How do I deal with this bull****?

[Lunasly]

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Hey guys,

I'm taking a single summer course right now and one of the projects we have to do is an article summary and critique along with a powerpoint presentation of our research article. The only problem is that it is a group project...

Right now I am partnered up with 2 girls and this is how the assignment has progressed. Whenever I have to do a project like this, I try to assume a leadership position. In an academic sense, I was stronger than both of these students so I assumed myself as the leader of the group. I began throwing out ideas for an article, and once we agreed upon one, I made a plan whereby we would each write our own summary and critique of the article and then combine them in the end. The reason I went about it this way is because the paper has to be 3 pages long, so it didn't make sense to break it up into parts. They agreed with this plan and I set a deadline of when I wanted them to hand in their versions of the paper to me so that I could add their thoughts and ideas ot my final version of the paper.

The deadline comes around and they hand me **** on the night of the deadline. One girl hands me in a summary without a critique and the other girl pretends to have computer issues and did not hand me in anything. I go ahead and produce the final version of the paper without them. One day later, they send me a message telling me that I am excluding them from the group and that their efforts are going to waste. Also, if I don't start collaborating with them, they were going to speak with the professor. I put these clowns in their place and tell them that I didn't include them because they gave me f*** all to work with.

At this time, we are working on the powerpoint presentation. They are using the threat of complaining to the professor to dictate how the rest of the project should be done. They produced a horrendous looking powerpoint. They have no idea what the hell is going on in the article. They want to read straight off the powerpoint. In other words, they aren't as serious about the grade they get as I am.

The professor told us early on that if we have any issues with our groups that we should try to resolve it ourselves (i.e., don't bother him). We should only contact him as a last resort and it should be done early. Right now, it's getting late. We present this Tuesday (June 18th). The biggest problem is that he is going to grade us a group and not as individuals. These two dumb clowns are going to drag me down with them.

What do you guys think I should do? Perform to the best of my ability? Talk to the professor about what I just told you guys? How do I handle this situation. I've tried my best to handle the situation, but because I didn't include them in the writing process of the paper, they are holding this grudge against me.

-------

tl;dr --> How the hell do you deal with incompetent group members?

Thanks for the help,
Lunasly.

 

[Quizlet04]

Background: I am a professor and I had this problem last semester.

You've tried to work with your group. It hasn't worked. Talk to your professor.

The trick will be not whining, not accusing the other people, and not talking poorly about them. You need to focus on your actions and your work. Bring in all the materials that you have for this project. Emphasize that you took a leadership role and that you invested significant time and effort in this work. Note that you tried to work out the problems before approaching the professor. Say that it was not your intent to exclude your group members.

What's going to bite you right now is that the prof is absolutely not reading his emails over the weekend. Write an email saying you need to speak with him after or before class on Monday because of your project. Don't go into details. Then show up early and schedule an appointment.

Above all: don't whine about how unfair it is. Life is unfair and we all have to work with idiots.

But here's the thing: if two students came to my office and complained that the other group member shut them out, I'd chat with all three of them separately to see WTF is going on. I wouldn't make a snap judgment. Whomever makes the most logical argument is going to win.

Note: if the class has turned in any other work, the professor has a general knowledge about the quality of the students

 

[JPodel]

Just talk to the professor or if there are any TA's or assistants in the class talk to them. State that you don't have the time to be playing around with these goons that obviously don't care much for their grade as you do. I would tell them that we equally divided up the work and set a deadline as to when the divided work was due and they practically failed to produce adequate work. And make sure to say that they were not willing to put in enough time to properly help you out, you had to do some of it by yourself to save you the grade.

The key statement for you is going to be, "Equal work was divided among group members and they failed to present workable material. And that you are fearing your grade based on their actions."

I am sorry that you have to deal with these idiots, that why I personally dislike group work to some extent. Most of the time, group work is fine, but when shi* like this happens, I'd rather be busting out a lengthy paper/presentation by myself.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[Lunasly]

Thank you for the helpful advice, BrainOnFire and Jpatel2018. I really appreciate it. Would it be considered complaining if I tell the professor that one of the group members lied about handing in work to me? When I set the deadline, one of the group members lied about having computer issues and didn't hand in anything, but then later admitted through Facebook (it's how we communicate) that she upload anything because she assumed I wouldn't use it in the final copy.

 

[JPodel]

This right here is not complaining, "Equal work was divided among group members and they failed to present workable material. And that you are fearing your grade based on their actions.". Pretty sure the professor will understand. Hopefully

 

[JPodel]

I wouldn't personally bring up the "lying" about the computer unless you know it was a 100% lie. Things like that are hard to back up and can make you vulnerable. You can also say that you are getting a feeling that they are not serious about the course.

 

[Lunasly]

Fair enough. I'll definitely say that. Do you also recommend that I print out what they handed in to me to show my professor their work in comparison to mine?

I do have proof that they lied. They had admit to lying in the Facebook message. Their excuse was that I wouldn't have included their thoughts in the final version of the paper, so they felt they shouldn't have bothered to do it in the first place. In other words, she assumed that I would think her work was crap.

 

[JPodel]

Um, I would definitely keep that handy just so if the professor asks "What do you mean non-workable material?" that way you can bust out the ****ty work and show him. But the main point is that they are not serious and basically causing you to fret over your grade.

I feel for you man! Sorry you have to deal with such peeps.

 

[Lunasly]

Great, thank you so much for the help. I'll keep it in mind. The one thing I need to keep in mind if not to sound whiny.

 

[JPodel]

Great, thank you so much for the help. I'll keep it in mind. The one thing I need to keep in mind if not to sound whiny.

Yeah, sounding whiny would hurt you. But i'm sure you can execute this in a non whiny way and be successful!

 

[SilverCat]

I'm going to be harsh here, OP: you sound like a bossy piece of work. First, you call your team-mates 'clowns' and take over the project because you feel superior to the other two. Who assigned you the 'leadership' position, anyway? Most likely, they're trying to sabotage you because you treated them so poorly and they resent it.

I say this out of experience. I worked with a girl who sounds just like you; even though we had an equal amount of knowledge of our work, she considered me stupid. She would 'take over,' give me 'kill time work' and when I was handed an assignment by another coworker, she would literally take the assignment out of my hands. I hated her guts, and just avoided working with her, as talking with her had no results.

Remember, it's a group project; no matter how much you dislike your team- mates, you have to take their opinions and work into consideration. If you feel that they are doing sub- par work, tell them, but be tactful. If they ignore you, go to the professor.

 

[ScholarStud]

Sometimes being a leader includes taking orders and subtlety suggesting better ideas for improvement. If you see their work is terrible, try to push them in the right direction with questions and suggestions, but ultimately make them feel like they came up with the idea themselves.

You say you always take the leadership position but I have a feeling you have simply gotten away with bossing people around in the past. I don't recommend going to the professor. It would be great if you could repair your relationship with your teammates somehow, otherwise, you may just have to chalk this one up as a "learning experience".

 

[kami333]

I'm going to be harsh here, OP: you sound like a bossy piece of work. First, you call your team-mates 'clowns' and take over the project because you feel superior to the other two. Who assigned you the 'leadership' position, anyway? Most likely, they're trying to sabotage you because you treated them so poorly and they resent it.

Glad to know I wasn't the only one who had this reaction when I read it.

And yes, working in a group is hard, my worst experience was in a business management course at a CC (some of the writing was so bad I was convinced some of my classmates were ringers since it was a course on conflict resolution, of all things).

 

[Quizlet04]

Thank you for the helpful advice, BrainOnFire and Jpatel2018. I really appreciate it. Would it be considered complaining if I tell the professor that one of the group members lied about handing in work to me? When I set the deadline, one of the group members lied about having computer issues and didn't hand in anything, but then later admitted through Facebook (it's how we communicate) that she upload anything because she assumed I wouldn't use it in the final copy.

Don't get into the lying. That belabors the point. Say one didn't turn in the work. If you start talking aobut what one said on FB, it's all going to hell.

 

[Remy LeBeau]

OP, in the future, try to be more collaborative on group projects. Don't assume the leadership role right away, and do change your mindset about being academically stronger than those you work with. Even if you are smarter and more serious about your grade, you have to approach projects like this by trying to figure out what everyone can contribute. Your partners will pick up on your judgement of their intelligence, they will resent it, and they will make your life difficult every time. The rest of your academic and professional life will be based on group work, so you will have to hone your interpersonal skills.

Try this next time to see if your project goes more smoothly (if it doesn't work, feel free to go back to your way; if it works, your life just got easier): ask your partners questions about how they want to approach the project and listen to their answers.

BAD: How do you guys want to do this? Do you just want to send me your parts and I will write it all up?
GOOD: How do you guys want to do this? [pause and listen] I like Jane's idea. Does that work for you, Diane?

See? You've become a leader without being overbearing.

When it comes to divvying up tasks, let people volunteer. If you reach an impasse, it's OK to suggest that Jane does X and Diane does Y. When people volunteer for roles, they feel greater ownership of the project, and they will perform better.

Like it or not, group work is a part of academic and professional life. Like any skill you can practice and improve at it. Good luck!

Source: I'm an old dude.

 

[kmp0410]

I'm going to be harsh here, OP: you sound like a bossy piece of work. First, you call your team-mates 'clowns' and take over the project because you feel superior to the other two. Who assigned you the 'leadership' position, anyway? Most likely, they're trying to sabotage you because you treated them so poorly and they resent it.

I say this out of experience. I worked with a girl who sounds just like you; even though we had an equal amount of knowledge of our work, she considered me stupid. She would 'take over,' give me 'kill time work' and when I was handed an assignment by another coworker, she would literally take the assignment out of my hands. I hated her guts, and just avoided working with her, as talking with her had no results.

Remember, it's a group project; no matter how much you dislike your team- mates, you have to take their opinions and work into consideration. If you feel that they are doing sub- par work, tell them, but be tactful. If they ignore you, go to the professor.

This is the only thing I got from OPs post.

I mean its jumping out in the title.

Gotta love the guy who is academically superior so he appoints himself to the leader of the group.

 

[911 Turbo]

This is the only thing I got from OPs post.

I mean its jumping out in the title.

Gotta love the guy who is academically superior so he appoints himself to the leader of the group.

Exactly what I was thinking

 

[Microglia]

Hey guys,

I'm taking a single summer course right now and one of the projects we have to do is an article summary and critique along with a powerpoint presentation of our research article. The only problem is that it is a group project...

Right now I am partnered up with 2 girls and this is how the assignment has progressed. Whenever I have to do a project like this, I try to assume a leadership position. In an academic sense, I was stronger than both of these students so I assumed myself as the leader of the group. I began throwing out ideas for an article, and once we agreed upon one, I made a plan whereby we would each write our own summary and critique of the article and then combine them in the end. The reason I went about it this way is because the paper has to be 3 pages long, so it didn't make sense to break it up into parts. They agreed with this plan and I set a deadline of when I wanted them to hand in their versions of the paper to me so that I could add their thoughts and ideas ot my final version of the paper.

The deadline comes around and they hand me **** on the night of the deadline. One girl hands me in a summary without a critique and the other girl pretends to have computer issues and did not hand me in anything. I go ahead and produce the final version of the paper without them. One day later, they send me a message telling me that I am excluding them from the group and that their efforts are going to waste. Also, if I don't start collaborating with them, they were going to speak with the professor. I put these clowns in their place and tell them that I didn't include them because they gave me f*** all to work with.

At this time, we are working on the powerpoint presentation. They are using the threat of complaining to the professor to dictate how the rest of the project should be done. They produced a horrendous looking powerpoint. They have no idea what the hell is going on in the article. They want to read straight off the powerpoint. In other words, they aren't as serious about the grade they get as I am.

The professor told us early on that if we have any issues with our groups that we should try to resolve it ourselves (i.e., don't bother him). We should only contact him as a last resort and it should be done early. Right now, it's getting late. We present this Tuesday (June 18th). The biggest problem is that he is going to grade us a group and not as individuals. These two dumb clowns are going to drag me down with them.

What do you guys think I should do? Perform to the best of my ability? Talk to the professor about what I just told you guys? How do I handle this situation. I've tried my best to handle the situation, but because I didn't include them in the writing process of the paper, they are holding this grudge against me.

-------

tl;dr --> How the hell do you deal with incompetent group members?

Thanks for the help,
Lunasly.

OP; all that I read in this post is that you don't have leadership abilities. A leader isn't someone who is good at performing the task that's assigned to the group, but someone who can inspire every team member, regardless of attitude or ability, to perform at their highest possible caliber and feel good about themselves and their work. They keep the morale of the group high, and don't just take charge and dictate. A leader should listen to and actively encourage feedback and ideas from others. Forgive the harshness of this sentence, but it sounds like you're the opposite of a leader. If I was your professor and I heard this story, I would understand that group problems are tricky and not penalize you for them, but I'd also label you as a person that is hard to work with and certainly not one that can lead teamwork.


Posted using SDN Mobile

 

[Omppu27]

Background: I am a professor and I had this problem last semester.

You've tried to work with your group. It hasn't worked. Talk to your professor.
The trick will be not whining, not accusing the other people, and not talking poorly about them. You need to focus on your actions and your work. Bring in all the materials that you have for this project. Emphasize that you took a leadership role and that you invested significant time and effort in this work. Note that you tried to work out the problems before approaching the professor. Say that it was not your intent to exclude your group members.

What's going to bite you right now is that the prof is absolutely not reading his emails over the weekend. Write an email saying you need to speak with him after or before class on Monday because of your project. Don't go into details. Then show up early and schedule an appointment.

Above all: don't whine about how unfair it is. Life is unfair and we all have to work with idiots.

But here's the thing: if two students came to my office and complained that the other group member shut them out, I'd chat with all three of them separately to see WTF is going on. I wouldn't make a snap judgment. Whomever makes the most logical argument is going to win.

Note: if the class has turned in any other work, the professor has a general knowledge about the quality of the students

This. Right when the students would've threatened me, i would've said fine, go ahead and talk to the prof. You have done your part and it's those two sloots that aren't doing theirs.

 

[Omppu27]

I'm going to be harsh here, OP: you sound like a bossy piece of work. First, you call your team-mates 'clowns' and take over the project because you feel superior to the other two. Who assigned you the 'leadership' position, anyway? Most likely, they're trying to sabotage you because you treated them so poorly and they resent it.

I say this out of experience. I worked with a girl who sounds just like you; even though we had an equal amount of knowledge of our work, she considered me stupid. She would 'take over,' give me 'kill time work' and when I was handed an assignment by another coworker, she would literally take the assignment out of my hands. I hated her guts, and just avoided working with her, as talking with her had no results.

Remember, it's a group project; no matter how much you dislike your team- mates, you have to take their opinions and work into consideration. If you feel that they are doing sub- par work, tell them, but be tactful. If they ignore you, go to the professor.

If everything that OP is saying is true, i don't think he/she did anything wrong here. Even if OP seemed bossy, his/her idea of how to go about doing the project seemed perfectly fine. OP was even willing to put together the final script of the paper.

EDIT: I'm not condoning any bossiness OP might've had though. No one likes to be treated like a 5 year old.

 

[NickNaylor]

OP; all that I read in this post is that you don't have leadership abilities. A leader isn't someone who is good at performing the task that's assigned to the group, but someone who can inspire every team member, regardless of attitude or ability, to perform at their highest possible caliber and feel good about themselves and their work. They keep the morale of the group high, and don't just take charge and dictate. A leader should listen to and actively encourage feedback and ideas from others. Forgive the harshness of this sentence, but it sounds like you're the opposite of a leader. If I was your professor and I heard this story, I would understand that group problems are tricky and not penalize you for them, but I'd also label you as a person that is hard to work with and certainly not one that can lead teamwork.


Posted using SDN Mobile

I would tend to agree here. No offense OP, but the way you described how you just assume a leadership role is... off-putting. I can understand why they may not feel like they're a part of the group because it sounds like you're simply telling them what to do - authority which you apparently received because you claim to be the most academically superior of the group (lol). You presented yourself in your OP as an ass that no one would want to work with. It's not surprising you're having difficulty working with your partners. I wouldn't want to work with you either.

Being a leader is more than simply delegating. Most importantly you should ensure that everyone is interested in their work and at least feel like they're contributing to decision making, even if they aren't for all practical purposes. It's not about making sure everyone does 33.333333333% of the work. In fact, you will almost certainly do more if not most of the work. This is something I dealt with on an almost constant basis during undergrad when in groups. I probably put in double or triple the time most people did on group projects because I had very demanding standards and refused to put my name on anything that represented less than my best effort. It sounds like you're doing the same. There is a price to pay for that security and the ability to change everything last-minute.

Finally, being a leader first and foremost often requires taking one for the team. In this case, that would include not being a whiny brat and realizing that life isn't fair while putting forth your best effort to earn the grades you're shooting for. Complaining about this to a professor is beyond laughable. You will look like a complete fool if you do that. Do you think this doesn't happen on a regular basis in all areas of life?

Edit: At the end of the day, it seems like you're expecting the other two people to rise to what seem to be your high standards for school work. You seem to be frustrated that that isn't happening. Instead, your role as a leader is to put in the time to make their work equivalent to your own. Do you see the difference? It's not about bitching at everyone until they do what you want. Instead, it's about being encouraging, friendly, and supportive and making those changes behind the scenes. You win by getting a good grade and they win because they enjoyed working with you and also get a good grade. So what that you had to spend more time doing that eork? You should've thought about that before you ceremoniously crowned yourself leader.

Sent from my SGH-M919

 

[The Stranger]

OP, remember this experience well. When you start the interviewing process, you might very well get an interviewer ask you about a time you faced conflict in a group setting and how you overcame it. I had two interviewers ask me that question.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

If you felt so worried about them producing horrible work you wouldn't have let them do it by themselves and you certainly wouldn't have not communicated/ check up on them prior to the deadline.
In effect you wanted to be lazy yourself and were a poor leader. Sure they may be idiots, but an idiot after having 3 in-depth peer reviews is going to sound like a genius. So get working!

 

[DokterMom]

I'm going to be harsh here, OP: you sound like a bossy piece of work. First, you call your team-mates 'clowns' and take over the project because you feel superior to the other two. Who assigned you the 'leadership' position, anyway? Most likely, they're trying to sabotage you because you treated them so poorly and they resent it.

I say this out of experience. I worked with a girl who sounds just like you; even though we had an equal amount of knowledge of our work, she considered me stupid. She would 'take over,' give me 'kill time work' and when I was handed an assignment by another coworker, she would literally take the assignment out of my hands. I hated her guts, and just avoided working with her, as talking with her had no results.

Remember, it's a group project; no matter how much you dislike your team- mates, you have to take their opinions and work into consideration. If you feel that they are doing sub- par work, tell them, but be tactful. If they ignore you, go to the professor.

👍 You sound like an arrogant jerk in your own descriptions of how you treated your teammates. You 'assumed' you would be the leader, you 'assigned' deadlines, you ignored the work product of the team member who did turn in work. You treated them with complete disrespect from the beginning, and you reaped what you sowed.

Own your part in this mess. You failed to play well with others.

You can bet that your team mates will point that out to your professor. Colorfully and in detail. Working with a team is an important part of the assignment, and you'd better be prepared to show that you learned something from that part.

 

[JPodel]

I personally think he might of shown superiority and that might of made the other 2 girls feel uncomfortable. But the fact of the matter is that they equally distributed work, and they both practically failed to complete it. The debate ends there. I know in my group if I divided out the work, got crappy work in return, and someone (a college student) made such excuse as having "computer" issues, I would not be happy. If OP has described them accurately, they seem like trolls who are not serious.

And people say OP has no leadership skills. I disagree, he started off with strong leadership skills in this project, but the others failed. It is obvious that those two ladies would have not wanted to carry this project forward (using OP's given description). So he simply took control and did what he had to do. Now I don't know if what he said is 100% true, but if it is, college students should know better than to screw around and not turn in work.

I take it as this, If the divided work had to be turned in to the professor, he would not go after them to get the work in. He would simply give them a zero. In the same case, OP has no obligations to go after them to get their work in. Now that it is a group project, he could use a little bit of convincing to get them to work alongside again. But that's my opinion.

 

[La Presse]

Just do it all. You seem to be the only competent one between your group and as long as they pretend they are contributing, all will be well. I just hope you like sharing A's

 

[JPodel]

Just do it all. You seem to be the only competent one between your group and as long as they pretend they are contributing, all will be well. I just hope you like sharing A's

Reality.

 

[Lunasly]

Let me rephrase. I didn't assume the leadership position just because I felt academically superior. It's because I knew we wouldn't get anything done unless I assumed such a position. I waited 3 days after we picked our article to get some sort of feedback about how we were going to approach this project . When no one said anything, I took it upon myself to outline a plan about how we would approach the project.

 

[Lunasly]

I'm going to be harsh here, OP: you sound like a bossy piece of work. First, you call your team-mates 'clowns' and take over the project because you feel superior to the other two. Who assigned you the 'leadership' position, anyway? Most likely, they're trying to sabotage you because you treated them so poorly and they resent it.

I say this out of experience. I worked with a girl who sounds just like you; even though we had an equal amount of knowledge of our work, she considered me stupid. She would 'take over,' give me 'kill time work' and when I was handed an assignment by another coworker, she would literally take the assignment out of my hands. I hated her guts, and just avoided working with her, as talking with her had no results.

Remember, it's a group project; no matter how much you dislike your team- mates, you have to take their opinions and work into consideration. If you feel that they are doing sub- par work, tell them, but be tactful. If they ignore you, go to the professor.

I would agree with you except for the fact that I can't take their efforts, opinions, etc. into consideration if they don't provide me with any in the first place. When we set the deadline for when we would have stuff in, no one handed anything in. What am I expected to do? Wait another week? I got tough because we needed results. Isn't that the whole point of being the leader?

 

[Lunasly]

Sometimes being a leader includes taking orders and subtlety suggesting better ideas for improvement. If you see their work is terrible, try to push them in the right direction with questions and suggestions, but ultimately make them feel like they came up with the idea themselves.

You say you always take the leadership position but I have a feeling you have simply gotten away with bossing people around in the past. I don't recommend going to the professor. It would be great if you could repair your relationship with your teammates somehow, otherwise, you may just have to chalk this one up as a "learning experience".

I can assure you that I'm not bossing anyone around. Since we began preparing the powerpoint presentation, I would always ask for for their feedback and contributions. The issue now is that they don't want to put forth a strong effort in preparing themselves for the presentation. That is, they basically want to read off the slides. I'm arguing, however, that we need to provide a more detailed explanation of the article. Unfortunately, they are not willing to work that hard and that is why I fear I will receive a poor grade.

 

[Lunasly]

I would tend to agree here. No offense OP, but the way you described how you just assume a leadership role is... off-putting. I can understand why they may not feel like they're a part of the group because it sounds like you're simply telling them what to do - authority which you apparently received because you claim to be the most academically superior of the group (lol). You presented yourself in your OP as an ass that no one would want to work with. It's not surprising you're having difficulty working with your partners. I wouldn't want to work with you either.

Being a leader is more than simply delegating. Most importantly you should ensure that everyone is interested in their work and at least feel like they're contributing to decision making, even if they aren't for all practical purposes. It's not about making sure everyone does 33.333333333% of the work. In fact, you will almost certainly do more if not most of the work. This is something I dealt with on an almost constant basis during undergrad when in groups. I probably put in double or triple the time most people did on group projects because I had very demanding standards and refused to put my name on anything that represented less than my best effort. It sounds like you're doing the same. There is a price to pay for that security and the ability to change everything last-minute.

Finally, being a leader first and foremost often requires taking one for the team. In this case, that would include not being a whiny brat and realizing that life isn't fair while putting forth your best effort to earn the grades you're shooting for. Complaining about this to a professor is beyond laughable. You will look like a complete fool if you do that. Do you think this doesn't happen on a regular basis in all areas of life?

Edit: At the end of the day, it seems like you're expecting the other two people to rise to what seem to be your high standards for school work. You seem to be frustrated that that isn't happening. Instead, your role as a leader is to put in the time to make their work equivalent to your own. Do you see the difference? It's not about bitching at everyone until they do what you want. Instead, it's about being encouraging, friendly, and supportive and making those changes behind the scenes. You win by getting a good grade and they win because they enjoyed working with you and also get a good grade. So what that you had to spend more time doing that eork? You should've thought about that before you ceremoniously crowned yourself leader.

Sent from my SGH-M919

I just want to clarify that I didn't mention to them that I was the leader of the group, but nothing would have gotten done if I didn't set those deadlines. I didn't demand that they hand their work in by the deadlines I set, but rather suggested it in a polite way. The only issue with you recommendation is that they won't let me put in the work for us to excel. Any time I try to encourage the group to go above and beyond with regard to understanding the article, I only receive backlash. That is, they feel that providing a superficial overview of what the article talks about is "good enough". What do I do in this case?

I know it sounds like I'm an ass in the OP, but I didn't approach my group members in this manner. I was very open to other ideas, but there weren't any in the first place. That is why I had to take it upon myself to get this thing started.

Let me give you another example. They want to add a 1 - 2 minute video at the beginning of the presentation, but the video adds no value to the words that it accompanies. It's completely irrelevant, but they want to add it because they think it's funny. Furthermore, they want to add irrelevant pictures to the presentation. I'm all for adding pictures to a presentation and I understand their importance, but wouldn't you agree that the pictures should add some sort of value to the content of that slide?

 

[Lunasly]

I personally think he might of shown superiority and that might of made the other 2 girls feel uncomfortable. But the fact of the matter is that they equally distributed work, and they both practically failed to complete it. The debate ends there. I know in my group if I divided out the work, got crappy work in return, and someone (a college student) made such excuse as having "computer" issues, I would not be happy. If OP has described them accurately, they seem like trolls who are not serious.

And people say OP has no leadership skills. I disagree, he started off with strong leadership skills in this project, but the others failed. It is obvious that those two ladies would have not wanted to carry this project forward (using OP's given description). So he simply took control and did what he had to do. Now I don't know if what he said is 100% true, but if it is, college students should know better than to screw around and not turn in work.

I take it as this, If the divided work had to be turned in to the professor, he would not go after them to get the work in. He would simply give them a zero. In the same case, OP has no obligations to go after them to get their work in. Now that it is a group project, he could use a little bit of convincing to get them to work alongside again. But that's my opinion.

It's exactly as you describe it. We, as a group, can't afford to wait another week to prepare the paper for this article. It's 3 pages for goodness sake. A week should be more then enough. I had to take it upon myself to finish the article without them because otherwise it would have never gotten done. I had to take into account the time it would take to form the powerpoint presentation and prepare for it. If we had waited an extra week for them to get their work in, we wouldn't have had time to practice the presentation. Then what do I do?

 

[Lunasly]

If you felt so worried about them producing horrible work you wouldn't have let them do it by themselves and you certainly wouldn't have not communicated/ check up on them prior to the deadline.
In effect you wanted to be lazy yourself and were a poor leader. Sure they may be idiots, but an idiot after having 3 in-depth peer reviews is going to sound like a genius. So get working!

That's where you are wrong. It's impractical to split up a 3 page paper with 2 sections. I don't know how you would do it. It's much better for the group to each do our own 3 page paper because not only does it provide us with a solid understanding of what the article is about, but it evens up the work load. I had no idea that they were going to produce poor work. I was expecting that that when I went to produce the final copy, that I would have points from both of their versions of the paper to add to what I had already written. That way, we don't miss any important points. I'm not lazy, I wrote the whole the paper. This isn't about producing horrible work, it's about them producing it in the first place.

 

[Lunasly]

👍 You sound like an arrogant jerk in your own descriptions of how you treated your teammates. You 'assumed' you would be the leader, you 'assigned' deadlines, you ignored the work product of the team member who did turn in work. You treated them with complete disrespect from the beginning, and you reaped what you sowed.

Own your part in this mess. You failed to play well with others.

You can bet that your team mates will point that out to your professor. Colorfully and in detail. Working with a team is an important part of the assignment, and you'd better be prepared to show that you learned something from that part.

Read my other posts as to why I assumed the leadership position. I didn't treat anyone with disrespect. I used parts of the work that was handed in the final version of the paper, despite it not being much.

I am very happy to work well with others, so as long a they are willing to put forth a strong effort.

 

[TheLastofUs]

That's where you are wrong. It's impractical to split up a 3 page paper with 2 sections. I don't know how you would do it. It's much better for the group to each do our own 3 page paper because not only does it provide us with a solid understanding of what the article is about, but it evens up the work load. I had no idea that they were going to produce poor work. I was expecting that that when I went to produce the final copy, that I would have points from both of their versions of the paper to add to what I had already written. That way, we don't miss any important points. I'm not lazy, I wrote the whole the paper. This isn't about producing horrible work, it's about them producing it in the first place.

And its practical to do the assignment 3 times over? And then work together to do the powerpoint?

This is a lot of freaking out about a project. I suggest getting off the computer and actually talking to these people. If they don't want to go above and beyond no one on here is going to have any magic potion to change their motivation level.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

That's where you are wrong. It's impractical to split up a 3 page paper with 2 sections. I don't know how you would do it. It's much better for the group to each do our own 3 page paper because not only does it provide us with a solid understanding of what the article is about, but it evens up the work load. I had no idea that they were going to produce poor work. I was expecting that that when I went to produce the final copy, that I would have points from both of their versions of the paper to add to what I had already written. That way, we don't miss any important points. I'm not lazy, I wrote the whole the paper. This isn't about producing horrible work, it's about them producing it in the first place.

I would have had them each print the paper, highlight important topics, discussed it, and then sat down together and written it out. If the paper was compartmentalized i.e had multiple hypothesis then you could have assigned each a hypothesis being addressed. There are so many ways to go around this tbh then having them write up a paper and that would have been finished much earlier.

 

[Lunasly]

And its practical to do the assignment 3 times over? And then work together to do the powerpoint?

This is a lot of freaking out about a project. I suggest getting off the computer and actually talking to these people. If they don't want to go above and beyond no one on here is going to have any magic potion to change their motivation level.

It is practical to do it 3 times over. What better way is there to get a solid understanding of the article? How in the world do you split a 2-section 3 page paper among 3 group members? How do I do half a summary?

If this was a long research paper with an introduction, methods, etc, then I agree with you 100% that we should split it up, but a 3 page paper?

 

[Lunasly]

I would have had them each print the paper, highlight important topics, discussed it, and then sat down together and written it out. If the paper was compartmentalized i.e had multiple hypothesis then you could have assigned each a hypothesis being addressed. There are so many ways to go around this tbh then having them write up a paper and that would have been finished much earlier.

Well given that I had written the article myself, we had no option but to do this. When we all say down to discuss the article, I asked them how they would interpret certain parts of it (in particular the parts they would be presenting). You know what response I received? They told me I made them feel stupid. They thought that this exercise was pointless and that they already had a understanding of the article. However, given the discusison we had, they didn't have that great of an understanding. At least not the level that I think the professor wants us to know.

 

[TheLastofUs]

It is practical to do it 3 times over. What better way is there to get a solid understanding of the article? How in the world do you split a 2-section 3 page paper among 3 group members? How do I do half a summary?

If this was a long research paper with an introduction, methods, etc, then I agree with you 100% that we should split it up, but a 3 page paper?

Or have everyone read it, meet, discuss, and type it together. Then do the power point at the same time because you are discussing everything.

They probably got pissed they had to each spend to write the paper when only one paper is due. They are probably lazy people, but again no one on here can make them spend time to go above reading the powerpoint.

 

[Lunasly]

Or have everyone read it, meet, discuss, and type it together. Then do the power point at the same time because you are discussing everything.

They probably got pissed they had to each spend to write the paper when only one paper is due. They are probably lazy people, but again no one on here can make them spend time to go above reading the powerpoint.

That is a great point and certainly the way I would have approached this article. The only issue with this method is that we all live in different cities and we all work. Given the time it would take to commute and get time off work, we wouldn't be able to meet often enough to finish the paper. I also don't own my own car so I felt it would be unfair to them to have to drive all the way out to where I am.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Well given that I had written the article myself, we had no option but to do this. When we all say down to discuss the article, I asked them how they would interpret certain parts of it (in particular the parts they would be presenting). You know what response I received? They told me I made them feel stupid. They thought that this exercise was pointless and that they already had a understanding of the article. However, given the discusison we had, they didn't have that great of an understanding. At least not the level that I think the professor wants us to know.

Look, I know how you feel. I had to create run and do statistical analysis for an entire semester with two of the biggest lazy idiots on this hemisphere. The only way you can win is by forcing them to do their work, force feeding them the information, and putting on a smile that communicates to them that you think they're doing good despite inside thinking they're the laziest ****s ever.

Point being is if they're threatening you on the premise of not involving them enough. Well then force them to do their work right.

 

[TheLastofUs]

That is a great point and certainly the way I would have approached this article. The only issue with this method is that we all live in different cities and we all work. Given the time it would take to commute and get time off work, we wouldn't be able to meet often enough to finish the paper. I also don't own my own car so I felt it would be unfair to them to have to drive all the way out to where I am.

Hmm tricky situation. In the end just do the best you can do, maybe go to the professor because they keep threatening you but definitely don't be whiny as others have said. I'm not even sure how people can expect blatantly reading off a power point to be enough lol..

 

[Lunasly]

Thank you for the advice, guys. That's really my main issue here. I'm not upset the the article anymore. If I could go back, I admit I could have pushed them to do their work more often rather than expect that they would have handed it in by the deadline we set. At this point, I just want to motivate them to go above and beyond. I really think they are doing a poor job of the powerpoint and everytime I make a suggestion to change it, I only get backlash. They aren't focusing on what is important.

So my question is, do I go to the professor and ask to be graded separately (i.e., my own performance) or do I just keep trying to convince them to change up the powerpoint? They literally don't know anything about the article. I don't even think they took the time to read it thoroughly, but that's just speculation.

 

[deleted407021]

I'm going to be harsh here, OP: you sound like a bossy piece of work. First, you call your team-mates 'clowns' and take over the project because you feel superior to the other two. Who assigned you the 'leadership' position, anyway? Most likely, they're trying to sabotage you because you treated them so poorly and they resent it.

I say this out of experience. I worked with a girl who sounds just like you; even though we had an equal amount of knowledge of our work, she considered me stupid. She would 'take over,' give me 'kill time work' and when I was handed an assignment by another coworker, she would literally take the assignment out of my hands. I hated her guts, and just avoided working with her, as talking with her had no results.

Remember, it's a group project; no matter how much you dislike your team- mates, you have to take their opinions and work into consideration. If you feel that they are doing sub- par work, tell them, but be tactful. If they ignore you, go to the professor.

+1 on the bolded bit.

I am the same way OP. I assert myself as the group leader immediately, because, in all honesty I trust myself more than others to hand in the final cut. But, my team always follows me because they see me as a leader, not a know-it-all, which I am sorry to say, sounds like the situation you are in. I have had an experience identical to yours (seriously, two girls and a PowerPoint and a "broken" computer) I know. Regardless of whether or not the professor can be bothered by your troubles is irrelevant, because he/she must help a student when they need help, especially in such a scenario. This is what I have done, and strongly recommend. Bring the issue to the teacher. I was able to get the lazy members kicked from my group, and I got the grade I earned from my hard work. Finally, work on how you approach complacent or lazy people, because the world is full of them and those of us with the get-up-and-go mentalities are, unfortunately, responsible for them. It's called welfare. Just learn to live with it.

Best, B.I.C.

 

[Lunasly]

+1 on the bolded bit.

I am the same way OP. I assert myself as the group leader immediately, because, in all honesty I trust myself more than others to hand in the final cut. But, my team always follows me because they see me as a leader, not a know-it-all, which I am sorry to say, sounds like the situation you are in. I have had an experience identical to yours (seriously, two girls and a PowerPoint and a "broken" computer) I know. Regardless of whether or not the professor can be bothered by your troubles is irrelevant, because he/she must help a student when they need help, especially in such a scenario. This is what I have done, and strongly recommend. Bring the issue to the teacher. I was able to get the lazy members kicked from my group, and I got the grade I earned from my hard work. Finally, work on how you approach complacent or lazy people, because the world is full of them and those of us with the get-up-and-go mentalities are, unfortunately, responsible for them. It's called welfare. Just learn to live with it.

Best, B.I.C.

I'd like to clarify that I did not assert myself as the leader of the group immediately. I waited 3 days to get some sort of idea from the other group members, but no one said anything. No one except me had even bothered to pick an article, yet. I do often like to assert myself as the leader and people generally listen to my ideas. This is the first time I have had to deal with this.

This isn't a matter of just being lazy, but also being stubborn.

 

[deleted407021]

I'd like to clarify that I did not assert myself as the leader of the group immediately. I waited 3 days to get some sort of idea from the other group members, but no one said anything. No one except me had even bothered to pick an article, yet. I do often like to assert myself as the leader and people generally listen to my ideas. This is the first time I have had to deal with this.

This isn't a matter of just being lazy, but also being stubborn.

Three days seems like a long time to wait for someone to move, but like you said, this was a step out of your comfort zone and you carried the slack. Like I said, working with lazy, even stubborn lazy people (seriously, they spend more energy trying to get out of doing something than actually bucking up and doing it😡) takes that kind of resourcefulness. You may have just gone about it in not quite the best way, but you were certainly on the right track in terms of your communication with your team mates. Put yourself out there as often as possible and gain that practical leadership experience. And remember, real leaders are servants. They do everyone's work when they don't cooperate. That is the yoke your take on as a leader.

 

[Lunasly]

Fair enough. Do you think I should approach the professor after the presentation? I'm not looking to throw my group members under the bus, but I want to convince my professor to grade my performance separately.

 

[deleted407021]

Fair enough. Do you think I should approach the professor after the presentation? I'm not looking to throw my group members under the bus, but I want to convince my professor to grade my performance separately.

Absolutely. To clarify, that is the same thing I did in my experience. If the professor is reasonable, which I assume is the case, you should have no trouble with that. If he/she gives you any grief, go to the department and explain the issue. Your request is absolutely a reasonable one.

 

[Lunasly]

Absolutely. To clarify, that is the same thing I did in my experience. If the professor is reasonable, which I assume is the case, you should have no trouble with that. If he/she gives you any grief, go to the department and explain the issue. Your request is absolutely a reasonable one.

He is the department head, lol.

 

[deleted407021]

He is the department head, lol.

.... Well darn. Just see what you can get out of him, but if he is not receptive there may not be much you can do except give him a scathing assessment at the end of the course, if your school does that.