Preview

Group Project Research Paper

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1232 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Group Project Research Paper
Luna

Professor

English 2

October 5, 2014

Good and Bad of Group Projects

----Have you ever worked on a group project? Was it easy peasy, or was it an unforgettable nightmare? Working together is hard, it 's no wonder group projects have such a bad reputation. Everyone will have to work on a group project at some point in their lives with a little whether it be school, business, an organization or even an event. Often when working in groups, members communicate poorly or sometimes not at all. In some cases people may even stab each other in the back.

There are many difficult situations that may arise when working in groups. Some of the most common are participation, conflict, blame and domination. There will always be some who do not participate as much as others and will take a back seat and ride along
…show more content…
Groups are made u of individuals with varying personalities, backgrounds and ideas. For a group to work well a bond needs to be developed. Every group needs a leader and each member should feel a sense of belonging, a reason and purpose for their presence in the group. Each and every group experience will have a different lesson that can be learned whether good or bad.

Work Cited

Armbruster, Rachel "Banding together for a cause" Wiley and Sons Inc. 2012

Astin, A. (1993). What Matters in college? Four Critical Years Revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Web Oct 2014

Hammar Chiriac, Eva, Gareth J. Williams, and Carl Senior. "Group Work As An Incentive For Learning -- Students ' Experiences Of Group Work." _Frontiers In Psychology_ 5.(2014): 1-10. _Academic Search Complete_. Web. Oct 2014

Rafferty, Patricia D. "The Evaluation Of MBA Group Work: A Case Study Of Graduate Student Experiences And Perceptions Of Positive Group Work Outcomes." _Journal Of Education For Business_ 88.1 (2013): 43-50. _Business Source Complete_. Oct

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Group Work

    • 1629 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Group work is something that has been hit or miss in the work or school world for a very long time. There is a very negative attitude about group work the second it is assigned. The truth is that group work can actually make the performance of the individuals go down but, there are also very positive aspects to group work that many people don’t usually think of. In this paper, I will explore some of the pros and cons to group work, look at some possible solutions to the problems, and I will reflect on some of the past experiences I have had in group work.…

    • 1629 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Initially, I had a negative view on group working because of the challenges that I had. When I was in high school, my five other friends and I used to work together in a music competition. Although we were supposed to get together to practice for the event, we were only able to meet up once a week. In addition to having a hard time with time scheduling, we often did not have a consensus of opinion. Whenever we had a discussion, we usually ended up with no results. So it always took a long time for us to make a decision. Consequently, the performance did not turn out as well as we expected. Because of this initial failure, I thought group work was time consuming and ineffective. However, I have changed my opinion lately because of the successful results in some of my laboratory classes. In each laboratory assignment, it is nearly impossible to work by myself because there are a lot of steps and each step needs to be very precise and accurate. Therefore, a group of two or three students will work more effectively compared to an individual because they can help to remind each other and finish the assignment faster. Based on those experiences, one more time I give myself a chance to work in a group and figured out how work effectively. Finally, thank to the Small group communication class, I found out that group work can become very productive if all the members in the group cooperate and follow the principles of small group communication. In this paper, I want to talk…

    • 1961 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Leadership and Lopez

    • 1840 Words
    • 8 Pages

    References: Engleberg, I., N. Wynn, D., R. (2010). Working in Groups. (5th Ed). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc. Allyn & Bacon…

    • 1840 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Group Work Skills Paper

    • 1553 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Leading a group of people can often be wearisome, a difficult job, and yet many find the experience to be completely satisfying. Satisfaction is directly related to how well-functioning the group is and how to get a group of people to work together is both an art and science. On the other hand, outside the work place, people are a part of a group work which served a vast majority of wide diversity of things. For example, recreation sports teams, hobby groups, faith-based prayer groups, volunteering and charity organization. All these groups form a long common interest. Moreover, the purpose of this paper is to reflect on the development of group work skills based on a group demonstration in class. That will exhibit my proficiency in leading a group in session which will outline the following component: identify of key group skills and dynamics, reflect on the group challenges, reflect on the leadership style scores and belief about group structure, and the understanding of the potential effect of trauma on group members.…

    • 1553 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The definition of a group is “two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives” (Robbins & Judge, 2011, p. 277). As a group, you can either work together well, or poorly. Groups can appoint individual members to certain parts of assignments, or individual tasks and then collaborate later together in a group discussion. This can cause functional or dysfunctional conflict. Functional conflict can be worked through even when individuals have different points of view (conflict). Dysfunctional conflict however, can ruin the integrity of the group and cause extreme conflicts. “One researcher says that the problems of brainstorming demonstrate the problems of groups. If you leave groups to their own devices, he says, they’re going to do a very miserable job” (Robbins & Judge, 2011, p. 278).…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Groups may be defined in many ways, indeed providing an absolute definition of a group, as with much of the theory around group work, is highly problematic and contestable. However for the purposes of discussing groupwork within a context of working with young people we may define a group as a small gathering of young people. Group work may simplistically be described as the study and application of the processes and outcomes experienced when a small group comes together.…

    • 13259 Words
    • 54 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Effective Groups

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Effective work groups are essential to the survival of any business. As I thought about the groups I belong to I tried to find reason one that was effective that I did not oversee. Unfortunately, the only effective group that this applied to was a group I once belonged to at my previous company. This was the internet marketing group at a Timeshare company. Before I am able to talk about my group specifically I feel it is important to define what it is that makes a group a group. A group is “Two or more individuals in face-to-face interaction, each aware of the others who belong to the group, and each aware of positive interdependence as they strive to achieve mutual goals” (Johnson & Johnson, 2006). A group needs to integrate the multiple realities that individuals bring to it. Many believe that people who think alike or have similar personalities make up an effective group, when in reality they do not. This group was made up of three individuals, my subordinate Karen, my Director Jodi and myself. Together the three of us were responsible for developing a marketing plan and executing it to bring in six million dollars a year. This was a very important task to generate six million dollars a year in a department that was just started. Our work group was extremely effective for a variety of reasons. We knew how to communicate with each other, we had clearly defined individual roles, and we had great leadership.…

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Xcom 285 Wk 6 Checkpoint

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When working in a group, conflicts usually arise and should be dealt with immediately and directly. Ignoring conflict or disagreements will cause the team to be lose focus, become less productive. Most conflicts result from poor communication and misinterpretations. To resolve conflicts, it is important to locate where the break-down in communication happened. By talking through the conflict with the members of the group, and redefining tasks and objectives, the team can resolve these types of issues. To foster good communication within a group every member must listen to each other, work collaboratively to make decisions, adapt to changes and communication styles, assign specific tasks, set clear deadlines and expectations, and conduct follow-up meetings to…

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    since communication among the group was sub par the outcome of the presentation was not what i expected. if the group had communication with each other and not formed subgroups the outcome of our presentation would have been satisfactory. Only two members of the group ideas and input were used to write the story, and if all four members suggestions would have been used on this story the outcome of our presentation would have been greater then it was. the members of the group did not share there ideas, who knows what the outcome could have been if all members would have communicated with each other. this goes to show u if your in a group and there is lack of communication your project or what ever the group is working on out come will not be to your satisfaction.…

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Groupthink

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Even though when we work in groups we usually strive for a harmonious and cooperative environment, this does not mean that an environment in which all members are in total agreement is desirable. The phenomenon termed groupthink describes the kind of situations in which each member of a group attempts to conform his/her opinion to what they believe to be the consensus of the group. Whereas this might be seen by some as a way of keeping the peace among group members, it is a rather negative attitude to have, as concentrating on "playing nice" usually detracts from the process of actually tackling the issues and exploring creative solutions. Thus, it becomes imperative to identify the symptoms of groupthink in order to correct it.…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Majority of the group work that I have been in are in the academia settings. Whether it was a group for a class project or presentation. I would hate working in groups because there was always one student who didn’t do his or her part. One student would always be left to do all of the work that the other student did not do. When it was time to meet, people would come up with a reason why they could not attend, come late, or not being…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ewerw

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages

    To be an effective group, three conditions need to be present: “mutual trust among members, a sense of group identity (a feeling among members that they belong to a unique and worthwhile group), and a sense of group efficacy (the belief that the team can perform well and that group members are more effective working together than apart)” (Druskat and Wolff, 2001). In the first group meeting, we developed a better understanding of our group when discussing all the details about this group project. Our fabulous group name is “Fab 4” with an inspiring motto “One for all, all for one, everybody having fun”. Found that all of us were motivated and sophisticated, we decided to complete all tasks together since that’s the most efficient way for us. To meet our expectation of being a helpful team, we all agreed to stay open to any ideas that can assist the foundation. Having a clear orientation, we gained more confident and mutual trust in each other.…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Have you ever wondered why group projects are assigned? Well, teachers do assign them for good reason. The reason for this is to benefit the children while also getting work done. Group projects are great for learning. There are 3 benefits to conducting group projects. These group projects promote collaborative skills, cooperation between students, and social skills. Group projects have a positive impact on the student.…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many things to consider when talking about working within a group. One of the major things is conflicts between the group's members. People will always have conflicts among themselves and with others; it is just a way of life. One of the conflicts that occur within a group is Lack of Leadership, someone needs to be in charge and keep everyone else pointed in the right direction. Another conflict among groups is Group Roles; everyone needs to know where they fit into the puzzle and what is expected of them. Also everyone needs to have coinciding Schedules, that way you know the work is getting done. All of theses problems add up to one of the biggest issues in a group, which is Disagreements and or Arguments.…

    • 2798 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, ISSN 0193-3922, 03/2004, Volume 29, Issue 1, pp…

    • 3013 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays