Group Projects in University Suck

[RbSX]

It's usually the loudmouths and control freaks that can't lead that do it just because of their nature. I've been in more than my fairshare of shitty groups. I got assigned to one group once at a mandatory university, for credit camp. The self-imposed leader was controlling, critical, had a temper, and pissed the rest of us off.

Just have to bite the bullet sometimes, take over, or change groups. Or, if your workplace is unionized like mine, hide the shitty people in a corner, and give their work to the good people whom then become resentful.

I did, and now it has hit the point of no return. Fuck'em. I'd soon take a gun shot to the head than work with them.

 

[Ricemarine]

The biggest pwnage I've seen was in my senior project class. An ex-lab partner of mine joined this group with two other guys. The guys stayed up, got their stuff done, and finished their parts two weeks early (quarter long project). When they asked her, she assured them that everything was okay.

Long story short, she didn't do anything (WoW, "sick", etc), and they didn't find out until the final weekend before the final presentation was due. So, since she didn't sync her slides with the powerpoint on time, the two guys did the entire presentation without her slides, and said "oh yeah... we tried to do ____, but whoever was supposed to do it didn't." She had the biggest "wtf" face EVER lol. Of course, she never read the last 2 biweekly reports, where the two guys clearly wrote "____ was supposed to do this, but she didn't." She never saw it.

 

[RbSX]

The biggest pwnage I've seen was in my senior project class. An ex-lab partner of mine joined this group with two other guys. The guys stayed up, got their stuff done, and finished their parts two weeks early (quarter long project). When they asked her, she assured them that everything was okay.

Long story short, she didn't do anything (WoW, "sick", etc), and they didn't find out until the final weekend before the final presentation was due. So, since she didn't sync her slides with the powerpoint on time, the two guys did the entire presentation without her slides, and said "oh yeah... we tried to do ____, but whoever was supposed to do it didn't." She had the biggest "wtf" face EVER lol. Of course, she never read the last 2 biweekly reports, where the two guys clearly wrote "____ was supposed to do this, but she didn't." She never saw it.

That is some fairly serious pwnage. Yeah the thing is I did the work, or tried, but given the circumstances, it wasn't happening.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yeah group projects suck. Personally they got worse the longer I was in college (well not quite, the absolute worst was a group project I had my first semester). The higher level classes, I had so many WTF moments from group stuff it wasn't even funny. I'm not even joking, I saw more professional presentations in high school about how 2Pac was still alive. Not only that, but from talking with my friends, I probably had better group experiences than most of them.

 

[AeroEngy]

The biggest pwnage I've seen was in my senior project class. An ex-lab partner of mine joined this group with two other guys. The guys stayed up, got their stuff done, and finished their parts two weeks early (quarter long project). When they asked her, she assured them that everything was okay.

Long story short, she didn't do anything (WoW, "sick", etc), and they didn't find out until the final weekend before the final presentation was due. So, since she didn't sync her slides with the powerpoint on time, the two guys did the entire presentation without her slides, and said "oh yeah... we tried to do ____, but whoever was supposed to do it didn't." She had the biggest "wtf" face EVER lol. Of course, she never read the last 2 biweekly reports, where the two guys clearly wrote "____ was supposed to do this, but she didn't." She never saw it.

Similiar experience with my aerospace engineering senior design project which. It was the initial design of an UAV (structures, aero surfaces, electronics, etc.). We were assigned groups of 4 and 1 guy did nothing. He would skip class 50% of the time which was basically just a group meeting time. His work was never complete and eventually we just gave up on him and did it ourselves. The last couple of weeks during crunch time he was just completely MIA. We talked to the professor and he said for us to handle it ourselves. He did show up on the last day for the presentation but we wouldn't let him present and left his name off of the final report. He got an F in the class and I have no idea what happened to him.

 

[Genx87]

I didnt like group projects due to it seemed like there was always a couple friends who end up in the group. Who contribute or do little and then blast the rest of the group for not doing anything on the eval. Which then screws over the rest of the group.

I had a pair of aholes in a class who did this. It was me, this girl, and these two dimwits. We all did our thing, got it ready, and then presented. Our evals sent the girl and mine down the toilet. I talked to the professor and luckily got it reversed.

But the next semester here comes bozo into class and into my group without his friend. Lets just say bozo didnt contribute nearly enough and the other two people along with me gave him a terrible eval which destroyed his grade.

 

[roguerower]

The majority of college for me was a group project because that's the way the program is set up because that's the way the industry (construction management) is set up. By the time I graduated there were maybe 50 people total in the major and everyone knew everyone else, knew their strengths, knew their weaknesses, etc.

The first and second years the groups tended to shift and the players bounced around while everyone sorted themselves out. Group sizes ranged from 4-6 so there was between 8-12 groups depending on the class. Beginning junior year and then solidifying in senior year, there ended up having a couple of really good groups, a couple of mid-tier groups, and a couple of shitty ones. I ended up in a couple of the good groups due to experience through internships and doing whatever needed to be done to get the job done on time.

I didn't mind group projects within my major because it was the way things were done. In other classes I loathed them though, luckily there weren't many.

 

[actuarial]

I hated group projects.

I got to the point where I didn't rely on anyone to do their work...and instead, completed the entire project on my own. If they finally came through, I'd work with them to meld their work into my project...or my work into their project...but I never let my grade depend on the work of others.
When I ended up with a slacker...or group of slackers, I'd simply let the professor know that I what I was going to do and why. MOST were OK with that...a couple insisted that I try to make the group work together...to which I'd reply, "When I get a supervisory title and pay, I'll worry about making others do their work. Until then, all I can do is to do MY work to the best of my ability."

I was usually at the top of my classes, so I found that unless I basically had the other top students in my group, the work suffered over what I could do on my own.

For this reason, I intentionally chose the slackers when I had to form a group. I knew they would let me take the reins, and we'd all get a good mark.

Yes, it meant that other people got credit for my work. But it also meant that I guaranteed myself a good mark, which outweighed the cons for me.

 

[Josh]

I am actually studying Group Dynamics right now in one of my classes and we are seeing how to improve team work/equality/the weak link/get people engaged/etc.

 

[DrPizza]

What I hated about group projects was "you need to learn to work in teams. You'll be working in teams in your jobs in the future." "Prof, you're ignoring one thing: in college groups, if one person does absolutely nothing, doesn't show up to meetings, etc., the rest of the group has to pick up the slack & that individual shares credit for everything that was done. In the real world, that slacker is fired."

RBSX, sorry, I suppose I agree with you for the most part, based on what you've said, but there's two sides to every story. This particular quote of yours seems rather damning though: " when I spent the 5 previous days emailing them trying to obtain information necessary for me to write my part of the report." That either says that you didn't know what part of the report you were supposed to write, else it says that you seemed to think that they were supposed to do the research for you.


One of my favorite parts of group work in college was leaving a member of the group to hang. 4 people, presentations, and before the presentations, a note to the professor, "member D did absolutely zero of the work." Then, member D, who was so lazy that he didn't even pre-read his part of the presentation, attempts to read it in front of everyone... and can't pronounce half the words. He looks stupid in front of everyone else; and professor credits the rest of the group for doing all the work.

 

[RbSX]

What I hated about group projects was "you need to learn to work in teams. You'll be working in teams in your jobs in the future." "Prof, you're ignoring one thing: in college groups, if one person does absolutely nothing, doesn't show up to meetings, etc., the rest of the group has to pick up the slack & that individual shares credit for everything that was done. In the real world, that slacker is fired."

RBSX, sorry, I suppose I agree with you for the most part, based on what you've said, but there's two sides to every story. This particular quote of yours seems rather damning though: " when I spent the 5 previous days emailing them trying to obtain information necessary for me to write my part of the report." That either says that you didn't know what part of the report you were supposed to write, else it says that you seemed to think that they were supposed to do the research for you.


One of my favorite parts of group work in college was leaving a member of the group to hang. 4 people, presentations, and before the presentations, a note to the professor, "member D did absolutely zero of the work." Then, member D, who was so lazy that he didn't even pre-read his part of the presentation, attempts to read it in front of everyone... and can't pronounce half the words. He looks stupid in front of everyone else; and professor credits the rest of the group for doing all the work.

Hey D.

When I wrote that I had emailed them trying to obtain information necessary to write the report I am specifically referring to the 'decision criteria'.

From a technical standpoint, I covered my parts, e.g. did it have the modules necessary, cost, available hardware etc.

However, I don't for a moment pretend to be in sales, or marketing. I emailed them soliciting their feedback on the criteria that I had come up with, and to see if they had anything to add. I didn't want to look at things from only one perspective.

I am a student soliciting information from software companies for a fictitious product that won't be making them any money, as such, I don't want to waste their time. I did not want to have to call twice, so I waited until our decision criteria was finalized before I contact the company. A day later, shit hit the fan.

A relatively simple question turned into a 5 day tug of war.

 

[shortylickens]

What I hated about group projects was "you need to learn to work in teams. You'll be working in teams in your jobs in the future." "Prof, you're ignoring one thing: in college groups, if one person does absolutely nothing, doesn't show up to meetings, etc., the rest of the group has to pick up the slack & that individual shares credit for everything that was done. In the real world, that slacker is fired."

Not in the Navy they arent.

Of course in the Navy we beat people who goof off too much, doubt your professor would wanna know about that.
Too real for him I suspect.

 

[Imp]

What I hated about group projects was "you need to learn to work in teams. You'll be working in teams in your jobs in the future." "Prof, you're ignoring one thing: in college groups, if one person does absolutely nothing, doesn't show up to meetings, etc., the rest of the group has to pick up the slack & that individual shares credit for everything that was done. In the real world, that slacker is fired."

Unfortunately, it looks like a lot of people who do jackshit in the real world don't get fired. They suck enough high level dick to collect a paycheck, or they have a union backing them up. Then all the good employees get brought down when they realize "why the eff am I working hard when that asshole does nothing and makes the same?".

The military seems to have the right idea: don't do your job, you get thrown in jail, get a nice tucking-in express part, or you get shot/fragged.

 

[Maximilian]

Some people are fucking useless. Especially the kind that likes to boss other people around, and redefine other people's roles, spring things on them, go behind your back to the professor, and then get pissed off when stuff isn't done to their satisfaction forgetting that you never told that person (me) that you wanted me to do said tasks.

Yes, working professionals who come back to finish your degrees and think you're better than everyone else, I am fucking talking to you.

Thank fvcking god I recorded our most recent group meetings on my iPhone, karma is a bitch when I let the prof listen to it.

On the other hand, I am now groupless, I'd rather take a gun shot than work with them again. The end of this semester just got REALLY interesting.

:awe::awe::awe:

Although yeah group projects can really suck, depends you're put with.

 

[JJChicken]

Never had any issues with group projects. I empthasise with you OP, and no doubt it looks like the other members screwed up more, but next time be more assertive and prevent issues like what you faced from blowing up. If they are constantly changing your role, tell them the slow the fuck down, tell them you've agreed to this part, thank you very much have a nice day.

 

[JJChicken]

Another thing is to be more personable, e.g. before meetings start, ask about their weekend, hobbies etc. and build a relationship. Makes life alot easier. Don't just be all about the project and not talk to your group members apart from it. If they are not very personable, they are usually more work-focused/serious so you can chit-chat about the project more with them in downtime, discuss real-life examples that are similar, and maybe talk about career-oriented topics.

Group projects are good - in the real world you will face similar issues so any practice now is good practice.

 

[JJChicken]

Also, at least your co-members were enthusiastic about the project - that is by far the hardest part of group assignments. Its hard that your team members were condescending and really didn't take your efforts and thoughts into account. In fact, as a high achiever during Uni I made similar mistakes as them (you'd probably hate me when I was younger, but I've learned not to be as bossy these days....) and I can see how it would really piss you off.

But yeah you should have drawn a line somewhere and not get pushed around. Clear communication is key!

 

[JJChicken]

And finally remember, nobody is perfect - they are inexperienced as well when it comes to working in teams, so both sides should cut each other some slack.

Anyway I'll stop spamming this topic, good luck have fun OP ^_^

 

[*kjm]

Some people are fucking useless. Especially the kind that likes to boss other people around, and redefine other people's roles, spring things on them, go behind your back to the professor, and then get pissed off when stuff isn't done to their satisfaction forgetting that you never told that person (me) that you wanted me to do said tasks.

Yes, working professionals who come back to finish your degrees and think you're better than everyone else, I am fucking talking to you.

Thank fvcking god I recorded our most recent group meetings on my iPhone, karma is a bitch when I let the prof listen to it.

On the other hand, I am now groupless, I'd rather take a gun shot than work with them again. The end of this semester just got REALLY interesting.

Wait till you have to deal with it at work

 

[NightFox]

I am on the other side of this. My group member is completely useless. He never did anything he was asked to do and the stuff he promised to do was never done. I told him if he doesn't send me a finished copy, I'm informing the professor of his lack of commitment and effort towards a project that is worth 30% of the grade.

 

[Jeff7]

Wait till you have to deal with it at work

And in some cases, the only way to be rid of the person's or people's incompetence is for you to quit, because the offender will simply not get fired, for some inexplicable reason. The expectations are simply revised: It becomes your responsibility to clean up the other person's screw-ups and do your own job, which of course builds upon the work that the other person does. If a problem doesn't get fixed, it's your fault, because you were supposed to know enough to catch that kind of mistake.


Often, the real world tends to feel like a bunch of sociopath toddlers increased their own mass several times over, and then got cars and jobs.

Or maybe I'm just tired and cranky right now.


(On the plus side, the people in my own department are in fact competent and capable. So that's nice. )

I hated group projects.

I got to the point where I didn't rely on anyone to do their work...and instead, completed the entire project on my own. If they finally came through, I'd work with them to meld their work into my project...or my work into their project...but I never let my grade depend on the work of others.
When I ended up with a slacker...or group of slackers, I'd simply let the professor know that I what I was going to do and why. MOST were OK with that...a couple insisted that I try to make the group work together...to which I'd reply, "When I get a supervisory title and pay, I'll worry about making others do their work. Until then, all I can do is to do MY work to the best of my ability."

Alas, I was one who did well in school, picked up on new stuff relatively quickly, and gave a damn about my grades. So I was often in a similar situation in group activities. "Group work" was just code for "increased workload" and "increased frustration" for me. Instead of being able to breeze through a project at my own pace, I was given the fine opportunity to drag along a bunch of unwilling participants.

 

[shortylickens]

Yeah I've noticed that at a couple of my jobs. If you are responsible they simply make you do more shit and let the loser slack off even worse.
Thats the nice thing about working with people on 6 month contracts. If they suck you dont have to fire them. Just dont let them come back. Or find some bullshit excuse to end them.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I always hated group projects. I never really had any issues with people who did not do anything, but it was just the fact of having to rely on everyone then put it all together at the end. Some things are just easier done by one person.

 

[Chaotic42]

I've been pretty lucky. I've only had two group projects so far, and I've only got three semesters to go. As a returning "working professional", I just want to say that we aren't *all* assholes.

Well, maybe.

 

[Phokus]

What I hated about group projects was "you need to learn to work in teams. You'll be working in teams in your jobs in the future." "Prof, you're ignoring one thing: in college groups, if one person does absolutely nothing, doesn't show up to meetings, etc., the rest of the group has to pick up the slack & that individual shares credit for everything that was done. In the real world, that slacker is fired."

In the real world, the slacker gets promoted to management (as long as they're one of 'those people' who know how to schmooze)