How to manage group assignments at university or college and get a good result

For a conscientious and hardworking student, group assignments at University or College can be one of the most challenging elements of the course. With normal assignments you can put in as much or as little effort as you like and you know that you will be rewarded accordingly, however, with group work you very quickly realise that your success (and part of your degree) depends on the efforts of others.

When I wrote the hub ‘How to get a first class degree at college or university’ I included a section on group work but felt that it was such an important (and potentially difficult) area that I needed to elaborate and provide a specific guide. When I was at University some people had highly intelligent, highly motivated and hardworking friends in their group so they probably didn’t need a road map to achieving a good grade as ‘many hands made light work’. However, my experience was different I had a mixture of people in my groups from the highly conscientious to the guys that would go AWOL only to turn up on hand in day with half a sheet of paper to their credit.

You don’t go through years of frustration, graft and ‘herding cats’ without learning a thing or two, so here is the ultimate survival guide to dealing with group assignments at university and college.

Understand the beast – This isn’t going to be easy. You will be working with people from different backgrounds who have different ideas, temperaments, motivations and agendas. You may be busting a gut for that First Class degree but others may be there just to keep their parents happy or pass the time. Therefore, their commitment and ability may also differ. The key here is to not dread or fight this, you just need to accept it and work towards getting the best grade possible.

Strength in numbers – The first task to complete when you have been assigned a group is to find out who the good, hardworking and conscientious people are and align yourself with them. Let them know that you are also like them and want to achieve the same result. This will not only benefit you but they will also realise that it is in their interest to get to know you. If you get this right you will establish the ‘core’ of the group. These ‘core’ individuals will be the people that are going to have most influence over the quality of the assignment/project. You need to be part of this foundation and the foundation needs to be good.

Identify and cover the weak – Once you have identified the strong members and built your alliances it is time identify the weak. In this context the term weak is not a derogatory term used towards a person’s character, it simply means that there are some people that are more likely to produce poor quality work that will inevitably drag your overall grade down.

Thankfully, these people are fairly easy to identify. They will be the members that look bored, say they need to be somewhere else, are fooling around or are happy to sit back and let everyone else do the work without offering any input.

Distribution of tasks (Damage limitation) – If you get this stage right the chances of securing a good grade increase dramatically. Hopefully by now you have established a core group of hard workers and identified the deadwood. Now it’s time for a little common sense. GIVE THE HARDEST MOST VALUABLE TASKS TO THE HARDEST WORKERS. Seems pretty simple but it is often overridden by the fact that no-one wants to do tasks that are boring, hard to understand and the most difficult. Unfortunately, these are often the tasks that carry the most points so you don’t want them in the hands of your deadwood. Someone is going to have to take the bullet from the core group.

When I was at university I always took the hardest tasks that no-one else wanted to do. For a few reasons :

1.    I knew I would put in maximum effort and do a good job

2.    These tasks often made up a large part of the overall grade and I felt more comfortable if I was responsible for it.

3.    The harder the tasks the more knowledge I gained and this would serve me well in future exams and throughout my degree.

4.    I couldn’t bring myself to offload it onto someone else.

5.    It opens the door to making you the leader of the group and as the leader you have more influence over the outcome of the assignment.

6.    It makes you look like a hero………………….a hero that is going to be working harder than everyone else, but still a hero !.

So if you prioritise the tasks by number of marks they carry and you take the hardest, the only thing left to do is distribute the remaining tasks to other members starting with the core group and ending with the least significant tasks being granted to the deadwood.

Won’t the deadwood be offended by the lesser tasks ?. No, not at all. They will think it’s their lucky day because they get to do less work than everyone else. Also, don’t be surprised if they still hand it in late !. Which brings me on nicely to my next section….

Allow two days for collation – Agree with the core group to get everyone to submit their sections two days before the deadline. As I mentioned before there is strength in numbers so hopefully the deadwood will feel obliged to try. The reason I suggest two days is to account for any late submissions from group members and allow for any ‘amendments’ that need to be carried out.

Amend for success – It may be that once the core group sit down with everyone’s submissions they find that there is little coherence between the individual sections or worse some of the sections aren’t quite up to par. This is decision time, do you re-write someone’s work for the betterment of the grade or do you say “I’ve done my bit” and submit work you know is substandard ?.

I have always chosen the former and worked alone or with other people to improve some group member’s work before final submission. Yes, it was unfair as I had already worked hard enough on my own task but at least I could sleep easier at night knowing that a reasonable standard had been achieved.

Don’t overlook the lesson – Group work is meant to be challenging. People will talk over each other, go off on tangents, not listen, complain, not contribute and some of your good ideas will get shot down. Believe it or not this is excellent training for the real world and your working life. It is one thing to be the master of your own destiny but you will soon learn that you won’t get far without the co-operation of others. Negotiation, persuasion and assertiveness are all key skills in the business world so learn the lessons early and build a great foundation for your future.