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15 Group Work Challenges and their Solutions

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From Challenges to Cheers!

Ah, group projects! They involve the rollercoaster of collaboration, the puzzle of personalities, and the marathon of midnight meetings. If your student journey resembles a reality TV show of teamwork adventures, fear not! We're here to spill the tea on the 15 group work challenges that make group work feel like a cryptic escape room. Get set to take charge of your academic journey as we get into the challenges of group work. It can be one of your great learnings, so let's get started!

Group Work Challenges and Solutions

From figuring out when everyone can meet to making sure everyone pulls their weight, this blog discusses everything about group work challenges, each presenting its unique lessons and solutions. Ready to turn group groans into high-fives? Here are the 15 group work challenges: 

1. Coordination Challenges

Coordinating group efforts is like conducting a symphony. Aligning schedules, setting up meetings, and blending contributions from multiple members, each step feels daunting. As the group grows, so do the group work challenges. Task interdependence and different teams add complexity to this intricate routine.

- Keep It small and sweet

- Opt for smaller groups to make coordination smoother.

- Carve out specific class time for well-organised group meetings.

- Embrace digital tools that make remote collaboration a breeze.

- Assign roles like a leader or scheduler to streamline tasks.

2. Motivation Difficulties 

Fueling group motivation is like lighting a shared flame. Yet, hurdles like free riding, social loafing, and internal conflicts can dim the enthusiasm. Striking a balance where everyone feels responsible while keeping the atmosphere peaceful is the key to avoiding group work challenges.

- Clearly explain the value and purpose of group work.

- Set clear expectations and ground rules from the start.

- Mix individual responsibility with group assessments.

- Invest time in teaching conflict-resolution skills.

3. Intellectual Obstacles 

Working together isn't always a smooth ride, especially when it comes to thinking and creativity. There are group work challenges, like everyone thinking the same way, sticking to bad ideas, and assuming others understand us better than they do.

- Share your ideas first before discussing them as a group.

- Talk about what each person contributes to keep things fresh.

- Pause halfway through to check if there are better ways to do things.

- Have roles like a questioner or someone who challenges ideas.

4. Time Management Challenges

Time can be tricky when we're working in a group. Figuring out when to meet, dealing with different deadlines, and realising some stages take more time can get complicated, especially in larger groups.

- Warn everyone about stages that might take longer.

- Set aside specific times for everyone to work together.

- Use digital tools for talking when schedules don't match.

- Plan for potential delays in the project.

5. Interpersonal Friction

The interaction of personalities can either be smooth or chaotic. Problems in group work, subtle or pronounced, can disrupt the harmony, affecting morale and hindering productivity. Students can start with group study as it might prepare them for future purposes. You can also read our blog on the top 15 benefits of group study to know more.

- Harmony Building:

- Establish clear expectations and ground rules at the project's initiation.

- Incorporate team-building activities to strengthen interpersonal bonds.

- Define conflict resolution procedures and conduct role-playing scenarios.

6. Imbalanced Participation

The most avoided group work challenge is unequal contribution. Not everyone dances to the same rhythm in a group. Uneven contributions, be it from overachievers or those taking a back seat, can create tension in the collaborative spirit.

- Set clear guidelines and expectations for individual contributions.

- Define and assign specific roles and responsibilities within the group.

- Implement mechanisms for addressing uneven contributions, including member dismissal if needed.

7. Varied Expectations

In group work, things go wrong when people's expectations don't align or match up well. Varied goals, timelines, and standards can lead to difficulties working in a team, affecting the overall coherence of the project.

- Initiate open communication to align individual and group objectives.

- Encourage early collaboration in defining common goals and expectations.

- Provide a platform for creating a shared project timeline to ensure everyone is on the same page.

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8. Mental Roadblocks Within Group 

Sometimes, our thoughts can be confusing, and in a group, difficulties in thinking can slow down creativity and problem-solving. Personal challenges, uncertainties, or a lack of confidence can lead to group work challenges.

- Foster an environment that values open dialogue about mental roadblocks.

- Introduce periodic check-ins for team members to share concerns and seek support.

- Assign roles that specifically address doubts and group work challenges, such as a facilitator or morale booster.

9. Conformity Bias in Groups

Wanting everyone to get along might make groups all think and act the same way, stopping different views and creative ideas. This might sound like a normal issue, but this is quite a common group work challenge. 

- Instigate individual brainstorming before group sessions to foster diverse ideas.

- Promote reflection through periodic self-evaluations, allowing members to highlight their unique contributions.

-  Assign roles that challenge the status quo to prevent conformity bias.

10. Communication Gap 

Navigating through group work can be challenging when there are gaps in communication. Misunderstandings, unshared information, and unclear messaging can create uncertainty and disrupt the process.

- Emphasise the importance of clear and frequent communication.

- Utilise various communication tools, such as emails, group messaging apps, or project management platforms.

- Schedule regular check-ins to discuss progress, address concerns, and ensure everyone is on the same wavelength.

11. Gatekeeping Information

In certain situations, a select few individuals hold onto information as if it's a closely guarded treasure. This practice restricts the free flow of knowledge within the group, creating a barrier to widespread understanding and collaboration.

- Establish a culture that values transparent and inclusive information sharing.

- Use collaborative platforms where information is accessible to all group members.

- Encourage a peer-support system where members actively share insights and resources.

12. Redundancy in Expertise

Having too many people with the same skills working on a project is like having too many chefs in the kitchen. This can be a major group work challenge because it might waste resources, as everyone is good at the same things and not bringing anything new to the table.

- Assess the skills within the group and strategically assign roles to maximise diverse expertise.

- Foster an environment where members appreciate and leverage each other's unique strengths.

- Encourage cross-training to broaden skill sets and reduce redundancy.

13. Overstaffing

Having too many people working on a project can be a major problem that can occur when working in a team. It's like having too many cooks in the kitchen; things might not go smoothly. The right number of people is crucial for an organised and efficient project.

- Determine the optimal number of team members.

- Consider individual workloads and skills before assigning tasks.

- Be flexible and ready to reallocate resources based on evolving project needs.

14. Internal Competition 

Healthy competition can inspire new ideas, but too much internal rivalry might stop people from sharing thoughts, resulting in group work challenges. It's important to find a balance where competition encourages innovation without hindering collaboration.

- Emphasise collective goals and celebrate group achievements.

- Establish a reward system that recognizes both individual contributions and overall team success.

- Foster an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing insights and supporting each other.

15. Contradictory Results 

Despite the hard work and dedication of everyone involved, there are instances when the achieved outcomes do not align with the initially intended goals. This situation can be perplexing and lead to a sense of frustration among the team members.

- Implement regular checkpoints to assess progress and adjust strategies if necessary.

- Encourage open discussions about project goals and ensure everyone is on the same page.

- Emphasise the importance of learning from both successes and setbacks for continuous improvement.

And that's it! Working on group projects is like steering a ship. Keep it small, set clear goals, and make sure everything runs smoothly. Get everyone involved, sort out conflicts, and make sure everyone is on the same page. Keep things positive, challenge the usual, and maintain good communication. Adjust your team size, promote teamwork, and stay on course. By doing these steps, you'll turn group work challenges into teamwork victories!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the major group work challenges, why is keeping group sizes small important, what's the key to overcoming the intellectual challenges of working in a group, how do you manage time effectively in group projects, how to address imbalanced participation within a group.

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Overcoming group work challenges: a practical approach

Every month our team of Instructional Designers meets for “Talking Teaching” – sessions where we share and discuss interesting articles, methods, and pedagogies. This month, we discussed group work.

In this blog, I’d like to discuss the importance of group work for students, its common challenges (both in the classroom and online), and practical strategies to help alleviate problems and make group work more enjoyable and effective.

Best of all, these tips are applicable to all subject areas and don’t require any special software! Let’s learn how to teach students to work in groups.

The resources we’d like to share with you this month:

Seven Problems of Online Group Learning (and Their Solutions) is an open-access article published in the Journal of Educational Technology & Society (ET&S) . This paper reviews published research on group work in the classroom, collates the most commonly-cited disadvantages of group work, and offers actionable steps to mitigate problems. 

Demystifying Online Group Projects (Episode #403 from the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, free to access through your preferred provider.) This conversation details the tips and tricks experienced educators have developed to smooth out common issues and make for more effective group work.  

Group work grumbles

Problems with group work in the classroom.

How do your students react when you assign a group project?

If they are like the majority of university students, group work in college can elicit strong responses – most of them negative. More often than not, learners prefer to work by themselves, citing the challenges of scheduling group meetings, differences in skills and abilities, and chiefly, the uneven distribution of work amongst group members. 

If these complaints or problems with group projects in college sound familiar to you, fear not! We’ve put together a list of our favorite tips to help make for more effective group work in the classroom or online. 

Group work strategies in the classroom

Acknowledge and celebrate soft skills.

Group work goes against many students' preferred ways of learning. It is good to first acknowledge this and allow the students to express their concerns. 

After this, try highlighting the benefits of small group work and how this can be applied to life after college or university. The purpose of group work isn’t just about specific content knowledge, but gaining valuable soft skills! 

As Roberts and McInnerney (2007) point out, working in a group allows students to practice and hone their abilities to: 

• negotiate how to work with a diverse group of people
• build rapport with other students
• communicate using a variety of strategies
• motivate their colleagues
• coordinate or lead group meetings – among many other skills.  

These soft skills are often a focus of questions during job interviews, so group work experience can help prepare students with strong, concrete examples when seeking employment.

Additionally, individuals who excel in these collaborative skills are likely to find themselves in leadership and management positions where their role is to help a diverse group of people work together toward a common goal.

So, even if group work isn’t a learner's preferred way of completing a project, enlightening students as to these real-world benefits may make it more palatable! 

Intentionally design student groups

Groups are typically formed in one of three ways:

• student choice
• random assignment, or
• intentional selection by an educator.

We loved the idea experienced educator Rebecca Houge shared (in episode 403 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast) about how she best sets students up for success. 

Houge mentioned that one of the top challenges for students (especially taking online classes) is figuring out meeting times that suit everyone’s schedule .

This is especially true for students with diverse ages and backgrounds, who may have jobs, families, or other responsibilities that limit their availability. 

To build the best groups, Rebecca sends out a simple student survey asking learners to state their:

• availability (morning/afternoon/evening, weekdays, weekends, etc.) 
• communication preferences (email, text, etc.) 
• perceived strengths and weaknesses (or areas they’d like to improve).

Houge also provides some synchronous class time for students to meet (in virtual breakout rooms) to negotiate terms of their group work, and select a time to meet up. 

While this approach does take more effort on the part of the educator, it eliminates some of the initial hurdles students have to navigate at the start of a group project. Intentionally-designed groups also set students up to reap the most benefits of group work by working with and learning from people with various strengths.

Be crystal clear with assessment

It’s no secret that grades are an enormous stressor for students. When you couple the pressure of attaining certain marks with having to rely on others to produce high-level work, the stress can be extreme! 

The simple act of letting students know how their work will be graded at the very beginning of the group assignment can go a long way toward easing the worry that comes with grades.

A one-size-fits-all approach is not recommended. Students receive the greatest benefit when group work is assessed from multiple angles , including a score for a reflective self-assessment and peer assessment, in addition to the overall group project grade.

These aspects of assessment help students build metacognitive skills and improve their ability to provide constructive feedback, both of which are sought-after in the workplace.

Allowing students to have a grade separate from their peers provides learners with a greater sense of control (thereby lowering stress), and helps combat the common objection that group work isn’t fair, which leads us to our next strategy.  

Redefine "fair"

Theoretically, if you have a group of four students, each one would complete 25% of the group work, right? Realistically, an even spread is rare – and this can be quite frustrating for students, especially those who are grade-conscious. 

This uneven workload is so common that in the literature, students who do little work and ride on the coattails of other group mates are called “freeloaders” and those who end up doing all the work are “suckers”. (It should be noted that some students choose to be “suckers” because they feel like it’s easier to do the project alone.)

Sometimes, one student will end up taking on the bulk of the work in a project, leading to resentment.

It’s important to set the expectation that “fair” doesn’t always mean everyone completes equal work. This is mirrored in the real world, where work teams contribute toward projects at different paces and levels, due to a variety of factors. 

Personal disposition (introversion or extraversion), mental or physical health, comfort or interest in the content topic and/or medium of group work, and personal responsibilities outside of the project are just a few variables that make group work harder or easier for some. 

For these reasons, Rebecca Houge encourages her students to:

• assume good intentions of their peers (who may be enduring hardships they aren’t aware of), and
• focus on the benefits they personally are getting out of the work. 

Educators can try to reframe perceived inequities as an opportunity for students to develop empathy for peers and gain experience modifying plans and redistributing work among other team members (while maintaining healthy boundaries). 

Implementing self- and peer-assessment can also let students feel like they have a “voice” when the workload feels unfair. 

Make projects big enough that they can't be completed alone!

If you’ve ever had a student mutter, “I could have done this better myself,” this strategy is for you!

To avoid this sentiment, try to design group projects so that they cannot be completed by one student alone.

For example, if your students are completing science lab group work using data acquisition, you may require each group member to record their own biological signals to show variations between people, and comment on trends.

If you’re doing a field experiment, group members could be responsible for canvassing different sites or sampling at different time periods to ensure all data are collected. 

Depending on the content you’re working with, a more complex group project could take any form and require extra creativity on the part of the educator (...but if you’re taking the time to read a blog on how to improve group work, it’s likely you’re up for the challenge!). 

On the topic of time, it’s important to remember that collaboration doesn’t happen quickly, so be sure to build in extra time to accommodate your students learning to work with one another. 

In conclusion

Teaching group work skills to students may not be easy, but the benefits are huge.

With these practical strategies in your back pocket, we hope that you can turn down the volume on the typical group work grumbles, and amplify your students' willingness to work with each other and develop many lifelong practical skills. 

Join the discussion

What do your students struggle with most in group projects? What strategies have you found that help students get the most out of group projects?

Join us in the ADI: Educator Community on LinkedIn and let other educators know your thoughts!

Our online community is a hub for life sciences education in #highered, where you can share resources, ask questions, get feedback, and build meaningful relationships - across campus and across the globe!

Talking Teaching: Easing student anxiety with mindful study techniques »

Talking Teaching: Pedagogy of care and the role of faculty in student mental well-being »

How to format learning objectives to improve student learning »

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To help your group work well together, it's important to know how to deal with common group work issues.

Managing group work can be tough. If you're having problems with your group, it's better to deal with them as they arise – this will stop them from escalating and will help get your group back on track.

There are some common issues that may arise when working in a group:

Poor communication

Personal issues, unequal contribution, lacking focus, missing deadlines.

Sometimes, your group may misunderstand each other or communicate negatively. This can lead to group members:

• making assumptions
• misinterpreting what's being discussed
• not understanding what they need to do
• working on the wrong task
• failing to work well together.

To help address issues, encourage your group to think about how they can improve their communication skills.

Improving communication

To help your group communicate effectively, encourage group members to:

• clarify anything they don't understand
• ask questions instead of making accusations
• make requests instead of demands
• express their views as opinions instead of facts
• provide constructive criticism
• speak respectfully and positively.

If your group members are speaking negatively, encourage them to think about how they're expressing themselves. By rephrasing negative statements, your group will be able to communicate more respectfully and productively.

Use the following examples to help rephrase negative statements:

• Instead of saying "You're wrong" say "I don't think I agree with that because...".
• Instead of saying "You're being lazy" say "You don't seem to be contributing to the group. Is there a problem?".
• Instead of saying "You should do it this way" say "It might help if we do it this way.".

Problems may arise when personalities clash, or if group members start to argue with or speak over the top of each other.

Conflict between members

To resolve conflicts, encourage group members to:

• respect and acknowledge others' ideas
• consider how they can improve their communication
• work through the cause of the conflict as a group
• understand that working in a team may require negotiation and compromise.

If you're unable to reach an agreement or resolve a conflict in a meeting, take a break to diffuse the situation and regroup at a later meeting.

Domineering personalities

When working in groups, everyone should have an opportunity to contribute ideas. If one group member is dominating group discussions, it may help to:

• create time limits for individual contributions
• ensure that each member has a chance to speak without interruption
• remind all members that it's important to hear all opinions about the topic and respect those opinions.

Some group members may be quieter than others, but if members are not contributing at all this is a problem. Try to find out why they're not participating – but don't be confrontational. Remember to reassure all members that their opinions are valid.

To encourage group members to contribute to discussions, it may help to work around the group and ask everyone to contribute their ideas. This will encourage the group to work together, and remove the focus on individual members.

If you find that group members are struggling to come up with ideas, it can help to:

• brainstorm the topic as a group
• research the topic independently and then meet to discuss the group's findings.

If your group is struggling to focus on their work, ask everyone to talk through the tasks they are trying to complete. When they've explained their tasks, have the group discuss ideas for how to finish them.

If your group is still unable to focus, try:

• setting meeting goals
• working through complex tasks as a group
• rewarding the group for staying on task (e.g. organise a lunch or another activity).

Make sure you discuss tasks with your group and establish firm (and realistic) deadlines for completing those tasks. All group members should agree on these deadlines before you start work.

If your group is struggling to meet deadlines, ask everyone to discuss their progress each meeting so the group can track overall progress and adjust deadlines if needed.

As a group, make sure you reassess deadlines as they're approaching and provide help to any group members who need it.

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• Working as a group

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Work Life is Atlassian’s flagship publication dedicated to unleashing the potential of every team through real-life advice, inspiring stories, and thoughtful perspectives from leaders around the world.

Contributing Writer

Work Futurist

Senior Quantitative Researcher, People Insights

Principal Writer

How 6 seasoned managers tackle the biggest challenges of teamwork

Detect, resolve, and prevent common problems that can derail your team

5-second summary

• Teamwork is essential for success no matter what industry you’re in, but it can be derailed in a number of different ways.
• Connecting the dots between what your team is doing and why they’re doing it goes a long way in addressing (and preventing) many of the most common teamwork challenges.
• Taking the time to listen to team members’ hopes and concerns builds a better working relationship, which makes any of these challenges easier to overcome.

Whoever said “teamwork makes the dream work” may have been onto something. That doesn’t mean it’s always smooth sailing, though. If your team has struggled with unclear goals, low engagement, or personality conflicts, then you know how quickly the dream can turn into a nightmare.

Teams at Atlassian are no strangers to the challenges of teamwork, and we’re always keen to share what has worked for us and what hasn’t. So I called up a handful of my esteemed colleagues to learn more about some of the most prevalent challenges. I asked them how to know when your team is struggling (it’s not always obvious!), what to do about it, and how to prevent the problem in the first place. Here’s what they said.

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Challenge #1: low engagement

Highly engaged teams tend to do better when it comes to devising solutions to gnarly problems and hitting their goals on time. But as many as 53 percent of workers were disengaged to some extent even in pre-pandemic times. Now, between the additional stress many people are still feeling and the fact that fewer teams are sharing physical office space, that number is likely to be even higher.

Warning signs

“If your team-wide Slack channels have gone silent and checking off tasks has started to feel like pulling teeth, engagement levels could be slipping,” says Sarah Larson, Atlassian’s head of talent. Other signs of low engagement include resistance to change, a decline in the quality or timeliness of work, and general complacency. If members of your team who used to be excited and communicative are suddenly distant and only willing to do the bare minimum, something is up.

What to do about it

To bring your team back into the fold, Sarah recommends two tactics. First, connect with your team members individually through regular 1-on-1s. Rather than discussing project updates, ask how they’re feeling about their work and how you can support them. And don’t forget to praise their accomplishments. “Even a small token of appreciation like a coffee or a shoutout over Slack can go a long way toward inspiring great work,” she says.

Second, make sure they understand how their work contributes to the bigger picture. “Draw a clear line between a task or project and the broader company goal it supports,” Sarah says. And, she cautions, “If you can’t identify a connection, ask yourself if that task actually needs to be done.”

She also recommends sharing customer quotes or stories that may help the team see the impact of their work and initiating cross-functional projects so they better understand where their piece fits into the puzzle.

How to prevent it

As for keeping engagement high, the best way to check on your team’s motivation levels is to ask. It could be through a quarterly company-wide survey, a casual check-in during one-on-ones, or anything in between.

You can also take a page from best-selling author Dan Pink’s playbook: create an environment where people have a strong sense of purpose, opportunities to master their craft, and the autonomy to make day-to-day decisions about their work. Autonomy + mastery + purpose = intrinsic motivation. And intrinsic motivation beats the carrot-and-stick variety any day of the week.

Control leads to compliance, autonomy leads to engagement. – Dan Pink, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Challenge #2: lack of trust

When you join or form a new team, trust is neutral: there is neither trust nor distrust. Your first few interactions determine whether you move upward toward trust, or downward toward distrust. So it’s up to leaders to create an environment that inspires upward movement, according to Atlassian’s resident work futurist, Dom Price.

Trust is a tricky one because the signs of a low-trust team can be counterintuitive. A non-stop parade of high-fives all around could be a facade.

“Look for the extremes,” he says. “If everyone is smiling all the time, they’re probably not being authentic. Similarly, if everyone is downcast, quiet, resigned to failure, and just going through the motions, that’s bad, too.”

You’ve probably been advised to show empathy, vulnerability, and authenticity if you want to foster trust throughout your team. And you should. (One manager shares 17 ways to do that, here .) That flavor of trust-building takes time and patience, though. So which tactics can you use to increase trust today?

“The cognitive science on building belonging and trust between teammates is all about clarity,” Dom says. “What’s our mission, what do I contribute to the team, what’s expected of me in terms of how we work together?” He advises managers to answer those questions first. That’s your team’s social contract . Then, make sure you hold everyone accountable. The less deviation from that contract, the more trust they’ll have in one another.

Use this Roles and Responsibilities exercise from the Atlassian Team Playbook to clarify all of the above in just one hour. And for a deep-dive on team culture and expectation, add the Working Agreements play.

To prevent trust issues from popping up or recurring, strive to create an atmosphere of connection and belonging. The magic ingredient here is time. “We’ve accidentally become quite transactional in our relationships,” Dom notes. “But spending time getting to know each other personally is what builds team cohesion and genuine bonds.” Even if it’s just a few minutes of small talk at the beginning of meetings.

5 employee engagement ideas that build authentic connections

When you see teammates sharing opposing opinions in a way that doesn’t alienate the other person and without fear that it’s going to get them fired, you’re on the right track. Dom also recommends using the Health Monitor technique he pioneered at Atlassian to keep tabs on team sentiment and spot emerging issues before they flare into bona fide problems.

Challenge #3: information silos

Within the context of a single team or department, people might hoard knowledge in an effort to gain an advantage over their peers or because they think it’s the path to job security. But just as often, it’s simple carelessness. In my 20-odd years in the workforce, I’ve seen countless examples of how information sharing can go by the wayside when you’re cranking through your day-to-day.

If you’re noticing tension and infighting on your team, there’s a good chance an information silo is lurking somewhere under the surface. Duplicated effort is another sign to watch for – when you don’t know what others are up to, or what’s been tried in the past, you often reinvent the wheel.

As a leader, you have at least two roles to play. First, be a model of transparency. Ask your team members and peers for feedback on a piece of work that’s still in progress. Make every Word doc, Confluence page , and Google doc you create open and discoverable (unless there’s a legal reason to lock it down). Change the settings on your calendar to show exactly what’s on your schedule by default, instead of just showing you’re “busy.”

Second, be a cheerleader for things that were successful because people collaborated openly. Did you save 30 minutes of asking around because you were able to find the information you needed on your own? Give a public shout-out to the person who made that possible.

Your third role might be mediator and/or peace-maker, depending on why the silo exists. See above, re: building trust.

Over my many years of working with multiple teams, I’ve noticed that making sure people feel valued in their roles goes a long way in preventing information silos. When your place in the world is secure, you’re more open and less competitive (or at least less nasty in your competitiveness). Of course, tools for sharing information are critical in our digital-first world. The key is configuring them to make information open by default so it’s easy to discover.

Challenge #4: short-term thinking

Obviously, you need short-term, tactical thinking some of the time. But unless your team pursues tactics in the service of a larger goal, they’ll chase a lot of “ shiny objects ” and won’t have much to show for it.

David Turnquist is Atlassian’s head of business strategy and operations, focusing on long-term strategy. According to him, a healthy team should be able to articulate their long-term goal or North Star. “For example,” he says, “when your team is kicking off a new project, ask them about their rationale. If they’re a long-term thinking team, they’ll be connecting the project back to their longer-term goals.” If they can’t, that’s a problem.

Another clue, especially for organizations that are growing quickly, is whether the team frames their strategies in terms of the way things are today or the way things might be a few years from now – like a hockey player skating to where the puck is going to be. Last, David recommends looking at the team’s attitude toward change. Teams that are a bit too in love with the status quo are often ignoring long-term possibilities.

To help them get out of this rut, remind your team of your long-term objectives are at every opportunity. “A good case study here is Atlassian’s goal of getting all our customers migrated over to our cloud products,” David says. “We had TV screens in every office scrolling past migration stats, slogans, etc. Plus, [co-CEOs] Mike and Scott would talk about migration in every single all-hands meeting.” Don’t forget to challenge your team to make their case for new project ideas in a way that connects with their long-term goals, too. If they can’t, push them to re-shape the idea such that it does.

Focusing on the “why” is also a great prevention technique. David and his team periodically review all their projects in the context of their long-term goals. “Sometimes your goals or the shape of your project shifts and it’s easy to get a little off track,” he notes. “If you consistently ask yourself how it all fits into your current understanding of your goals, it reminds people to think long-term and prompts you to refocus your projects so they stay relevant.”

He also advises managers to create time for their team to do some open-ended, blue-sky thinking. Feeling like you’re stuck on a treadmill of small tasks can lead your brain into short-term mode. Dreaming up your “next big thing” helps stop that from happening.

3 signs your team doesn’t have an ownership mindset and what to do about it

Challenge #5: unclear goals.

Speaking of big, blue-sky big objectives, your organization probably has a handful of these, set at the company or department level. At Atlassian, we expect roughly 60 percent of each teams’ work to ladder up to those big goals, according to Ron Romain, a senior program manager. That doesn’t mean the other 40 percent should be scattered in all directions, but… well, sometimes that’s exactly what happens.

“We do occasionally see teams jumping from project to project without ever stopping to ask whether they actually accomplished whatever they hoped to do,” he admits. That’s a dead giveaway that the team was never clear on why they did the work in the first place.

Another red flag is when people are optimizing for different things. Cross-functional project teams are especially prone to this. As a writer, I might optimize for clarity and readability when crafting copy for a marketing campaign. But for the strategist leading the campaign, messaging and product positioning might be the top priority. If we don’t have a shared understanding of our goal, we’ll butt heads and make a mess of the whole thing (and damage our working relationships in the process).

If this sounds like your team, the best way to remedy the situation is to pause your work and get on the same page. “A lot of times, managers hesitate to slow things down,” Ron says. “But if you’re working on the wrong things, that’s far more damaging than taking half a day to run an alignment workshop and build a shared understanding of the goal you’re pursuing.” Be sure to include exercises like Trade-off Sliders that help your team agree on what to optimize for in a given project.

To avoid confusion around goals, use a structured goal-setting framework. Although Ron is a big fan of the OKR method we use at Atlassian, he says KPIs , BHAGs , and SMART goals may work just as well, depending on the team. (Who’s hungry for alphabet soup?) “The key is setting those objectives, then holding yourselves accountable to them,” he cautions. “If you don’t keep those goals front and center, you’ll end up working on too many projects that don’t align to them.”

Challenge #6: personality conflicts

Whether it’s a specific dispute or ongoing low-grade animosity, nothing kills a team’s mojo faster than personality conflicts.

The vibe becomes tense. Debates heat up quickly. And in some cases, you might see a spike in absenteeism or notice that a team member has a sudden and unexplained tendency to decline meetings.

“The verbal and non-verbal cues are always a good indicator,” says Susan Kelbaugh, an employee relations manager at Atlassian. Teammates taking a snarky tone with each other in meetings or making a show of ignoring a colleague when they’re speaking are pretty clear signs. If you’re having trouble pinpointing the source of the problem, she also recommends checking in with team members one-on-one as to how they feel about the team.

While personality conflicts are often easy to detect, resolving them can be a difficult matter that requires patience and good faith on all sides. Susan advises the manager to be direct, but delicate. “Addressing it head-on with the employees involved is always good,” she says. “Listen and repeat back your understanding of what the issue is. Then brainstorm potential fixes with them to ensure the issue doesn’t continue.”

She encourages leaders to speak with team members individually so the conversation doesn’t devolve into finger-pointing. Kick off the discussion by clarifying that your intention is to help the team work better together – not to demonize any one person. As you’re listening, be open to any feedback they might have about the team’s culture, structure, or processes. A small change might pave the way to team harmony.

If your organization has an employee relations specialist, take advantage of their expertise. They can help both managers and employees navigate conflicts so nobody feels alone. The earlier you pull them in, the better.

When you’re bringing in someone new from outside, including current team members in the interview process helps weed out (or at least identify) candidates who are likely to clash with the existing team. Even when a new member is coming from inside the org, Susan suggests setting them up with an onboarding buddy and doing a few team-building activities. This can help them connect with their teammates on a personal level and get a deeper sense of where others are coming from.

We’ve also found that interviewing for values alignment helps build teams that share fundamental attitudes about work and collaboration, while still allowing for diverse backgrounds, skills, and ways of thinking. There’s no guaranteed way to prevent personality clashes, but with a few tweaks to your hiring practices and investment in building personal relationships, you can get pretty close.

Advice, stories, and expertise about work life today.

• Group work roles
• Successful collaboration
• Creating group knowledge
• Tips for group work
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• Solving collaboration challenges
• Engaging in group discussions

How to address common group work problems

Group work is not without it’s challenges thats why its important that your group applies these tips for successful group work . The following lists solutions to common problems.

Lack of contribution

Group members may not contribute to group tasks as equally as others. It’s best to address the issue directly with the individual as soon as possible and raise issues with your lecturer if you feel that it will significantly impact group progress.

Poor communication

Group members may interrupt or talk over each other and others may not contribute. To minimise this, observe rules of turn taking such as going around the table and offering all members a chance to speak. Allow time for others to finish their speech. If there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding in the group, ask members to clarify what they are trying to say.

Domineering group members

Some individuals can dominate conversations. Again, observe rules of turn taking so everyone has a chance to speak. Your group might also like to establish their own talking protocols so everyone has a chance to speak such as a talking stick – only the person with the stick speaks. This can also be used to encourage contributions from quieter group members.

Inability to keep on task

Its important to develop common goals and ways of working to keep the group on task. Agree and set overarching goals and set an agenda for each group meeting.

Pause to reflect

• Reflect on a previous group work experience, how did you resolve issues?
• What worked well?
• What didn’t work well?
• What would you do differently next time?

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Many students have had little experience working in groups in an academic setting. While there are many excellent books and articles describing group processes, this guide is intended to be short and simply written for students who are working in groups, but who may not be very interested in too much detail. It also provides teachers (and students) with tips on assigning group projects, ways to organize groups, and what to do when the process goes awry.

Some reasons to ask students to work in groups

Asking students to work in small groups allows students to learn interactively. Small groups are good for:

• generating a broad array of possible alternative points of view or solutions to a problem
• giving students a chance to work on a project that is too large or complex for an individual
• allowing students with different backgrounds to bring their special knowledge, experience, or skills to a project, and to explain their orientation to others
• giving students a chance to teach each other
• giving students a structured experience so they can practice skills applicable to professional situations

Some benefits of working in groups (even for short periods of time in class)

• Students who have difficulty talking in class may speak in a small group.
• More students, overall, have a chance to participate in class.
• Talking in groups can help overcome the anonymity and passivity of a large class or a class meeting in a poorly designed room.
• Students who expect to participate actively prepare better for class.

Caveat: If you ask students to work in groups, be clear about your purpose, and communicate it to them. Students who fear that group work is a potential waste of valuable time may benefit from considering the reasons and benefits above.

Large projects over a period of time

Faculty asking students to work in groups over a long period of time can do a few things to make it easy for the students to work:

• The biggest student complaint about group work is that it takes a lot of time and planning. Let students know about the project at the beginning of the term, so they can plan their time.
• At the outset, provide group guidelines and your expectations.
• Monitor the groups periodically to make sure they are functioning effectively.
• If the project is to be completed outside of class, it can be difficult to find common times to meet and to find a room. Some faculty members provide in-class time for groups to meet. Others help students find rooms to meet in.

Forming the group

• Forming the group. Should students form their own groups or should they be assigned? Most people prefer to choose whom they work with. However, many students say they welcome both kinds of group experiences, appreciating the value of hearing the perspective of another discipline, or another background.
• Size. Appropriate group size depends on the nature of the project.  If the group is small and one person drops out, can the remaining people do the work? If the group is large, will more time be spent on organizing themselves and trying to make decisions than on productive work?
• Resources for students. Provide a complete class list, with current email addresses. (Students like having this anyway so they can work together even if group projects are not assigned.)
• Students that don't fit. You might anticipate your response to the one or two exceptions of a person who really has difficulty in the group. After trying various remedies, is there an out—can this person join another group? work on an independent project?

Organizing the work

Unless part of the goal is to give people experience in the process of goal-setting, assigning tasks, and so forth, the group will be able to work more efficiently if they are provided with some of the following:

• Clear goals. Why are they working together? What are they expected to accomplish?
• Ways to break down the task into smaller units
• Ways to allocate responsibility for different aspects of the work
• Ways to allocate organizational responsibility
• A sample time line with suggested check points for stages of work to be completed

Caveat: Setting up effective small group assignments can take a lot of faculty time and organization.

Getting Started

• Groups work best if people know each others' names and a bit of their background and experience, especially those parts that are related to the task at hand. Take time to introduce yourselves.
• Be sure to include everyone when considering ideas about how to proceed as a group. Some may never have participated in a small group in an academic setting. Others may have ideas about what works well. Allow time for people to express their inexperience and hesitations as well as their experience with group projects.
• Most groups select a leader early on, especially if the work is a long-term project. Other options for leadership in long-term projects include taking turns for different works or different phases of the work.
• Everyone needs to discuss and clarify the goals of the group's work. Go around the group and hear everyone's ideas (before discussing them) or encourage divergent thinking by brainstorming. If you miss this step, trouble may develop part way through the project. Even though time is scarce and you may have a big project ahead of you, groups may take some time to settle in to work. If you anticipate this, you may not be too impatient with the time it takes to get started.

Organizing the Work

• Break up big jobs into smaller pieces. Allocate responsibility for different parts of the group project to different individuals or teams. Do not forget to account for assembling pieces into final form.
• Develop a timeline, including who will do what, in what format, by when. Include time at the end for assembling pieces into final form. (This may take longer than you anticipate.) At the end of each meeting, individuals should review what work they expect to complete by the following session.

Understanding and Managing Group Processes

• Groups work best if everyone has a chance to make strong contributions to the discussion at meetings and to the work of the group project.
• At the beginning of each meeting, decide what you expect to have accomplished by the end of the meeting.
• Someone (probably not the leader) should write all ideas, as they are suggested, on the board, a collaborative document, or on large sheets of paper. Designate a recorder of the group's decisions. Allocate responsibility for group process (especially if you do not have a fixed leader) such as a time manager for meetings and someone who periodically says that it is time to see how things are going (see below).
• What leadership structure does the group want? One designated leader? rotating leaders? separately assigned roles?
• Are any more ground rules needed, such as starting meetings on time, kinds of interruptions allowed, and so forth?
• Is everyone contributing to discussions? Can discussions be managed differently so all can participate? Are people listening to each other and allowing for different kinds of contributions?
• Are all members accomplishing the work expected of them? Is there anything group members can do to help those experiencing difficulty?
• Are there disagreements or difficulties within the group that need to be addressed? (Is someone dominating? Is someone left out?)
• Is outside help needed to solve any problems?
• Is everyone enjoying the work?

Including Everyone and Their Ideas

Groups work best if everyone is included and everyone has a chance to contribute ideas. The group's task may seem overwhelming to some people, and they may have no idea how to go about accomplishing it. To others, the direction the project should take may seem obvious. The job of the group is to break down the work into chunks, and to allow everyone to contribute. The direction that seems obvious to some may turn out not to be so obvious after all. In any event, it will surely be improved as a result of some creative modification.

Encouraging Ideas

The goal is to produce as many ideas as possible in a short time without evaluating them. All ideas are carefully listened to but not commented on and are usually written on the board or large sheets of paper so everyone can see them, and so they don't get forgotten or lost. Take turns by going around the group—hear from everyone, one by one.

One specific method is to generate ideas through brainstorming. People mention ideas in any order (without others' commenting, disagreeing or asking too many questions). The advantage of brainstorming is that ideas do not become closely associated with the individuals who suggested them. This process encourages creative thinking, if it is not rushed and if all ideas are written down (and therefore, for the time-being, accepted). A disadvantage: when ideas are suggested quickly, it is more difficult for shy participants or for those who are not speaking their native language. One approach is to begin by brainstorming and then go around the group in a more structured way asking each person to add to the list.

Examples of what to say:

• Why don't we take a minute or two for each of us to present our views?
• Let's get all our ideas out before evaluating them. We'll clarify them before we organize or evaluate them.
• We'll discuss all these ideas after we hear what everyone thinks.
• You don't have to agree with her, but let her finish.
• Let's spend a few more minutes to see if there are any possibilities we haven't thought of, no matter how unlikely they seem.

Group Leadership

• The leader is responsible for seeing that the work is organized so that it will get done. The leader is also responsible for understanding and managing group interactions so that the atmosphere is positive.
• The leader must encourage everyone's contributions with an eye to accomplishing the work. To do this, the leader must observe how the group's process is working. (Is the group moving too quickly, leaving some people behind? Is it time to shift the focus to another aspect of the task?)
• The leader must encourage group interactions and maintain a positive atmosphere. To do this the leader must observe the way people are participating as well as be aware of feelings communicated non-verbally. (Are individuals' contributions listened to and appreciated by others? Are people arguing with other people, rather than disagreeing with their ideas? Are some people withdrawn or annoyed?)
• The leader must anticipate what information, materials or other resources the group needs as it works.
• The leader is responsible for beginning and ending on time. The leader must also organize practical support, such as the room, chalk, markers, food, breaks.

(Note: In addition to all this, the leader must take part in thc discussion and participate otherwise as a group member. At these times, the leader must be careful to step aside from the role of leader and signal participation as an equal, not a dominant voice.)

Concerns of Individuals That May Affect Their Participation

• How do I fit in? Will others listen to me? Am I the only one who doesn't know everyone else? How can I work with people with such different backgrounds and expericnce?
• Who will make the decisions? How much influence can I have?
• What do I have to offer to the group? Does everyone know more than I do? Does anyone know anything, or will I have to do most of the work myself?

Characteristics of a Group that is Performing Effectively

• All members have a chance to express themselves and to influence the group's decisions. All contributions are listened to carefully, and strong points acknowledged. Everyone realizes that the job could not be done without the cooperation and contribution of everyone else.
• Differences are dealt with directly with the person or people involved. The group identifies all disagreements, hears everyone's views and tries to come to an agreement that makes sense to everyone. Even when a group decision is not liked by someone, that person will follow through on it with the group.
• The group encourages everyone to take responsibility, and hard work is recognized. When things are not going well, everyone makes an effort to help each other. There is a shared sense of pride and accomplishment.

Focusing on a Direction

After a large number of ideas have been generated and listed (e.g. on the board), the group can categorize and examine them. Then the group should agree on a process for choosing from among the ideas. Advantages and disadvantages of different plans can be listed and then voted on. Some possibilities can be eliminated through a straw vote (each group member could have 2 or 3 votes). Or all group members could vote for their first, second, and third choices. Alternatively, criteria for a successful plan can be listed, and different alternatives can be voted on based on the criteria, one by one.

Categorizing and evaluating ideas

• We have about 20 ideas here. Can we sort them into a few general categories?
• When we evaluate each others' ideas, can we mention some positive aspects before expressing concerns?
• Could you give us an example of what you mean?
• Who has dealt with this kind of problem before?
• What are the pluses of that approach? The minuses?
• We have two basic choices. Let's brainstorm. First let's look at the advantages of the first choice, then the disadvantages.
• Let's try ranking these ideas in priority order. The group should try to come to an agreement that makes sense to everyone.

Making a decision

After everyone's views are heard and all points of agreement and disagreement are identified, the group should try to arrive at an agreement that makes sense to everyone.

• There seems to be some agreement here. Is there anyone who couldn't live with solution #2?
• Are there any objections to going that way?
• You still seem to have worries about this solution. Is there anything that could be added or taken away to make it more acceptable? We're doing fine. We've agreed on a great deal. Let's stay with this and see if we can work this last issue through.
• It looks as if there are still some major points of disagreement. Can we go back and define what those issues are and work on them rather than forcing a decision now.

How People Function in Groups

If a group is functioning well, work is getting done and constructive group processes are creating a positive atmosphere. In good groups the individuals may contribute differently at different times. They cooperate and human relationships are respected. This may happen automatically or individuals, at different times, can make it their job to maintain the atmospbere and human aspects of the group.

Roles That Contribute to the Work

Initiating —taking the initiative, at any time; for example, convening the group, suggesting procedures, changing direction, providing new energy and ideas. (How about if we.... What would happen if... ?)

Seeking information or opinions —requesting facts, preferences, suggestions and ideas. (Could you say a little more about... Would you say this is a more workable idea than that?)

Giving information or opinions —providing facts, data, information from research or experience. (ln my experience I have seen... May I tell you what I found out about...? )

Questioning —stepping back from what is happening and challenging the group or asking other specific questions about the task. (Are we assuming that... ? Would the consequence of this be... ?)

Clarifying —interpreting ideas or suggestions, clearing up confusions, defining terms or asking others to clarify. This role can relate different contributions from different people, and link up ideas that seem unconnected. (lt seems that you are saying... Doesn't this relate to what [name] was saying earlier?)

Summarizing —putting contributions into a pattern, while adding no new information. This role is important if a group gets stuck. Some groups officially appoint a summarizer for this potentially powerful and influential role. (If we take all these pieces and put them together... Here's what I think we have agreed upon so far... Here are our areas of disagreement...)

Roles That Contribute to the Atmosphere

Supporting —remembering others' remarks, being encouraging and responsive to others. Creating a warm, encouraging atmosphere, and making people feel they belong helps the group handle stresses and strains. People can gesture, smile, and make eye-contact without saying a word. Some silence can be supportive for people who are not native speakers of English by allowing them a chance to get into discussion. (I understand what you are getting at...As [name] was just saying...)

Observing —noticing the dynamics of the group and commenting. Asking if others agree or if they see things differently can be an effective way to identify problems as they arise. (We seem to be stuck... Maybe we are done for now, we are all worn out... As I see it, what happened just a minute ago.. Do you agree?)

Mediating —recognizing disagreements and figuring out what is behind the differences. When people focus on real differences, that may lead to striking a balance or devising ways to accommodate different values, views, and approaches. (I think the two of you are coming at this from completely different points of view... Wait a minute. This is how [name/ sees the problem. Can you see why she may see it differently?)

Reconciling —reconciling disagreements. Emphasizing shared views among members can reduce tension. (The goal of these two strategies is the same, only the means are different… Is there anything that these positions have in common?)

Compromising —yielding a position or modifying opinions. This can help move the group forward. (Everyone else seems to agree on this, so I'll go along with... I think if I give in on this, we could reach a decision.)

Making a personal comment —occasional personal comments, especially as they relate to the work. Statements about one's life are often discouraged in professional settings; this may be a mistake since personal comments can strengthen a group by making people feel human with a lot in common.

Humor —funny remarks or good-natured comments. Humor, if it is genuinely good-natured and not cutting, can be very effective in relieving tension or dealing with participants who dominate or put down others. Humor can be used constructively to make the work more acceptable by providing a welcome break from concentration. It may also bring people closer together, and make the work more fun.

All the positive roles turn the group into an energetic, productive enterprise. People who have not reflected on these roles may misunderstand the motives and actions of people working in a group. If someone other than the leader initiates ideas, some may view it as an attempt to take power from the leader. Asking questions may similarly be seen as defying authority or slowing down the work of the group. Personal anecdotes may be thought of as trivializing the discussion. Leaders who understand the importance of these many roles can allow and encourage them as positive contributions to group dynamics. Roles that contribute to the work give the group a sense of direction and achievement. Roles contributing to the human atmosphere give the group a sense of cooperation and goodwill.

Some Common Problems (and Some Solutions)

Floundering —While people are still figuring out the work and their role in the group, the group may experience false starts and circular discussions, and decisions may be postponed.

• Here's my understanding of what we are trying to accomplish... Do we all agree?
• What would help us move forward: data? resources?
• Let's take a few minutes to hear everyone's suggestions about how this process might work better and what we should do next.

Dominating or reluctant participants —Some people might take more than their share of the discussion by talking too often, asserting superiority, telling lengthy stories, or not letting others finish. Sometimes humor can be used to discourage people from dominating. Others may rarely speak because they have difficulty getting in the conversation. Sometimes looking at people who don't speak can be a non-verbal way to include them. Asking quiet participants for their thoughts outside the group may lead to their participation within the group.

• How would we state the general problem? Could we leave out the details for a moment? Could we structure this part of the discussion by taking turns and hearing what everyone has to say?
• Let's check in with each other about how the process is working: Is everyone contributing to discussions? Can discussions be managed differently so we can all participate? Are we all listening to each other?

Digressions and tangents —Too many interesting side stories can be obstacles to group progress. It may be time to take another look at the agenda and assign time estimates to items. Try to summarize where the discussion was before the digression. Or, consider whether there is something making the topic easy to avoid.

• Can we go back to where we were a few minutes ago and see what we were trying to do ?
• Is there something about the topic itself that makes it difficult to stick to?

Getting Stuck —Too little progress can get a group down. It may be time for a short break or a change in focus. However, occasionally when a group feels that it is not making progress, a solution emerges if people simply stay with the issue.

• What are the things that are helping us solve this problem? What's preventing us from solving this problem?
• I understand that some of you doubt whether anything new will happen if we work on this problem. Are we willing to give it a try for the next fifteen minutes?

Rush to work —Usually one person in the group is less patient and more action-oriented than the others. This person may reach a decision more quickly than the others and then pressure the group to move on before others are ready.

• Are we all ready-to make a decision on this?
• What needs to be done before we can move ahead?
• Let's go around and see where everyone stands on this.

Feuds —Occasionally a conflict (having nothing to do with the subject of the group) carries over into the group and impedes its work. It may be that feuding parties will not be able to focus until the viewpoint of each is heard. Then they must be encouraged to lay the issue aside.

• So, what you are saying is... And what you are saying is... How is that related to the work here?
• If we continue too long on this, we won't be able to get our work done. Can we agree on a time limit and then go on?

For more information...

James Lang, " Why Students Hate Group Projects (and How to Change That) ," The Chronicle of Higher Education (17 June 2022).

Hodges, Linda C. " Contemporary Issues in Group Learning in Undergraduate Science Classrooms: A Perspective from Student Engagement ,"  CBE—Life Sciences Education  17.2 (2018): es3.

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Teamwork Skills: Being an Effective Group Member

For groups to function effectively, it's important for students to think critically about the climate within their group and the process by which they accomplish their tasks. Although students can gain many of the skills described below through ad hoc interactions, instructors play a key role in making them explicit protocols.

To hone these skills, students need opportunities to practice and to receive regular feedback. Consider sharing the information below with your students, structure activities for them, and incorporate three components of feedback into your plan: instructor comments (oral and/or written); reflective group discussions and/or peer assessment; and self-reflection (see the reflection prompts in Appendix A for ideas). 

Communication skills 

To function successfully in a group, students need to be able to communicate clearly on intellectual and emotional levels. Effective communicators should be able to: 

• Explain their own ideas; 
• Express their feelings in an open but non-threatening way; 
• Listen carefully to others; 
• Ask questions to clarify others’ ideas and emotions; 
• Sense how others feel based on their nonverbal communication (e.g., facial expressions, tone of voice, diminished participation);
• Initiate conversations about the group climate or process if they sense tensions brewing; 
• Reflect on their group's activities and interactions and encourage other group members to do so. 

Regular open communication, in which group members share their thoughts, ideas, and feelings, is key for successful group work. Unspoken assumptions and issues can be harmful to productive group functioning. Students’ ability to communicate openly with one another can help foster a healthy group climate and process. 

Skills for a healthy group climate 

To work together successfully, group members must demonstrate a sense of cohesion. cohesion emerges as group members: .

• Get to know one another, particularly those with different interests and backgrounds. They are open to innovative ideas and diverse viewpoints. They also listen to others and elicit their ideas. They know how to balance the need for cohesion within a group with the need for individual expression. 
• Trust one another enough to share their own ideas and feelings. A sense of mutual trust develops only to the extent that everyone is willing to self-disclose and be honest yet respectful. Trust also grows as group members demonstrate personal accountability for the tasks they have been assigned. 
• Demonstrate support for one another as they accomplish their goals. They cheer on the group and support members individually. They view one another not as competitors but as collaborators: everyone in the group can and should have a role by which they contribute.
• Communicate their opinions in a way that respects others, focusing on “What can we learn?” rather than “Who is to blame?” 

As an instructor, you can use several strategies to encourage students to develop a healthy group climate: 

• Randomize group membership to increase the chances of students encountering peers with diverse backgrounds and interests. 
• Design icebreaker activities that promote awareness and appreciation of inherent differences within a group. 
• Walk students through effective strategies for identifying and overcoming group conflict.  
• Encourage students to participate actively and pose questions to their peers. To encourage listening skills and ensure that everyone in the group speaks, try the “circle of voices” exercise. See the CTE Teaching Tip: Group Work in the Classroom: Types of Small Groups . 
• Devote class time to help students reflect on their group dynamic and overall functioning. You can provide them with prompt questions to consider and/or facilitate a conversation driven by student insights, questions, and concerns. 

Skills for an effective group process 

In addition to knowing how to develop a healthy group climate, students need to exercise key skills to contribute to an effective group process. This process emerges when students: 

• Agree on what needs to be done and by whom. Each student then determines what they need to do and takes responsibility to complete the task(s). They can be held accountable for their tasks, and they hold others accountable for theirs. 
• Give and receive feedback about group ideas. Giving constructive feedback requires focusing on ideas and behaviours instead of individuals and offering suggestions for improvement. Receiving feedback requires the ability to listen well, ask for clarification if the comment is unclear, and being open to change and to other ideas. 
• Help the group to develop and use central strategies to move toward their group goals. As such, they can facilitate group decision making and manage group conflict in a productive way, rather than approaching the instructor for guidance as the first step.  
• Know how to plan and manage a task, how to manage their time, and how to run a meeting. For example, they ensure meeting goals are set, an agenda is created and followed, and everyone can participate. They stay focused on the task and help others to do so, too. 
• Know which roles can be filled within a group (e.g., facilitator, idea-generator, summarizer, evaluator, mediator, encourager, recorder) and are aware of which role(s) they and others are best suited for. They are also willing to rotate roles to maximize their own and others’ group learning experience. 

As an instructor, use some of these strategies to help students develop an effective process within their groups: 

• Design the group task so that the students must rely on one another to produce their best work. Group members will be more motivated and committed to working together if they are given a group mark. If you choose to evaluate in this way, be sure to make your expectations extremely clear. See the CTE Teaching Tip: Methods for Assessing Group Work for additional ideas. 
• Invite students to develop a group contract in which they articulate ground rules and group goals. See the CTE Teaching Tip Making Group Contracts for details. Be sure that groups discuss how they will respond to various scenarios such as absent or late group members and those who do not complete their assigned tasks. 
• Distribute a list of decision-making methods and strategies for conflict resolution and facilitate a conversation with students about these resources in class. The CTE Teaching Tip: Group Decision Making is a good place to start. You may also want to offer yourself as an impartial arbitrator in emergency situations but encourage students to work out problems among themselves. 
• Provide students with guidelines for running a meeting, such as setting and following an agenda, specifying time limits, and monitoring progress on the agenda. Consult CTE Teaching Tip: Meeting Strategies to Help Prepare Students for Group Work for additional suggestions. 
• Teach students effective methods for giving and receiving feedback and explain the purpose of feedback in your course. For sample methods, see CTE Teaching Tip: Receiving and Giving Effective Feedback . Create an assignment that involves them giving feedback to group members and make it part of their final grade. 
• Help students recognize and make the most of their own and one another’s preferred roles. Outline with them a list of team roles (see the CTE Teaching Tip: Group Roles for examples), have them determine which role(s) suits them best, and give them time to discuss how their role(s) will complement those of other group members. Asking students to rotate their roles helps them to expand their skillset. 

Appendix A: Encouraging self-awareness and reflection in group work 

One of the most important things you can do as an instructor is to have students reflect regularly on their group experiences. Their self-reflection will reinforce and further develop critical teamwork skills. Based on your objectives for the group project, create a set of prompts using the questions below. Have students use these prompts to journal about their reactions to group climate and process. The journals encourage self-reflection and can help students see teamwork issues in new ways and create ideas for resolution. They can also provide a good basis from which students can choose comments to share with their group members in debriefing sessions.

If students submit their journals periodically throughout the term, give them feedback orally or in writing, and to the extent appropriate, discuss any trends that you have identified through observation or in the journals (remember to reassure students that other groups may be facing similar challenges). Also, requiring all students to submit a final reflective report after the group project can help them to see the value of the teamwork expertise they have developed through practice. 

• What have you enjoyed the most/the least about getting to know your group members? 
• How is your attitude towards your group members demonstrated in how you function within the group? 
• How do you demonstrate trust and openness towards the other members and their ideas? 
• How much do you feel you can rely on your group members to complete the required task(s)? 
• How do you make sure that group members feel supported, encouraged, and appreciated for their work? 
• How does the team ensure that all voices are heard? 
• Do you participate willingly in discussions? If not, why not? 
• Do others appear to understand your ideas? If not, why not? 
• What do you do if another person’s ideas are unclear? 
• What do you focus on when others speak? How could you improve your listening skills? 
• How do you respond to others’ ideas? How do they respond to yours? What could be improved? 
• What are your group’s ground rules and goals? What changes to these rules and goals might improve the functioning of your group? 
• How is everyone encouraged to stay accountable for the tasks they have been assigned? 
• To what extent do you and others follow the feedback methods laid out in class? How could you and your group members improve the way you give and receive feedback? 
• To what extent does your group reflect on how well its goals are being achieved? How would more (or less) discussion about goals help or hinder your group’s functioning? 
• How are decisions made in your group? Who is involved and in which ways? What has been effective about the processes you have used? How could your decision-making processes be improved? 
• What happens if a group member is unhappy or uncomfortable with a decision made by the group? 
• What conflicts have arisen within your group? How (if at all) have the conflicts been resolved? What role do you play in resolving these conflicts? What could you (or others) do to improve your group’s ability to deal productively with conflict? 
• How do your meetings typically proceed? What do you accomplish and in how much time? What is effective about your group functioning during meetings? What changes would improve your meetings? 
• Who has emerged as the leader in your group? Which other roles do you see team members playing? Which role(s) do you play? Which role do you prefer and why? 

If you would like support applying these tips to your own teaching, CTE staff members are here to help. View the  CTE Support  page to find the most relevant staff member to contact. 

References 

• Bosworth, K. (1994). Developing Collaborative Skills in College Students. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 59. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. pp. 25-31. 
• Breslow, L. (1998). Teaching Teamwork Skills, Part 2. Teach Talk, X, 5.  
• Burke, A. (2011). Group work: How to use groups effectively. The Journal of Effective Teaching, 11(2), 87-95. 
• Hills, H. (2001). Team-Based Learning. Burlington, VT: Gower. 
• Lang, J. M. (2022, June 17). Why students hate group projects (and how to change that). The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-students-hate-group-projects-and-how-to-change-that   
• Shier, M. (2020). Student Success. Victoria, BC: BCcampus. Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/studentsuccess/  
• UWaterloo’s  Student Success Office  
• UWaterloo’s  Office of Academic Integrity  

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Many of us now routinely have to work in groups, either professionally or personally. From classroom learning, through university assignments, to projects at work, group working is becoming more and more standard.

Most of us will also recognise that groups can have both strengths and weaknesses—both for the group, and for the individuals involved. These strengths and weaknesses will vary with the purpose, structure and nature of the group. They will also change over time as the group evolves.

This page discusses both the strengths and weaknesses of groups, and explores some ideas for maximising the strengths, and overcoming some of the weaknesses.

Strengths and Advantages of Group Working

There are many strengths and advantages to working in a group, including making decisions as a group. These include:

The group’s work and decisions can draw on the knowledge, skills and experience of all members. This means that decisions can be informed by multiple perspectives, making them more likely to be based on stronger evidence—and therefore sounder.

Group working encourages members to develop and explore new ideas and perspectives . Research among students showed that those working in groups were more likely to try new techniques for problem-solving. They were also more open to new ideas. The thinking is that hearing different opinions can lead to changes in views, and therefore result in more willingness to hear new ideas.

Existing relationships can help to improve group cohesion . Where two or more people within a group already have a relationship, this can help to build group cohesion, by providing common ground.

Groups compensate for individual weaknesses and support personal development . In groups, individuals can compensate for their own weaknesses by drawing on the skills and strengths of others. However, they can also learn and get support from other group members to develop in areas of weakness.

Working in a group can satisfy the need to ‘belong’. Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs places the need to belong only three rungs up from the bottom. This means it is less crucial only than physiological needs (food, water and shelter) and feeling safe. Working in a group therefore meets a very basic need in all of us.

The challenges of group working can make success more satisfying . Working in a group is not always easy. Group members often feel far more satisfied by achieving a good result than those who work alone, who may feel that success is expected, or downplay their achievements.

Groups often provide unexpected learning opportunities . Working in groups gives opportunities for individuals to talk to others with similar problems and issues and share their experiences.

Groups can be a safe environment to improve individual understanding and support personal development . Individual behaviour, feelings and attitudes are greatly influenced by other people. Group members can therefore act as role models and provide reinforcement for changing behaviours through mutual support and positive feedback.

Groups may enable sharing of workloads and support networks . Working alone may lead to isolation or feeling unsupported. Formal requirements for group working can enable better sharing of work, and development of mutual support networks. This, in turn, can help to ensure that everyone can develop a better work–life balance .

You may also be interested in our guest post on the benefits to individuals of working in groups .

Weaknesses of Working in Groups

Many of the strengths of working in a group can also turn into weaknesses if not managed correctly. Groups also have specific weaknesses that stem from having several people working together.

Group decision-making can take a long time . Decisions made by groups are usually held to be better than individual decisions, because they draw on more perspectives and information. However, they can also take a long time to make, because of the need to explore these varying perspectives. Group leaders need to balance these two requirements to get the benefits of group decision-making without taking too much time.

Groups can be vulnerable to errors of decision-making, such as ‘groupthink’ . This is especially true where group members are more similar, or value cohesion above results.

Existing relationships within a group can damage development of wider group cohesion . Where two or more people within a group already have a relationship, this can encourage the formation of subgroups or cliques within a wider group. This, in turn, can make it harder for other members of the group to fit in.

It takes time to develop full understanding of roles and responsibilities . Until that understanding develops, groups may be vulnerable to misunderstandings and miscommunications. This can result in work not being done, or being done twice.

Working in a group may dampen individuals’ sense of responsibility for decisions . A collective decision is owned by the group, not by any one individual. This means that individuals may be prepared to agree to more risk for the group than they would accept for themselves. They may also be more prepared to accept a bad decision because they will not be held personally responsible.

Care is needed to ensure that all group members feel equally able to contribute . More confident people may feel more able to contribute vocally, and those who get more ‘airtime’ may feel more ‘heard’ than others. Feeling unable to contribute may lead people to withdraw from the process.

Conflict may arise with a group for several reasons. Conflict can arise because individuals have different ways of working, or different ideas for achieving the group’s objectives, or even because they disagree with the group’s objectives. Open conflict can be helpful in clearing the air, but it can also lead to the group fragmenting into subgroups, or individuals leaving the group or withdrawing their cooperation.

One or two people may take control of the group, and essentially side-line others. This can lead to poorer decision-making, individual withdrawal, and refusal to sign off decisions. A similar split can arise if one or two people are prepared to put in a lot more effort to get the work done, and feel that others are taking advantage of them.

It may be difficult to maintain confidentiality within a group . This is simply because information shared by more people is more likely to be discussed or shared further.

Some individuals may withdraw cooperation, or even disrupt the group . Some people do not like being in a group situation. In particular, they may not like to express problems or share ideas with others. If forced to participate, these people may become disruptive or withdraw. Other people may become disruptive if the group process does not seem to be going the way they want—for example, if their ideas have been rejected, even after careful discussion and consideration.

Individuals may resent the pressure to conform to the group’s norms . This may lead to them withdrawing. They may also disrupt the group to the extent that the norms have to be re-evaluated. There is more about this in our pages on Group Life Cycle and Building Group Cohesiveness .

Organising a group needs resources, accommodation, time and on-going commitment . This is a fundamental issue with any group. Those involved need to be clear that those resources are available.

There is more about many of these weaknesses, and how to overcome them, in our page on Group Decision-Making .

Getting the Best out of Group Working

Group working is unmistakeably now a standard part of most people’s lives . It is therefore important to be able to get the most out of working in a group, without succumbing to the many weaknesses and disadvantages of group working.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this is awareness. Being aware of the strengths and weaknesses of group working puts you in a far stronger position to address both. Group leaders play a key role in overcoming weaknesses, for example, by ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to contribute, and that there is time for decisions to be discussed fully. However, group members can also play a role, by being open in their communication, and honest if the group process is not working for them. Our page on Building Group Cohesiveness contains other ideas, as does our page on group processes .

Continue to: Group Diversity Group Dynamics

See also: Managing Difficult Behaviour in Meetings Rebuilding Teams After Remote Working Joining an Established Team Team Building

Despite these challenges, online courses rich in student interactivity facilitate the development of critical thinking skills and foster a sense of belonging. When students collaborate, they can share their ideas and respond to the reactions of others, allowing them to practice important skills like trust-building, leadership, decision-making, communication, and conflict management .

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Six Essentials for Online Group Assignments

March 20, 2024 • Ali Blankinship

Learning is often enhanced when it is collaborative and social. Incorporating group assignments into your course is one way to increase student collaboration. However, group assignments can be difficult to facilitate, especially in an online course where you and your students are physically separated from one another.

Consider the following six essentials when designing and facilitating collaborative assignments for an online course–or any course for that matter!

1.   Purpose: Ensure the collaborative assignment aligns with your intended learning outcomes and mirrors what professionals in your discipline might do, modified as appropriate for your students. Communicate the purpose of the assignment with your students, explaining how they will benefit from the activity.

2. Student Preparation: Scaffold your students’ collaborative skills by increasing the complexity of the assignment as the course progresses. Divide the assignment into multiple parts and deadlines, giving groups feedback at each checkpoint. Additionally, provide students with group guidelines and expectations, like using an agenda to keep meetings on track and strategies for dealing with non-contributing group members. Consider asking each group to complete a team contract in which they determine and agree to meeting days and times, roles and responsibilities, and other relevant procedures.

3. Assessment: Use self, peer, and group assessment tools at multiple points throughout the course. This fair and balanced approach holds all students accountable for doing their share of the work and provides them an opportunity to reflect on their individual and group members’ contributions. Allow groups to share their work with the class asynchronously or synchronously to extend their learning and foster community.

4. Technology: Select digital collaboration tools based on your learning goals and students’ needs, such as Google Workspace or Microsoft Flip . Include links to technical support resources for students unfamiliar with the resources you select. Consult with an eLearning Specialist to determine which platforms and tools are best suited for the assignment.

5. Group Formation: Use a survey to help you form heterogeneous groups, asking students about their time zones, availability, strengths and weaknesses, and experience with group work. Form groups after the add/drop deadline to support group cohesion. Additionally, decide on the appropriate group size for the assignment and whether you will define roles with specific responsibilities . Students generally feel more comfortable in smaller groups of fewer than five members and perform better on convergent tasks. Larger groups of five to eight members usually perform better on divergent tasks. 

6. Facilitation: Plan to be involved and monitor student progress during all stages of the collaborative assignment—this is where the previous essentials come into play! Determine how you will address challenges that might arise, such as negative group dynamics.

Keeping these six essentials in mind will help you design meaningful group assignments and mitigate common obstacles. Your students will benefit from sharing their knowledge and perspectives and developing their collaboration skills. Be sure to ask students for their feedback about the group assignment so you can make improvements in the next iteration.

Donelan, H., & Kear, K. (2023). Online group projects in higher education: Persistent challenges and implications for practice. Journal of Computing in Higher Education . https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-023-09360-7

Laal, M., & Ghodsi, S. M. (2012). Benefits of collaborative learning. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences , 31 , 486–490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.12.091

Lowes, S. (2014). How much “group” is there in online group work? Journal Of Asynchronous Learning Networks , 18 (1), 133–146. https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v18i1.373

Roberts, T. S., & McInnerney, J. M. (2007). Seven problems of online group learning (and their solutions). Educational Technology and Society, 10 (4), 257–268. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/74872/

Meet the Author

Ali blankinship.

Ali Blankinship is the Director of Program Management & Instructional Quality for the Center for Online Learning at William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business. She manages a portfolio of highly ranked online graduate business programs and certificates, collaborating with faculty through all stages of program development and delivery.

Challenges of Group Work in College

Flora richards-gustafson.

Group work promotes an active learning process, participation and interaction among peers. When students come together to complete a project, each gets exposed to diverse perspectives, a pool of knowledge and a opportunities to gain a better understanding of classroom discussions. While college group work offers benefits, the quality of a finished project depends on each student’s contributions.

Explore this article

• Getting to Know Each Other
• Do nt know each other outside
• Conflicting Schedules
• Have diverse schedules
• Fair Workloads
• Calls a big assignment
• Poor Organization
• S a lack of leadership motivation and organization

1 Getting to Know Each Other

2 do nt know each other outside.

When group members don’t know each other outside of the classroom, it can be difficult to know each peer’s strengths, weaknesses, skills, knowledge, communication style and personality. The initial task of getting to know one another can prolong the time it takes to complete a group project, especially when there are personality or communication conflicts to overcome. For example, one student may feel as if he must manage every aspect of the project to ensure a good grade, or a group member who is an exchange student may have difficulties communicating.

3 Conflicting Schedules

4 have diverse schedules.

College students have diverse schedules that can include employment, extracurricular activities, homework and taking care of a family. Finding time outside class to work on a project together can be difficult, especially for nontraditional students who don’t live on campus. When a group agrees on dates and times to meet, a member can add obstacles to the project if he doesn’t show up because of a suddenly conflicting priority.

5 Fair Workloads

6 calls a big assignment.

Even though a professor calls a big assignment a “group project,” the students must complete some of the work alone. Distributing tasks among group members in a way that seems fair and equal may be challenge when projects are multifaceted, a member lacks essential skills or knowledge, or a member slacks off on the work that she agreed to complete. In the online document “Working in Groups: A Note to Faculty and a Quick Guide for Students” on the Harvard University website, Ellen Sarkisian of the Derek Bok Center states that this type of challenge may arise if group participants don’t have a clear understanding of their respective roles or access to appropriate resources.

7 Poor Organization

8 s a lack of leadership motivation and organization.

When there’s a lack of leadership, motivation and organization in a group, the group’s overall performance suffers. According to Sarkisian of Harvard's Bok Center, some form of leadership and organization are essential for a group’s success. When a group fails to create a timeline, establish goals, record ideas and check in with each other, members may find themselves scrambling at the last minute to complete a project or create a class presentation.

• 1 Harvard University: Working in Groups: A Note to Faculty and a Quick Guide for Students
• 2 University of California Berkeley: Group Work

About the Author

Flora Richards-Gustafson has been writing professionally since 2003. She creates copy for websites, marketing materials and printed publications. Richards-Gustafson specializes in SEO and writing about small-business strategies, health and beauty, interior design, emergency preparedness and education. Richards-Gustafson received a Bachelor of Arts from George Fox University in 2003 and was recognized by Cambridge's "Who's Who" in 2009 as a leading woman entrepreneur.

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PSYCH 485 blog

The issue with online group assignments

October 29, 2019 by Simon Swengler

College has changed quite a bit since I first started taking college classes 20 years ago.  One of the most significant differences is the proliferation of online courses and degree programs.  These programs allow students to study and learn on a highly flexible schedule for a variety of different fields of study.  This is what influenced me to continue the college experience I started and finish my college degree.  Much like standard in-person classes, these online classes have varied in their difficulty and the challenges they present.  One of the most challenging aspects of the online environment has been the assignment of group projects.

In these group projects, the course instructor assigns team members either by random or based on a specified criterion.  One thing that is not assigned is roles, specifically a leader is not chosen.  Therefore, the leadership responsibilities are shared or distributed across team members.  “Shared team leadership occurs when member of the team take on leadership behaviors to influence the team and to maximize team effectiveness” (Northouse, 2016, p. 365).  For example, many of the teams I’ve worked with had to collaborate and develop consensus before a decision could be made.  Shared leadership is beneficial for virtual teams because it increases their effectiveness and aids in completing complex tasks (Northouse, 2016).  There are risks involved with shared leadership however, such as the case where none of the team members step forward to assume a leadership role (Northouse, 2016).  This is possibly due to the fact that in shared leadership situations members may not have the required leadership skills necessary for the role causing them to lack the confidence needed to step up (Northouse, 2016).  This occurred in one of my previous courses where a group assignment was due within 5 hours and no one had even attempted to establish communication with any of the team members.  I reluctantly e-mailed the members to ask if they were content with receiving a zero for the assignment.  Two of the team members responded and indicated they were interested in completing the assignment and so we managed to quickly complete the assignment with no help from two remaining members who either didn’t respond, or didn’t contribute.  Fortunately, this was an isolated occurrence as my other assigned teams have been more successful in working together to complete assignments.

One of the benefits to shared leadership is that all team members can actively monitor the critical leadership functions and determine the appropriate action to take in order to maximize team effectiveness (Northouse, 2016).  This is in line with the team leadership model, which focuses on a leader’s ability to appropriately diagnose the situation and take actions to enhance team effectiveness (Northouse, 2016).  The success of this in a shared leadership situation is partly dependent on the skills and commitment of the team members.  If they do not have the leadership skills necessary to diagnose the situation, they will not be able to take the appropriate action.  Additionally if they are not committed to the success of the team or the achievement of goals, they will neglect to take action regardless of the ability to effectively diagnose the situation.  This occurred in one of the teams of which I was a part, where we decided to equally distribute each part of the assignment.  Unfortunately, each part was dependent on a previous part of the assignment so we were all dependent on one another to complete it.  Regrettably the person to complete the first part of the assignment, while committed, did not have the skills to properly complete their part of the assignment.  This negatively affected the next person who did not have the commitment to recognize and adjust the initial part of the assignment and instead completed their portion without regards to the first, leaving a disjointed starting point for the third individual.  Once it got to the third individual, it was clear there was going to be a significant issue that needed to be addressed with the team and required committed and skillful leadership.  However, this was something our team lacked, and without it these virtual teams will not be able to fully maximize the effectiveness of shared leadership.

It could be argued that the reason our team struggled in these situations was because we were attempting to behave more like a group than as a team.  While group members may share a common goal and influence or interact with one another, they are not necessarily dependent on each other to accomplish their goal (PSU WC, 2019).  A team on the other hand, must work together and are dependent on one another to achieve their mutual goal (PSU WC, 2019).  Therefore, when my other team decided to work on separate parts of the assignment when it was clear that a collaborative effort was needed, our team was attempting to avoid the obvious truth that we were dependent on one another to complete the assignment.  Had we worked as a team, we would have all helped the first individual complete their portion of the assignment correctly and allowed the second person an easier time to complete their portion.  As another example, when my other team was not communicating with each other, we were individually avoiding the fact we dependent on one another to achieve our mutual goal, behaving more as a group than as a team.  In this particular case, the team may have also been affected by form of social loafing, which occurs when individuals decrease their efforts based on the level of perceived distributed responsibility for the outcome (PSU WC, 2019).  This was probably because there were no peer reviews for that particular group assignment.  It is clear that both of these teams were not effective in spite of eventually accomplishing the goal of completing the assignment, because they lacked certain characteristics that would have promoted them to behave more like a team, and less like a group.

Larson and LaFasto (1989) identified eight characteristics that were indicative of effective teams (Northouse, 2016).  The eight characteristics effective teams possess are: (1) a clear, elevating goal; (2) a results-driven structure; (3) competent team members; (4) a unified commitment; (5) a collaborative climate; (6) standards of excellence; (7) external support and recognition; and (8) principled leadership (Northouse, 2016; PSC WC, 2019).  When it comes to working in these assigned teams for online group assignments, there are a number of inherent challenges that inhibit or mitigate these characteristics from developing.   For example, the first characteristic is that effective teams have a clear and elevating goal (Northouse, 2016).  In the case of these assigned teams, the goals are presented clearly by the instructor, usually in the assignment instructions and syllabus.  It could be argued however, that the goal in and of itself is not necessarily elevating or motivating to the team members since the assignment requires the coordination that is not necessary when students work independently.  Another example of an inherently challenging factor is that team members are either assigned randomly, or based factors that do not consider competence or commitment.  Therefore, there is no way to secure the team will possess competent members, have a unified commitment, or have a collaborative climate.  This can cause a lot of internal strife when those whose goal is simply to pass are teamed with those whose goal is to get a perfect score.  While peer reviews help to mitigate this probability, the situation still allows for some students to exploit the efforts of others, promoting social loafing to some degree.  A final example is the possibility the team will lack the principle leadership needed to be effective because none of the team members posses the skills or desire to lead.  As these examples show, it is rather difficult for online student teams to possess a number of the characteristics that are indicative of effective teams, making their goals more difficult to achieve for reasons beyond the assignment itself.

In spite of these challenges many online course continue to promote group assignments as part of the curriculum.  This is because the proliferation of technology in the workforce has demanded that individuals have experience in working in virtual groups and teams.  An increased reliance on work teams has been due in part to the ever-growing complexity of required tasks as globalization and technology have driven a greater need to maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace (Northouse, 2016).  Organizational teams provide a number of benefits such as “greater productivity, more effective use of resources, better decisions and problem solving, better-quality products and services, and greater innovation and creativity” (Northouse, 2016, p. 364).  With this in mind, it is evident the need for organizations to utilize and leverage teams will continue to grow.  However, having organizational teams does not guarantee organizational success.  This is why leadership is an important concept to consider regarding the increasing utilization of teams, in order to fully maximize the benefits they present.

I believe a number of my online group assignments could have benefited by having principled leadership.  “Leadership has been described as the central driver of team effectiveness” (Northouse, 2016, p. 371).  Because there is no guarantee that teams will possess members that have the skills or desire necessary to lead, I would suggest course instructors fill this role by actively monitoring groups.  For example, an instructor that assumes a leadership role of a group could utilize some of the tools presented in the Hill Model for Team Leadership (Northouse, 2016).  This model provides a mental map for determining what the team lacks and offers courses of actions for the leader in order to improve effectiveness (Northouse, 2016).  The first steps are to make three determinations.  Namely, determine whether action is necessary, if so determine whether the action is to address task or relational issues, and whether that action needs to be at an internal or external level of the team process (Northouse, 2016).  As an example, the instructor could require that students in the team utilize a discussion board they are able to actively monitor.  If the instructor sees the students are veering off track from the assignment goal, they could make the determination of whether to act and alert the students.   They could also determine if the issue stems from a task issues such as confusion on the assignment instructions, or relational issues such as disagreements between students. Finally, they could determine whether the issues are internal such as social loafing between members, or whether they are external such as the school’s server being unavailable.  The point is that instructors are in a unique position to overcome the inherent challenges these online assigned groups face.  They have the opportunity to demonstrate and communicate leadership principles that will maximize the effectiveness of the team and enhance the students overall focus on learning the course subject matter.

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2019). Lesson 9: Team Leadership. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/canvas/fa19/21981–15196/content/09_lesson/printlesson.html

October 29, 2019 at 11:50 pm

Hello Simon,

This lesson, in particular, could be a great guide to help with team performances in future group projects. Without specifically using the terminology as outlined in the lesson commentary, you did a great job of describing the four stages of group development: forming, storming, norming, and performing (PSU WC, 2019, L.9). After formation of the group, it would be difficult for an instructor to specifically assign roles, especially a leadership role as some people just do not feel comfortable or do not have the skills to lead effectively. You mentioned that no group members made contact in a previous group assignment, which is a necessary first step to learn about your team’s availability and to begin delegating tasks. While reluctant, it was good that you took the first step by initiating contact with the other members and did not receive a zero on the project. After that experience, have you found it easier to make initial contact with your peers when there is a group assignment?

I also recently had a group project where each question was dependent upon the person who answered before them. This is where the storming part of group development occurred for my team in that assignment. Storming can create conflict because there may be disagreement about goals or how to proceed (PSU WC, 2019, L.9). A couple of my team members were only available in the beginning of the week while others were not available until the end. Therefore, we were able to work it out so the team members that were available earlier would complete questions 1 and 2. The remainder of the team was responsible for completing questions 3, 4, and 5. We made sure each of our roles were completed by Saturday at midnight so everyone could do a final review Sunday before the assignment was due. We established clear goals and standards of excellence, so each team member knew exactly what was expected of him (PSU WC, 2019, L.9).

While I agree that shared or distributed leadership are effective in a virtual environment, it seems like your team could have benefited from having a formal leader. Principled leaders coach the team and model “good team-oriented behavior such as strong work ethic and support of teammates” (PSU WC, 2019, L.9). Had someone stepped in as a formal leader, the first team member may have gotten the guidance needed before step two was completed.

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2016). PSYCH 485 Lesson 9: Team Leadership. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2008237/modules/items/27074716

Group Assignment: Challenges and Approaches Report

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Within the semester, our team has been proactive in tackling several assignments within the goal of scoring optimal points. Group assignments are often complex because each member of the group has a different writing style and flow of ideas. Despite these differences, sharing a common goal makes the group experience interesting. In the group assignment, I was tasked with the responsibility of doing research on the aspect of Organization Culture in designing the research poster. In order to draw a narrow and convincing content, I had to do a lot of secondary research on the organization culture to the general perception in the practical work environment. I then proceeded to review the common perceptions on the culture within the dynamic information technology career. I then narrowed down my research to four steps that every manager needs to follow in managing organization culture in order to make the presentation more focused and constructive. The four steps I discussed were Teach It, Live It, Measure It, and Reward It (Rosso, Dekas, & Wrzesniewski, 2010). In discussing these steps, I discovered that the core values of organization culture in information technology career are reliability, professionalism, confidentiality, and team work.

This assignment required explanation of an issue through an evidence based research. Before commencing this report, I had to draw a research timeline and literature review. I divided the research paper into four parts to cover each step. I had to define these steps in a rough draft and review the chronological pattern of how each step works for my paper to make sense and embrace the basics of a well written paper. Upon finishing the rough draft which consisted of over eight paragraphs, I decided to narrow down these steps in a second draft and introduce the aspect of flow and sentence connectivity. The second draft was fair enough, but had several sections which did not flow with my initial writing style. I had to edit the second draft to match my skills with the effort-performance (E-P) expectancy theoretical model (Rosso et al., 2010).

Since a properly written paper requires creative ingenuity, I had to write the final copy which was better arranged and nicely presented. Despite the constraint of time, I was in a position to create a good paper as was confirmed by other members of the group. I realized that the main challenge towards writing a quality paper on ordinary topic is conflicting thoughts since the entire information is out of personal creation. I was very confident and interested since the sub topic on organization culture was related to my career interests. Since I had done a comprehensive research before the group presentation, I was very certain in the responses to different questions raised by the team. The certainty was also as a result of past training in the art of public speaking besides personal mastery of the subject of discussion (Yaffe, 2010).

Despite the confidence and deep interest, I realised that I needed to improve on my intra and inter communication skills since I noticed that some of the members, especially the secretary was finding it difficult to keep up with my presentation. The disagreement was whether I carried out the four-step research from a single source or many sources. I made a lot of assumptions that other members were conversant with the steps I was presenting. In order to improve as a team in the meetings, it was necessary for the members to understand personal motivation and self targets, the need for aggressiveness in discussion, and development of proper personal etiquette (Yaffe, 2010).

Besides, it was essential for the team to limit the scope of activities to contain only relevant discussions since some members were involved in irrelevant discussions about personal issues. During the first meeting, I noticed that uncontrolled discussion might limit the seriousness and professionalism in constructing and presenting individual views to a team. For instance, our team became a victim unregulated discussion and had to spend a lot of time on irrelevant issues. In order to prevent problems that might arise, it was essential for the team to embrace teamwork, personal discipline, and need for proactive contributions. Besides, each member was made to feel appreciated and instrumental in the discussions.

The most difficult part in the compilation of the work done in a group was the editing and selection of information to include in the final copy. There was a lot of information which had to be summarized in my allocated space. At the same time, the presentation was supposed to be as short and interesting as possible to ensure that the target audience does not lose concentration. Since this was a group assignment, I must admit that the research process was restrictive because each member was limited to doing a portion of the paper. In the end, we presented a well researched and carefully written paper. Unlike other groups, the clarity of our presentation was apparent because the other groups did not have questions or negative observations on our project. This was the best project for me since I benefited from the team spirit in the group.

I must admit that there were series of challenges along the way as my assignments required research and creativity in compilation. I was generally intimidated by the complexity of the research topic and the analytical approach that I had to use to gather enough content about organization culture (Rosso et al., 2010). Being a scientific research, I had to further my understanding of doing this form of research by referring to the class notes and the library. The challenges involved in collecting the relevant information alone made writing this assignment a gruel some experience. However, I was able to arrange the major and minor premises to create a sensible report. Besides, being the creative and flexible person I am, I was able to improve my writing skills and minimize the research challenges. In fact, I can authoritatively describe my section in the assignment as a mature piece of literature consisting of well researched, properly written and clean paper.

Rosso, B.D., Dekas, K.H., & Wrzesniewski, A. (2010). On the meaning of work: A theoretical integration and review. Research in Organizational Behaviour, 30(5), 91-127.

Yaffe, P. (2010). Techniques of persuasive Communication . Web.

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IvyPanda. (2020, September 3). Group Assignment: Challenges and Approaches. https://ivypanda.com/essays/group-assignment-challenges-and-approaches/

"Group Assignment: Challenges and Approaches." IvyPanda , 3 Sept. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/group-assignment-challenges-and-approaches/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Group Assignment: Challenges and Approaches'. 3 September.

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Group Assignment: Challenges and Approaches." September 3, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/group-assignment-challenges-and-approaches/.

Online Group Work: Barriers and Challenges

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Barriers and Challenges to Group Work

Collaborative group work in an online environment can be an effective way of engaging students in higher-level learning. There are, however, some significant barriers that may make this kind of work difficult. Some of these are:

• Lack of access to high-bandwidth connections or limited data plans,
• Lack of a private space to work in an uninterruptible way,
• Being located in a different time zone (making synchronous activities difficult),
• Challenges in the way students use learning and
• Increases in the amount of time it may take students to complete activities.

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• Check your expectations for collaborative group work. Perform an inventory of what it might take to accomplish the assigned tasks.
• Provide several models or pathways students can use to complete the assignment.
• Consider how you grade collaborative group work to consider the challenges some students may have in contributing to activities.
• Communicate with groups regularly to check in and identify challenges early.
• Be flexible as students identify barriers.
• Group Work: Design and Planning

Eberly Center

Teaching excellence & educational innovation, what are the benefits of group work.

“More hands make for lighter work.” “Two heads are better than one.” “The more the merrier.”

These adages speak to the potential groups have to be more productive, creative, and motivated than individuals on their own.

Benefits for students

Group projects can help students develop a host of skills that are increasingly important in the professional world (Caruso & Woolley, 2008; Mannix & Neale, 2005). Positive group experiences, moreover, have been shown to contribute to student learning, retention and overall college success (Astin, 1997; Tinto, 1998; National Survey of Student Engagement, 2006).

Properly structured, group projects can reinforce skills that are relevant to both group and individual work, including the ability to: 

• Break complex tasks into parts and steps
• Plan and manage time
• Refine understanding through discussion and explanation
• Give and receive feedback on performance
• Challenge assumptions
• Develop stronger communication skills.

Group projects can also help students develop skills specific to collaborative efforts, allowing students to...

• Tackle more complex problems than they could on their own.
• Delegate roles and responsibilities.
• Share diverse perspectives.
• Pool knowledge and skills.
• Hold one another (and be held) accountable.
• Receive social support and encouragement to take risks.
• Develop new approaches to resolving differences. 
• Establish a shared identity with other group members.
• Find effective peers to emulate.
• Develop their own voice and perspectives in relation to peers.

While the potential learning benefits of group work are significant, simply assigning group work is no guarantee that these goals will be achieved. In fact, group projects can – and often do – backfire badly when they are not designed , supervised , and assessed in a way that promotes meaningful teamwork and deep collaboration.

Benefits for instructors

Faculty can often assign more complex, authentic problems to groups of students than they could to individuals. Group work also introduces more unpredictability in teaching, since groups may approach tasks and solve problems in novel, interesting ways. This can be refreshing for instructors. Additionally, group assignments can be useful when there are a limited number of viable project topics to distribute among students. And they can reduce the number of final products instructors have to grade.

Whatever the benefits in terms of teaching, instructors should take care only to assign as group work tasks that truly fulfill the learning objectives of the course and lend themselves to collaboration. Instructors should also be aware that group projects can add work for faculty at different points in the semester and introduce its own grading complexities .

Astin, A. (1993). What matters in college? Four critical years revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Caruso, H.M., & Wooley, A.W. (2008). Harnessing the power of emergent interdependence to promote diverse team collaboration. Diversity and Groups. 11, 245-266.

Mannix, E., & Neale, M.A. (2005). What differences make a difference? The promise and reality of diverse teams in organizations. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 6(2), 31-55.

National Survey of Student Engagement Report. (2006). http://nsse.iub.edu/NSSE_2006_Annual_Report/docs/NSSE_2006_Annual_Report.pdf .

Tinto, V. (1987). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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How to cite ChatGPT

Use discount code STYLEBLOG15 for 15% off APA Style print products with free shipping in the United States.

We, the APA Style team, are not robots. We can all pass a CAPTCHA test , and we know our roles in a Turing test . And, like so many nonrobot human beings this year, we’ve spent a fair amount of time reading, learning, and thinking about issues related to large language models, artificial intelligence (AI), AI-generated text, and specifically ChatGPT . We’ve also been gathering opinions and feedback about the use and citation of ChatGPT. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and shared ideas, opinions, research, and feedback.

In this post, I discuss situations where students and researchers use ChatGPT to create text and to facilitate their research, not to write the full text of their paper or manuscript. We know instructors have differing opinions about how or even whether students should use ChatGPT, and we’ll be continuing to collect feedback about instructor and student questions. As always, defer to instructor guidelines when writing student papers. For more about guidelines and policies about student and author use of ChatGPT, see the last section of this post.

Quoting or reproducing the text created by ChatGPT in your paper

If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.

Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although nonretrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications , with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Creating a reference to ChatGPT or other AI models and software

The in-text citations and references above are adapted from the reference template for software in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10). Although here we focus on ChatGPT, because these guidelines are based on the software template, they can be adapted to note the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.

The reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:

• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):

Author: The author of the model is OpenAI.

Date: The date is the year of the version you used. Following the template in Section 10.10, you need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.

Title: The name of the model is “ChatGPT,” so that serves as the title and is italicized in your reference, as shown in the template. Although OpenAI labels unique iterations (i.e., ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4), they are using “ChatGPT” as the general name of the model, with updates identified with version numbers.

The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods.

Bracketed text is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.

Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat . For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).

Other questions about citing ChatGPT

You may have noticed the confidence with which ChatGPT described the ideas of brain lateralization and how the brain operates, without citing any sources. I asked for a list of sources to support those claims and ChatGPT provided five references—four of which I was able to find online. The fifth does not seem to be a real article; the digital object identifier given for that reference belongs to a different article, and I was not able to find any article with the authors, date, title, and source details that ChatGPT provided. Authors using ChatGPT or similar AI tools for research should consider making this scrutiny of the primary sources a standard process. If the sources are real, accurate, and relevant, it may be better to read those original sources to learn from that research and paraphrase or quote from those articles, as applicable, than to use the model’s interpretation of them.

We’ve also received a number of other questions about ChatGPT. Should students be allowed to use it? What guidelines should instructors create for students using AI? Does using AI-generated text constitute plagiarism? Should authors who use ChatGPT credit ChatGPT or OpenAI in their byline? What are the copyright implications ?

On these questions, researchers, editors, instructors, and others are actively debating and creating parameters and guidelines. Many of you have sent us feedback, and we encourage you to continue to do so in the comments below. We will also study the policies and procedures being established by instructors, publishers, and academic institutions, with a goal of creating guidelines that reflect the many real-world applications of AI-generated text.

For questions about manuscript byline credit, plagiarism, and related ChatGPT and AI topics, the APA Style team is seeking the recommendations of APA Journals editors. APA Style guidelines based on those recommendations will be posted on this blog and on the APA Style site later this year.

Update: APA Journals has published policies on the use of generative AI in scholarly materials .

We, the APA Style team humans, appreciate your patience as we navigate these unique challenges and new ways of thinking about how authors, researchers, and students learn, write, and work with new technologies.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

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