Group Settings

Working in a group setting brings to mind many conflicting attitudes. Specifically, there are those time in which I have personally strived very well in a team setting. When everything just works right, there is great communication, attitude, and a sense of accomplishment when everything is said and done. On the other hand, there have been quite a few experiences in which I have experienced a group setting utterly failed. These bad experiences are usually plagued with inefficient communication and an overall inhibited sense of morale for the team.

In one of my recent school projects, I had to meet with a partner in order to prepare a presentation for the class. This was a very pleasant experience because I was able to work with someone that was able to communicate effectively with me and have the same incentive to do well in the course. We decided to meet in the library a week before our presentation. We had both previously prepared for our meeting beforehand so we were able to utilize our research into producing a presentation. This saved us a lot of time because we committed our effort to preparing for our meeting. Furthermore, we were both motivated to do well on the project. Everything just seemed to work so smoothly because it was on a subject that we were both passionate about. I attribute this success to having matching personalities. There are just some people that you seem to click with even from the beginning.

I’ve also had experiences where things did not work so smoothly. One of these experiences that come to mind is when I had a group project in one of my classes last semester. This was a group project in which there were 3 other members including me. This experience was disastrous in the sense that nothing was accomplished. We had previously exchanged emails and were trying to arrange for a group meeting sometime before the group project. It seemed as if communication was a huge issue because it was such a hassle to effectively even agree to a meeting. Once we decided upon a time and place, 2 of the group members decided not to show up. We eventually had to complete this project the day before it was due. There was no sense of morale or team spirit in the group because 2 of the other members were gone. The attitudes that prevailed the members of the group that showed up was that the distribution of tasks in the group was unfair. This was a very stressful experience that has personally taught me how a group setting can be more detrimental than helpful. Being prepared to deal with unexpected situations such as a group member not showing up is an important characteristic of any group setting. The cliques that formed in this situation were the people that actively contributed to the project and those that did not. There was a clear distinction between people that cared about the project and the people that didn’t.