each other over, because you don't want them to enjoy success and vice versa. If you are in a group with people you like, you're going to spend all your time talking instead of focusing on the task at hand. This leaves neutral people. Let's face it, there aren't that many of these people to begin with. And you're so focused on trying to figure out why you neither like nor dislike these people that you're not going to be able to get work done anyway. Then one of them makes a stupid suggestion, and that neutrality has turned into hate, and now at least you know where you stand, but that doesn't help because now you have to make sure the bastard fails. All it takes is one bad spoke for the wheel to collapse, and that spoke is probably you.

So fuck working in groups. I hated that shit. If I never have to work with another human being again as long as I live it will be too soon.
 

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
21,019
156
106
Another reason group projects go down in flames is that a lot of people do not know how to interact with other live, real people. Too much time spent on line, with headphones on, or in front of a TV, and not enough with other people. Real-life interaction will mean conflict, dissention, factions, backstabbing, etc. and a lot of students have no concept of how to deal with it.

When I'm interviewing for intern positions, I always ask about group projects they did and how they turned out. Often I can tell if they were a leader, a follower, or just dead weight just by what they tell me about their experiences.

Probably the most common thing I hear is that people on the team would outright lie about things over and over. I suspect that's because they do it online all the time without any repercussions. They don't seem to realize how anti-social that behavior is.

I have interviewed some very smart people, with 3.8+ GPAs in tough schools, who obviously wouldn't be able to work with other people.
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
Originally posted by: KeithTalent
I find they generally fall into 3 groups:

1. They are lazy

Easy to spot because they do shit all, take the least important/demanding tasks and usually end up missing meetings and not completing some or any of the work. Not much you can do here except either rat them out in hopes of getting a new partner, or just allocate them the most inane tasks and cover the important tasks yourself or with the rest of the group

2. They are afraid of looking dumb

These are the ones that say "yeah, that's what I was going to say" or "I agree" a lot and do not really contribute too much of their own. Genrally these people can become a little bit better as the projects progress and they become more comfortable with thr group. Be careful though, because these could just be lazy people that feel like they are contributing by saying "I agree" all the time.

3. They are just naturally shy

These people will usually come out of their shells if you just be super nice to them or even by putting them on the spot. I've worked with very shy people that were just really nervous about talking in front of others, but if you ask them something specific about a topic you know they should have a decent answer to, that will help build their confidence and hopefully encourage them to add more to the group.

This has been my experience anyway.

KT
:thumbsup: good explanation.

Most of us will have to deal with these kinds of people eventually at work. You need to do whatever it takes to get a good grade, but a group project is also your chance to practice dealing with people.

And like Karanky implied, people skills like these can make you look better than other job candidates that only have technical skills.
 

mundane

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2002
5,603
8
81
In a professional environment, I *really* enjoy working in small groups. However, in college I found that group project experiences broke down roughly:
30% Bad
50% Mediocre
20% Great

Greatest problems:
1) "Take charge" people who love to lead and order people around, but don't have a frickin' clue
2) Lazy bums who obviously shy away from the workload, and you're lucky if they make it to any meetings
3) Unreliable people who take on work, but never deliver.

Edit: In most cases, I'd prefer to do 40% more work myself, than 'rely' on group members and try to muddle through the delegation of tasks. It's a crapshoot.
 

mh47g

Senior member
May 25, 2007
741
0
0
I'm currently in my first group project ever (Senior Design Project), and am loving the experience.

It also helps that our project is almost done, and I expect a good grade...
 

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,844
1,049
126
I loved those small groups of like 5 or 6. I won't say anything in large groups but small groups are great for getting work done.