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Group Work

Why Should I Care?

fhjdkdlfsaSome jfkdlsstudents jfkdslalove jfklds;working in groups, and others hate it. Some professors love assigning group work, and others loathe it. Nonetheless, the college experience cannot be complete without a group work activity. Here is some insight into how to succeed in group work, without letting everyone else do all the work.

This lesson has 3 parts

  • PartGroup 1Dynamics
  • Part 2Roles
  • PartLeadership 3and Personality

What is TeamworkGroup Work?

paragraphGroup work refers to learning experiences in which students work together on the same task, according to the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY). Group work enables peer learning. If students interact with each other, they might have a positive learning experience. Group work is also associated to the kind of environments students will encouter outside the classroom in the workplace.

videoBy heredefinition, a small group is defined by five characteristics (Devito, 2020):
(1) a collection of individuals who
(2) are connected to one another by some common purpose,
(3) are interdependent,
(4) have some degree of organization among them, and
(5) see themselves as a group.

There are pitfalls to group work, such as poor collaboration, and lack of coherence of the final product. It is important to clarify the roles of each member, and to deal with leadership styles and personalities. The first thing to remember is that group work is about collaboration, so be sure to have an open mind about what the other members of the group will propose.

York University Group Work Tutorial
 

  • Group Dynamics

Groups are an important topic of study for many social scientists, but especially for psychologists, who focus on the personal interactions between members. This is called group dynamics. In psychological terms, not all groups are the same. You might have a group of friends, be part of a particular Facebook group, and your family is certainly a group. In sociological terms, you can be part of large groups such as a cultural group, a linguistic group, or a religious group.

The Avengers are a Group, or a Team?

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When it comes to school work, the appropriate term would be a team, which is a subset of small groups, with higher levels of commitment, clearly defined roles, and where work is put it to produce content.

Advantages of Teamwork

Benefit from

Groups have both advantages and disadvantages. Some problems and issues can profit greatly from small group interaction, especially if the members are knowledgeable and interact effectively. In fact, some projects are simply too big for only one person and so group work is essential. Other problems and issues are best tackled alone; often, one expert is able to make a better decision than a group or several groups of nonexperts.

Perhaps the most important advantage is that a group brings different perspectives, resources, and knowledge to an issue. In this regard groups are perfect learning environments; we teach others and we learn from others. In a problem-solving group, members will feel they’re a part of the solution. In business situations, worker commitment to, say, a new company policy is often crucial in determining whether the solution works or not.

Among the disadvantages, groups can be time-consuming when even phone or Skype conferences are often difficult to arrange. It’s not always easy to find the right time for all six or more people to interact. Another potential disadvantage is that members may feel pressure to agree with the majority or with the supervisor or senior member of the group and not to voice any disagreements or alternatives. And it’s easy for perspective overload to occur; sometimes too many choices work against effective decisions (Iyengar, 2010).

 

 

 

 

  • Part 1Roles

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  • PartLeadership 2and Personality

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  • Part 3

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References and Further Reading

APABeyerlein, styleM. referencesM. (Editor) (2013). Work Teams: Past, Present and Future. Springer Netherlands.

Devito, J. A. (2020). Essentials of Human Communication. Ch.9 Small Group communication, Pearson Education.

Lipton, L. & Wellman, B. M. (2010) Groups at Work: Strategies and Structures for Professional Learning. MiraVia LLC.

State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY-Buffalo). (2023). Group Work. https://www.buffalo.edu/catt/develop/teach/group-work.html


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