Some group members are total slackers. Or they just try to dominate the entire project, and think anything you say is useless. Trying to coordinate meeting times with everyone can be a nightmare and more likely than not, by the time the project is due, at least a few people totally despise each other.
I was assigned a group project in my PR class back towards the end of October. At first, it seemed cool and not too stressful. I had gotten to pick my group members, and they were all girls I talked to in class every day. So we'd get along great, right? Not exactly. Once it came time to start meeting and working on the project, some snags came up on my end. They always wanted to meet at night--sometimes I'd have work right before and by the time I'd get back home, I was tired and hungry and had to work on homework, so nights were out of the question. Also, I have no car, so I was not about to haul my butt across campus in the dark and cold. I met with them once on a Sunday afternoon, but we didn't get much done. I've noticed that they claim that they've gotten a lot done at meetings, but obviously they weren't the ones I've been to. I've been to 3 (or 4 ish) so far and they've all devolved into just sitting around and not doing anything.
So why not do work outside of the meetings? Sounds fine to me, that way I'm not wasting my own time. But the group member claimed there wasn't much to do outside of meetings, and she passive-aggressively called out some members of the group for not always attending meetings. As far as I know, only 2 of the 6 of us have attended every meeting, so I'm not alone in my "ditching".
I met with them 2 more times, and felt like no one cared about my ideas. At this point, it's the end of the semester and I'm just done. So if they're not gonna listen to me, fine, I won't share any ideas. I dreaded going to the meetings, but I did anyway so no one could dock me points. Truth is, I feel like they're going to anyways. I think they secretly hate me and my partner, the girl I worked a lot with. We've both not been able to go to meetings, and we haven't done quite as much work as some of them, but only because our assigned part was pretty vague and hard to research. So...not our faults. Actually, I know they hate the other girl. They've said behind her back that she hasn't done any work, which isn't completely true. They've stuck up for my efforts somewhat, but who's to know what the heck they're saying about me when I'm not there? Girls can be so bitchy sometimes.
Okay but here's the thing--one (or really more like 2 or 3) group members have kinda taken control of the whole thing. I feel like 2 in particular are really anal, and don't want other people "screwing" them up. Fine, but then don't blame us if we aren't as big a part of the project. Plus, how about you actually listen to what other people have to say. Especially regarding meeting times. 6 members is a fairly large group--chances are, not everyone will be able to meet every time. I've tried saying I can't meet at night, but no one cares, and they still hate me for not making the meetings. I know everyone has a different class schedule, but cut people some slack. And, don't waste their time when they do go to the meeting. Sure, I love laughing about a funny story or swapping juicy gossip, but not when I took time out of my schedule to meet for some project. Save that for later.
Basically, I cannot wait for this semester to be over! Our presentation was today, and it went pretty well, but sadly, that's not the end of it (I wish). We might have to meet one more time to finalize the paper, because that's not due for a week. Oh gosh, just kill me now! Not really, but I'm so over working with these people. Not to mention, I'm so done with school in general and I'm kinda swamped this week. So if we don't meet in the morning or afternoon...well, tough luck for them, because I'm not meeting again at night just to regret wasting all that time. And if my grade suffers a little (because the peer evals are only one small part), then whatever. I've done well in the class so far, and I'm just done with trying to please people I'll probably never see again.
How about you--what do you think of group projects?
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