I know I've spoken about group projects before, but as the semester draws to a close and due dates start to creep up, who doesn't have at least one group project? As it turns out, I'm working on another project with the same group that inspired my last post: 3 Ways to Survive Group Projects. The problem I have is not that I hate working with other people, it's the people I have to work with. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone was easy to get along with? Of course I never have that kind of good luck.
My computer science class is an intro to computer systems. This is a school of business requirement so not only is this a really basic computer science class, but it also incorporates business applications. Basically 2/3 of the class is lecture and the remainder of the hour is group work (ugh). Throughout the entire semester we've had to work with the same groups that were randomly assigned in the first week.
You could say I butted heads with a few members of the group more than once throughout the semester. For some reason two of the members of my group who are both guys decided that there was no need to include me in any of the work, because they could handle it. Translation: girls aren't as smart. How do I know they felt this way? The other girl in my group wasn't even allowed to touch the final paper, the only part she played in the entire project was drafting the powerpoint slides, which I guarantee the two guys will change.
The funny part of this all was when we got the grade for the first paper. The two boys did the entire paper on their own, because they neglected to tell me when they were working on it and when I asked they said it was already finished and submitted (thanks). Anyway, what grade did they receive? D. The majority of the mistakes were from totally missing the point of the assignment and grammatical errors. Now despite the cringe-worthy low grade, I wasn't allowed to work on the revision either.
By the time we got to the final paper, I had fought enough for my right to work on the project that I was allowed to write a fair amount of the paper. Read: less than the boys, but at least I was allowed to touch the paper. Needless to say, when we have group member evaluations to fill out they will be getting a very poor grade from me.
Here are a few more tips that I have compiled in the last few weeks:
Always be nice~ Even if it makes you sick to your stomach, be nice. It doesn't matter how rude your group members are to you, never raise your voice or say anything that could be perceived as mean. As unfair as this sounds, because chances are if you're upset with them it's warranted, you want to portray yourself as an easy to get along with and competent team member that way they don't have any real basis for their bias against you.
Of course this doesn't mean that you should let them walk all over you. If you disagree with the way a part of the project is being handled, you should definitely speak up just do it politely.
Be organized~ Chances are at least one person in your group is going to expect to glide by without doing any work, so you should come prepared to group meetings knowing what the project entails. It's better to be prepared for the meeting, that way you can fairly divvy up the work.
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