Group project disaster, what would you do?

[chman]

I had this group project for one of my classes. From the start is was a disaster. One guy dropped the class, and everyone else just seemed to not care. I tried pushing everyone to no avail. I even made the power point for everyone so all they had to do was talk. So we had the presentation today, and it did not go well. My section was good though.

Anyways, I am thinking about talking to the professor to get a different grade than everyone else. I told him in advance that people were not pulling their load. Do you think I should, or trust him to make the right decision. He is kind of a hard liner.

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[Dr McSexy]

I hate group projects for those very reasons.

You can voice your dissatifasication and such. Personally, I think it would be a dick move to go straight to the professor and ask for higher grade than everyone else on your project.

I would rather see what comes of it, first. If it's a grade you're okay with, then leave it. If it's lower than you expect, look into appealing it or talking with the professor more about it.

That's my thoughts.

EDIT: I suspect some people might suggest go to the professor and demand it, while gunning everyone down in the process. The road to med school's tough y'know. Gotta have those As.

 

[chman]

I hate group projects for those very reasons.

You can voice your dissatifasication and such. Personally, I think it would be a dick move to go straight to the professor and ask for higher grade than everyone else on your project.

I would rather see what comes of it, first. If it's a grade you're okay with, then leave it. If it's lower than you expect, look into appealing it or talking with the professor more about it.

That's my thoughts.

EDIT: I suspect some people might suggest go to the professor and demand it, while gunning everyone down in the process. The road to med school's tough y'know. Gotta have those As.

Well, it would be one thing if I went behind everyone's back and talked to the professor. But I already told everyone that I was upset with what was going on. As far as I'm concerned they should expect me to complain if they are not pulling their weight. I would expect them to do so if I was not pulling my weight.

 

[Hoody]

Sorry OP. I'm pretty bad about working in groups. Generally I just do the whole project and tell my group mates to deal with it. This has gone both ways. I always do a bangin job so the project looks out of this world.....but Ive run into situations where my group member failed to deliver the presentation aspect because they had no involvement in building it. I never feel like I can talk to the professor because they always say that figureing this out is what working in a group is all about. And whatever professors tell you, your ability to work in a group in college will not be representative of your abilities to work as a team in the real world. its just more busy work shiz to meet accrediting competency requirements.

 

[zetabetazeta]

I had this group project for one of my classes. From the start is was a disaster. One guy dropped the class, and everyone else just seemed to not care. I tried pushing everyone to no avail. I even made the power point for everyone so all they had to do was talk. So we had the presentation today, and it did not go well. My section was good though.

Anyways, I am thinking about talking to the professor to get a different grade than everyone else. I told him in advance that people were not pulling their load. Do you think I should, or trust him to make the right decision. He is kind of a hard liner.

Just tell your professor what was going on. Your group members were not doing their work so whatever happens to them, they deserve it. I don't like to go behind people's back either, but after all, your grade is more important.

 

[vin5cent0]

I agree with waiting to see your grade first. You already let him know about the problem, so you'll be fine if you talk to him after the project.

 

[Global Warming]

My solution to this problem is to simply do all the work. Yes, I do more work, but it ends up being less stress for me. I had a group paper assigned and I single handedly finished the entire paper in 2 days. I sent copies to my classmates and asked them to "look it over". Needless to say, we all got A's and I have 4 ppl that worship me.

 

[ApoK]

Sorry OP. I'm pretty bad about working in groups. Generally I just do the whole project and tell my group mates to deal with it. This has gone both ways. I always do a bangin job so the project looks out of this world.....but Ive run into situations where my group member failed to deliver the presentation aspect because they had no involvement in building it. I never feel like I can talk to the professor because they always say that figureing this out is what working in a group is all about. And whatever professors tell you, your ability to work in a group in college will not be representative of your abilities to work as a team in the real world. its just more busy work shiz to meet accrediting competency requirements.

How can you possibly know this? If you can't work in a group now and you're an uber perfectionist, then how can you know you will succeed when way more is on the line? I guarantee you've had some competent group members but were too willing to do everything to even notice. Hell, if I were in your group, I'd let you do everything too. Why not? You seem like the type to do all of it and do it well. I've taken advantage of these situations several times, and it's unfortunate that people are so worried about their grades that they do this to themselves...

I personally believe this is a terrible approach to group work, albeit one that most of us gunner pre-med begin with. Cooperation, teamwork, and trust are all absolutely invaluable in medicine these days.

 

[Janieve]

I never figured out why group projects always seemed to go well with me (post-high school, anyway), until three terms ago. I overheard one girl asking one of my groupmates how we had put together such a good presentation, and my groupmate just said, "You've gotta have one member in the group everyone respects, and that person has to expect the best out of everyone. Next time, just approach someone you respect."

It took me a good fifteen minutes to remember that she'd approached me. I don't know why she respected me (or whether anyone else in the group did), but I think her advice is pretty solid:

Pair yourself up with people you respect.

If you're a good judge of character, the people you respect won't let you down. I've always tried to pick groups made up of people I liked/respected, and I have never had a bad experience with group projects.

As for your situation, I think telling the professor ahead of time was a great step. If he grades you down for the lack of work your peers put in on the project, I would recommend you argue for a better grade in the following manner:

1. Approach during office hours with your prep in hand (papers, etc.)
2. Ask (don't demand!) for an explanation of his grading/a project rubric that tells you how individual members of the team are assessed
3. As nonconfrontationally as possible, ask for his opinion on your part of the presentation: was it on the same level as your groupmates? Did you seem more or less prepared than the others? Had your groupmates done their part at the same level, would your individual grade have been higher? (Note: this is where your prep comes in. If he has little to say/negative comments on your preparedness, you can show him your work and ask what could have been done better. A reasonable teacher will see the discrepency and, nine times out of ten, award points as is appropriate)
4. Regardless of the outcome, do not outright insult your groupmates or whine about it. Simply ask that, should there be any further group projects, you be allowed to work with a different group.

This is essentially an alteration of my usual approach for seeking grade alterations/explanations on projects. I've never had to use it for a group project, but I will tell you that this works for me about 95% of the time. The key is not to be pushy or confrontational. Come anywhere near your teacher's ego and you can kiss that better grade goodbye.

 

[futureboy]

I hate group projects for those very reasons.

Me, too. It seems that either (1) I was the only one who gave a crap about the project and ended up doing all the work despite me trying to get the others involved; or (2) some overbearing jackass insisted on doing things his/her way and wouldn't let anyone else do any of the work or have any input.

 

[Procyon]

Me, too. It seems that either (1) I was the only one who gave a crap about the project and ended up doing all the work despite me trying to get the others involved; or (2) some overbearing jackass insisted on doing things his/her way and wouldn't let anyone else do any of the work or have any input.

👍 That about sums it up. Group projects need to be shot.

 

[Moose A Moose]

I agree with waiting to see your grade first. You already let him know about the problem, so you'll be fine if you talk to him after the project.

👍

 

[chman]

Well, it turned out all right. I got an A-. I did not end up talking to the professor because he gave me some hints that my grade would be different than everyone else, and it was.

A couple responses:

- I did not get to pick my group, that would have been nice.

- I did not try to do all the work, it just ended up happening because it was obvious that we were going down in flames and nobody cared.

- I was not trying to railroad anyone, but I am not scared to say something that is the truth (which I ended up not really needing to do because it was obvious who did the work, me).

 

[silverhorse84]

This is why some professors have surveys at the end of the course so you can rate your group members - if your professor doesn't do this, you could suggest it.
I, personally, wouldn't go to the professor, but I have no qualms with you doing it. The only time I went to the professor about a group member not doing his work was when he gave me his written part late and it had no citations - I didn't want to get hit with plagiarism because of someone else. The professor understood and had no problem with not punishing me because someone else was too lazy.

 

[ThaliaNox]

I always hated the justification for group projects that out in the real world we will be expected to work in groups. This is true, people work together, even and especially doctors. The thing is... you won't have people with totally different expectations as to outcome of the project working together, like when a premed is grouped up with a couple people who could care less as long as they get a C in the class.

 

[chman]

I always hated the justification for group projects that out in the real world we will be expected to work in groups. This is true, people work together, even and especially doctors. The thing is... you won't have people with totally different expectations as to outcome of the project working together, like when a premed is grouped up with a couple people who could care less as long as they get a C in the class.

Another difference is that people get paid in the real world, and therefore have more incentive. In college, some have more of an incentive than others to do well. Every group project I have had has been harder than working with people at jobs that I have had (and I managed a pizza joint, which is not easy, let me tell you).

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

honestly maybe this is just me.. who's kinda nice and doesnt want **** happening..
but yah.. tell the professor that the others didnt pull there weight and tell him to keep your name out of this to protect yourself from having the lazy ass's from causing **** for you..

 

[jvesco22]

I have yet to have group projects in class. Just curious as to which classes you guys had that required you to do big projects in groups? Thanks

 

[kami333]

Another difference is that people get paid in the real world, and therefore have more incentive. In college, some have more of an incentive than others to do well. Every group project I have had has been harder than working with people at jobs that I have had (and I managed a pizza joint, which is not easy, let me tell you).

But you were the manager, therefore your subordinates HAD to listen to you.

I've never had a project in the "real world" that didn't have an assigned project manager to take ownership of it and delegate as necessary. OK, maybe I should say I never had a successfully completed and implemented project that didn't have a lead. If everyone is of equal standing, what you end up with is a bunch of type-A/premed gunner types who each want to do the project their own way and take all the credit for it, and you spend more time bickering internally over whose plan to incorporate and who gets credit for what than you do actually working on it, and people have no problems with backstabbing you even if it is unnecessary.

Maybe it's time schools started realizing this and started designating team leads.

 

[chman]

I have yet to have group projects in class. Just curious as to which classes you guys had that required you to do big projects in groups? Thanks

It is a Communications class. I took it for fun thinking it was going to be an easy A. I have actually been surprised that it has had its difficult moments.

But you were the manager, therefore your subordinates HAD to listen to you.

I've never had a project in the "real world" that didn't have an assigned project manager to take ownership of it and delegate as necessary. OK, maybe I should say I never had a successfully completed and implemented project that didn't have a lead. If everyone is of equal standing, what you end up with is a bunch of type-A/premed gunner types who each want to do the project their own way and take all the credit for it, and you spend more time bickering internally over whose plan to incorporate and who gets credit for what than you do actually working on it, and people have no problems with backstabbing you even if it is unnecessary.

Maybe it's time schools started realizing this and started designating team leads.

Usually, the natural leaders emerge without being designated. But I agree with you that would be easier if leaders were appointed.

What I don't necessarily agree with you about is that people will listen to you just because you are a manager. They may listen by doing the bare minimum, but some people will never do a complete job no matter how hard you push them, constructively of course.

 

[Danae00]

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