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> No matter how much I tried to engage or find common ground, they kept shutting down any attempt at teamwork. This reminds me of a story from when I was in bu
by alexpotato 2y ago
> No matter how much I tried to engage or find common ground, they kept shutting down any attempt at teamwork.
This reminds me of a story from when I was in business school. We were assigned groups for project work and it was very difficult if not impossible to transfer out of a group. This was by design b/c the point was to teach the students to deal with interpersonal issues and group dynamics.
My friend was in a group with someone we will call Bob. Bob always showed up late, argued about every assignment, would debate for hours about why he couldn't do a task etc.
Eventually, my friend just declared "task bankruptcy" with Bob and gave him no work to do. Why? He realized it was easier to give Bob nothing to do and just redistribute the tasks to the rest of the group versus trying to get Bob to do anything.
I should add, it seems that Bob had some kind of special status with the school as he always showed up late to exams, was able to turn in work late etc.
In closing, a lot of this is reminding me of the "CIA guide to corporate sabotage": https://www.corporate-rebels.com/blog/cia-field-manual https://www.corporate-rebels.com/blog/cia-field-manual
- tejaskumar_ 2y agoDid they consider kicking Bob out of the group?
- alexpotato 2y agoThis was highly discouraged as the whole point of the group projects was to teach how to deal with group dynamics.
- tejaskumar_ 2y agoIsn't a part of dealing with group dynamics though recognizing when there is harm in/to the group and removing it? (sorry)
- antisthenes 2y agoIf the whole point was to teach how to deal with group dynamics, then kicking Bob out should have been rewarded with an automatic 100% Grade. But since you mentioned "tasks", I assume there was actual work beyond chatting up your teammates. So your description is inaccurate.
- reshlo 2y agoWhenever a lecturer responded to a student's complaint about other group members doing no work by saying something like "I don't care, work it out amongst yourselves, in the real world you have to be able to work in groups", I would think to myself "in the real world, people who refuse to do work get fired".
- landslide200 2y ago[flagged]
- tejaskumar_ 2y agoThere was a topic on abandoning lost causes (not people, but circumstances) in the article that I hope had no fluff.
- beryilma 2y agoI know of a graduate-level software engineering course at a reputable US university, where getting kicked out of the project group is a possibility and gets the person an automatic F grade.
- anshulbhide 2y agoIn most b-school group projects, the work is fairly easy enough such that the headache of kicking someone is out is probably greater than just doing the work amongst the remaining members.
- alexpotato 2y agoThis is exactly it. In order, from most painful to least, in my story: - Kicking Bob out of the group - Getting Bob to do a fair share of the work - Getting Bob to do ANY work - Having Bob do no work and have everyone else share the load
- anal_reactor 2y agoWe have a guy who honestly tries to do his best, but he's a fucking PITA. Makes wrong decisions, drags discussions endlessly, prioritizes things that don't matter while derailing important projects. I realized I don't need to care about my work to collect paycheck, so I just avoid working with him, and if that's unavoidable, I make sure to write down my concerns, and have a proof that "the team's decision was different from what I suggested"