Group work

You will probably be asked to complete several group tasks during your academic and professional life. Group work can be rewarding or a nightmare. It is useful to consider approaches to working in groups to help you avoid problems.

Doing group assignments at university refers to working in a self-directed team; where all members need to communicate to work out who does what, set the timelines, and so on. This may be different to operating in a team in the real world of work, where the group may have less autonomy.

Group roles

In self-directed teams, tasks need to be negotiated. Allocating the following roles will help you ensure the team achieves its tasks:

• Leader: responsible for coordinating the group
• Secretary/note taker: records decisions taken at meetings
• Time keeper: ensures that meetings keep to the topic and achieve their objective
• Task-master/progress chaser: contacts people before the next meeting to remind them of what they have promised to do by due dates.
   

Try rotating the roles so that each team member has the opportunity to develop different skills and to be responsible for tasks.

What hinders group work?

The following may prevent a team from achieving its purpose:

• not all team members join in
• meetings are aimless
• a few individuals dominate
• members don't express their true feelings
• tasks and goals are not set
• group members have little or no interest in each other
• team members criticise each other rather than sorting out the problems or tasks
• team members don't listen to each other
• meetings are too formal.

What helps group work?

The following may help you to form a truly successful team:

• get to know team members
• set ground rules about what is and is not acceptable
• analyse the strengths of each group member
• clarify the team's goals and tasks
• devise a clear schedule of meetings and task deadlines
• establish rules about how you will deal with problems
• be honest in your evaluation of other members' contribution (criticise the work, not the person).
  

Adapted from: Gibbs, G., C. Rust, A. Jenkins, and D Jacques. 1994. Developing Students' Transferable Skills. Oxford: The Oxford Centre for Staff Development.