In setting group assignments
Royal Holloway module leaders expect friction within groups. It expected that the work will be demanding
and challenging and require students to develop effective team working skills
in addition to academic learning. Tuckman’s group evolution model which can be
summarised as “Form, Storm, Norm, Perform” anticipates in the idea of
‘storming’ where disagreements manifest themselves. Norming, where through effective
communication and mediation groups begin to agree and accept new ways of
working effectively together, is the essential step before the group moves on
to the final ‘perform’ stage.
Group work can be a roller coaster experience ! |
Remember that sometimes fellow
students are struggling with a problem (money, family, health, relationship)
that they do not feel comfortable sharing with you, yet may have a significant
impact on their ability to deliver to your group work. As a line manager (and some would say merely
as a fellow human being) you would have a personal responsibility to understand
such circumstances. Important: Remember
the College has a wide range of professional advisors available to help if it
goes beyond just having a bad day.
So, rather than waste emotional
energy worrying about group working, embrace the challenge. Look out for the tell tale signs of social
loafing, poor communications, bad planning and a lack of common shared
goals. Rather than looking to punish and
exclude group members who may be perceived to be under or non-performing, use
it as an opportunity to practise (in a safe environment) a range of managerial
approaches. A real example of leadership
that addresses an interview question along the lines of “Think of a time when
you were working in a poor performing group ?”
is worth having, particularly if you tried four approaches that failed
before the fourth delivered. Remember “I
always worked brilliantly in groups” is not believable.
In the work place, particularly
with cross-functional or multi-organisational groups it is unlikely that individuals
in a group will have a hand in choosing the group membership. You are selected or nominated to participate,
often resulting in more work, but the same time to deliver in. Nobody wants to be associated with a failing
group. Nobody wants to tell tales on
others to their line manager. This kind
of failure often results in the tarnish being shared all around the group. Groups then make the best of what they have
and seek to address their own issues, including non-participation, low
motivation, limited skill sets and alike.
Academic staff acting as module
leaders may choose to put in place a group peer review process that allows individual
grading and to flex the group grade in accordance with this feedback. This often requires a combination of written
comments and points scoring. Ideally,
groups should complete these forms (if they are required by the module leader)
together and discuss the gradings and comments before they are submitted. Whilst this process can see some small mark
differences awarded, in extreme cases it is unlikely to fully reflect under or
over performance and are unlikely to fully resolve broken group issues. The recommendation is therefore that it is much
better for the group to take personal responsibility to address and manage
these issues from the outset.
MBA 2011/12 International Study Visit to Sweden "Profound team building experience" |