"Others in my Group don't do anything", "I do all of the work every time and it is starting to get old", "I do not trust any of you so I am going to do this all by myself", "They are not doing it so why should I?." Ever heard of any of these statements? Everyone has experienced a bad group project or some bad group related event at some point in time during their college career. There is always that one person who either does not do their part or goes way above and beyond to boss their peers around. Do you ever wonder why that is or what factors contribute to it? Group projects and events are a hot topic in today's society and culture. Although it may seem that people like to work in groups and be productive on assignments, they actually can easily be less productive (Carnegie Mellon University 2016) .
(From Star 12 Community)
(From Star 12 Community)
I really believe that there are pros and cons to group work. My goal for this post is to provide examples of various occasions where group projects or group events have gone bad and hope to hear some examples from the audience where you can relate, agree, or disagree.
The prisoner's dilemma states that one party must make a cooperative or competitive move in relation to another party (Kassin 2016). A classic example of the prisoner's dilemma is when a player flops in a basketball game. For those of you whom do not know what a flop is, it is when a basketball player purposely falls over while engaging with another player to try and draw a foul. (See video below skip to :15 for actual highlights).
From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF5E4bzEqm8&t=4s
Youtube channel: House of Hoops
These "flops" represent the prisoner's dilemma in an interesting way. The results of this event can end up in cooperative or competitive ways. The competitive ways that this happens is either the person dribbling the ball can flop, or the person playing defense can flop. The cooperative way this happens is that both players flop. This is a common example because it occurs so often. Also, often times the players will not be punished so it continues to happen causing others to attempt this type of behavior as well (Talwalker 2016). This event usually ends up blowing up and the fans, players not involved, and the referees are usually upset by this process as it delays the game from continuing on. If we were to compare this to group work, multiple events could end up happening as well. Everything could go smoothly (cooperative), and everything could go poorly (competitive). In this flop example the person with the ball has a direct effect on the defender and vice versa. The point is that everyone participating in a group event or working on a group project has an effect on everyone else in more than one simple way. Everyone's actions prove to be critical in getting the task at hand done, and also has an effect on each others performances as well.
I think another enormous example of why group projects and events tend to fail is the concept of Social Facilitation. Social facilitation is the process of the presence of others enhancing performance on easier tasks but impairs the performance of more difficult tasks. Going along with social facilitation, comes the concept of the Mere Presence Theory which states that the presence of others is sufficient to produce these social facilitation effects. A great example of these two concepts would be running a foot race opposed to taking a driving test. While running a race we might be motivated by the crowd to do our best and have the confidence of everyone cheering you on to go out there and give it all that you have. Where as while taking the driving test and having to focus so hard, the presence of others could prove to be absolutely devastating to your performance. This relates heavily to group work as well. In some situations and scenarios the presence of people may motivate you. A good example of this would be if you are doing a group project and are confident in what the project is on, your peers may motivate you to do your best. On the other hand some situations and scenarios may cause you to overthink what the task at hand is, and with other people being present in the situation, could cause you to fail miserably on that task.
From: http://clipart-library.com/clipart/Biaq6nBi8.htm
Though a topic that is highly known and recognized, group work can prove to be absolutely miserable. I know from experience that in high school as well as college there have been some absolutely awful group projects as well as events that have went on. In my experience, working in a group is hard for some people because they are uncomfortable working with people, and just in general prefer to work alone or with people whom they are comfortable with. A lot of work and effort can be put in by some people in the group, but others will slack off and tend to not perform as much or as well as others, and this tends to lead to the people whom are actually performing to stop because everyone else is. I do think group projects and group related events can be and are successful in many scenarios as well as we see group based events and projects being successful everyday. There is a ton of research on bonding strategies as well as steps you can take individually to becoming a good peer, teammate, or whatever group event that is being participating in. I chose to focus on the bad examples. What do you think could make these events and projects run more smoothly? What can be changed/kept constant? What are some stories you would like to share? Do you disagree or agree with these examples? Let me know what you all think!
The prisoner's dilemma states that one party must make a cooperative or competitive move in relation to another party (Kassin 2016). A classic example of the prisoner's dilemma is when a player flops in a basketball game. For those of you whom do not know what a flop is, it is when a basketball player purposely falls over while engaging with another player to try and draw a foul. (See video below skip to :15 for actual highlights).
From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF5E4bzEqm8&t=4s
Youtube channel: House of Hoops
These "flops" represent the prisoner's dilemma in an interesting way. The results of this event can end up in cooperative or competitive ways. The competitive ways that this happens is either the person dribbling the ball can flop, or the person playing defense can flop. The cooperative way this happens is that both players flop. This is a common example because it occurs so often. Also, often times the players will not be punished so it continues to happen causing others to attempt this type of behavior as well (Talwalker 2016). This event usually ends up blowing up and the fans, players not involved, and the referees are usually upset by this process as it delays the game from continuing on. If we were to compare this to group work, multiple events could end up happening as well. Everything could go smoothly (cooperative), and everything could go poorly (competitive). In this flop example the person with the ball has a direct effect on the defender and vice versa. The point is that everyone participating in a group event or working on a group project has an effect on everyone else in more than one simple way. Everyone's actions prove to be critical in getting the task at hand done, and also has an effect on each others performances as well.
I think another enormous example of why group projects and events tend to fail is the concept of Social Facilitation. Social facilitation is the process of the presence of others enhancing performance on easier tasks but impairs the performance of more difficult tasks. Going along with social facilitation, comes the concept of the Mere Presence Theory which states that the presence of others is sufficient to produce these social facilitation effects. A great example of these two concepts would be running a foot race opposed to taking a driving test. While running a race we might be motivated by the crowd to do our best and have the confidence of everyone cheering you on to go out there and give it all that you have. Where as while taking the driving test and having to focus so hard, the presence of others could prove to be absolutely devastating to your performance. This relates heavily to group work as well. In some situations and scenarios the presence of people may motivate you. A good example of this would be if you are doing a group project and are confident in what the project is on, your peers may motivate you to do your best. On the other hand some situations and scenarios may cause you to overthink what the task at hand is, and with other people being present in the situation, could cause you to fail miserably on that task.
Though a topic that is highly known and recognized, group work can prove to be absolutely miserable. I know from experience that in high school as well as college there have been some absolutely awful group projects as well as events that have went on. In my experience, working in a group is hard for some people because they are uncomfortable working with people, and just in general prefer to work alone or with people whom they are comfortable with. A lot of work and effort can be put in by some people in the group, but others will slack off and tend to not perform as much or as well as others, and this tends to lead to the people whom are actually performing to stop because everyone else is. I do think group projects and group related events can be and are successful in many scenarios as well as we see group based events and projects being successful everyday. There is a ton of research on bonding strategies as well as steps you can take individually to becoming a good peer, teammate, or whatever group event that is being participating in. I chose to focus on the bad examples. What do you think could make these events and projects run more smoothly? What can be changed/kept constant? What are some stories you would like to share? Do you disagree or agree with these examples? Let me know what you all think!
References:
Carnegie Mellon University. (2016). What are the challenges of group work and how can I address them? - Eberly Center - Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved from https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/teach/instructionalstrategies/groupprojects/challenges.html
Saul, Kassin. (2016) Social Psychology. From Cengage Learning.
Talwalker, P. (2016, November 8). How Sports Flopping Illustrates The Prisoner's Dilemma – Game Theory Tuesdays. Retrieved from https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2016/11/08/how-sports-flopping-illustrates-the-prisoners-dilemma-game-theory-tuesdays/
Saul, Kassin. (2016) Social Psychology. From Cengage Learning.
Talwalker, P. (2016, November 8). How Sports Flopping Illustrates The Prisoner's Dilemma – Game Theory Tuesdays. Retrieved from https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2016/11/08/how-sports-flopping-illustrates-the-prisoners-dilemma-game-theory-tuesdays/
This topic is very interesting because I have had groups that I love to work with and also groups that caused me enough stress to shorten my lifespan. I have absolutely observed the mere presence theory in action. There are some tasks that I would just rather do alone for me its math problems. I have no interest in completing a complex math problem with other people. I find it distracting and inefficient. I do however like to plan events with other people. I think that input from a group regarding an event allows the event to be the best that it can. I think that the relationship that you have with your group members also determines how the group dynamic will end up. I am curious as to your thoughts on whether the intra-group relationships or the task at hand holds more relevance in the ending feelings of the group towards one another.
ReplyDeleteBrenna, thank you for the response! I as well like to do math problems by myself. I also like how you mentioned that the relationship you have with your group members plays an effect on how the group dynamic will end up. I think that is extremely true. In my opinion, I believe that the intra-group relationships would have more relevance than the task at hand. I feel like if you are able to work well with others that you will be able to figure out whatever problems there may be. On the other hand though the task at hand can play a huge role as well especially if it is a difficult one.
DeleteI really liked both of your points that intra-group relationships can play a big role. I've had groups where we all get along and so the task goes smoothly, but I've also had groups where we were all strangers and so didn't communicate enough to get things done efficiently. But I also think that the type of task plays a role as well. If the task lends itself easily to a group project it makes less of a difference if I know my group members or not.
DeleteI’ve also had some bad experiences with group work in high school. The most memorable to me was a group project in World History. My teacher was the coach for the football team and didn’t like that I shared my opinions in class when they differed from his, common occurrence in my school. We were given a large assignment where we had to basically create this company from scratch that would have run in the 90s from data, he gave us. My group consisted of two football players and one kid who was out sick for three fourths of the project. The class was told that the project would be in a group, but each person would receive a grade equal to the work they put in. I figured that would work in my benefit but boy was I wrong. I did almost all the work, made all the charts, the PowerPoint, the flyers we had to pass out. I fought with my groupmates to get them to do stuff, but when they didn’t do things, I rushed the night before it was due to finish it. In my anger I put a slide at the end of the PowerPoint where I wrote which things each person did, as we had to keep a chart of who did what for grading purposes, and my name was under almost everything. I waited the two weeks to get the grade back and when I saw I got a 65% I was furious. In class we all got to see the averages of each group’s assignment, and my group had a 87%. I knew that meant that all my groupmates got higher grades than me when they did none of the work. I brought it up to the teacher and asked why he gave me the grade I did in front of the class, explaining that I did almost all of the work except for the bit of stuff the sick person had done. He then said in front of the class that “I assigned you those kids because I knew you could carry the group. They did all they could with the stress of the games.”. I asked if he would change my grade and he said no that the work that I did was equivalent to the grade I received. That night I went home and told my parents and they called the school and told what happened to the principle, who asked my groupmates to come down to the office and present the information without me, which they couldn’t do. The principle gave me a better grade when I came in a presented the information to him clearly and precisely. I was never put in a group with any other football players again. I’ve seemed to always have bad luck with group projects, until I came to tech. in composition last spring, my group split our work evenly and when one of us couldn’t do something due to illness or busy schedules we took over a bit of the workload.
ReplyDeleteI don’t enjoy group projects when they are with people who don’t do work, but if we all already work well together than it usually works out fine.
Emma, that is a super interesting thing that happened to you with the football players. It is a classic example of how group projects can lead to some of the members doing absolutely nothing. The fact that your teacher still gave you a horrible grade for "carrying the group" is awful, especially because it seems like they received benefits academically for playing sports. I am happy to hear that you took it to a higher level and received the grade that you deserved. You mentioned that once you had gotten to tech the problem went away, I think that comes with maturity and in college there is more to be sacrificed than there is at the high-school level, but as you mentioned, also comes with being able to work well with others.
DeleteGroup projects can for sure lead to an uneven divide of work. I do agree that it depends on what type of work can lead to these problems. Ive noticed that in instances where when a collective group effort is the structure, it can be easy for individuals to fall back and let others take the lead. Sometimes I notice that this is not always a reflection on the person, as much as it is the problem that needs to be solved and how easily it can be solved. Luckily in my experience most group projects are smooth sailing, and if another member is putting in no effort, I much prefer that they stay out of my way while I finish the work and get things done.
ReplyDeleteAllison, that is another unique approach to solving group problems. When a person does not do anything I also prefer them not getting in the way so I can get it done. This upsets me usually but sometimes you just have to get through it. Also, I agree that the problem can play a huge role in determining how much an individual participates. I am happy to hear that most of your group projects are smooth sailing, you do not hear that everyday!
DeleteGood choice in topic like you mentioned above almost everyone has been a part of a group project at some point in their lives so its easy to relate to the topic you chose. I just want to take a moment to say thank you for your creative spin on the basketball flop into prisoners dilemma because that video made me laugh. I think one thing that might help the process of group work is the process gain concept and more specifically the work of the task being divided up into various sub groups. By having more structure and the structure being divided into each individuals strengths or in some cases maybe the choice to do as little or as much work as you'd like might help with productivity. I also think when teachers have you evaluate each member of the group at the end, people tend to do more and better than they normally would.
ReplyDeleteHali, I am glad that you enjoyed the basketball video and that you got some good laughs out of it. I like your input on gaining concept of the task being divided up into sub groups. A good example of that may be to divide the work into sub groups in which the people in the group are comfortable working on. I also think that when teachers make you evaluate your group members they will tend to do the work as well, however, I feel like this evaluation would have to be anonymous as it would most likely provide more accurate evaluations.
DeleteI agree with the sub-groups idea! I'm in a group right now for a class where we have to work on a presentation, and instead of everyone working on everything together, we divided it all up equally and assigned everyone a specific task. I think this makes the group more efficient and productive, and will probably result in a better overall outcome than if all of us were working on it together at once.
DeleteI am glad that it is working out for you! That is a good approach to take on it especially if everyone is working together to be productive. Group projects no doubt can work really well if everyone puts their mind to it!
DeleteI kind've disagree on your comparing of the flop to the prisoner's dilemma. I might have misunderstood what you wrote, but with the prisoner's dilemma, when both people collaborate they both benefit. I don't think both players actually benefit if they both flop. No penalty is called for either side, they just risk hurting themselves.
ReplyDeleteLindsey I found another blog post that might help you out with the dilemma. https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2016/11/08/how-sports-flopping-illustrates-the-prisoners-dilemma-game-theory-tuesdays/
DeleteSocial Facilitation is definitely something that I've been dealing with in my own life as of late--specifically, I'm in a class where we have to work on a major group project that takes the entire semester. It definitely can be difficult to get stuff done, especially when you overestimate the amount of effort other people are putting in, or when they're overestimating the amount of work you plan on doing.
ReplyDeleteAs for the "flopping", however.... I actually wasn't aware this existed, but it seems like something should be done to address it. I'm not sure how you could do this without allowing legitimate cases where players are shoved to be properly recognized, though.
Jon, I know how you feel. Overestimating things are a key component of not being able to cooperate and get things done. Yes it is a confusing topic to understand and I put the basketball example in because it was to get you to look at it from a different perspective. Here is a different blog post that may help you understand a bit better. https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2016/11/08/how-sports-flopping-illustrates-the-prisoners-dilemma-game-theory-tuesdays/
ReplyDelete