Dreaded Group Projects

 This is an assignment for my online Ethics 430 class this semester.  We were to comment on our group project we just turned in.

I have participated in many group projects both in school and professionally.  I know this process can be frustrating and I hear many students complain about it.  Sometimes I’m one of them. But honestly, these are skills we need in the workplace.  The biggest difficulty we had in our group was lack of communication. In a group project, communication is everything.  Especially when we are meeting online. Without the non verbal cues, it’s so easy to misunderstand something. That’s why I feel strongly that at least in the beginning, there needs to be real time voice interaction.  And preferably throughout the project as well. Voice interaction helps to cut down on the misunderstandings. And it’s much more time efficient when problem solving. Plus you get to know each other better which should be one of the perks.  Every time I do a group project I learn something. What I am learning lately is to step back and not “fix it.” Historically, I would jump in and take up the slack so the project has a better outcome. But especially in a class situation, that doesn’t give others a chance to learn.  Plus it can be irritating for others, and it’s not healthy for me. So in the future I will definitely hone those skills of stepping back. This gets more difficult in the workplace when more than a grade is on the line. So I will also improve skills on early problem detection to eliminate last minute rushes.  And I will always look at improving communication.