Article #16: The makings of group work, explained
Details extracted from a Quantitative Research Methods study handbook guide, (2005), a UK university business school.
I hate group work, arrgh!
Quote extracted from a blog post
This is a very common reaction from individuals and students when group work is mentioned. Not all is doom and gloom for group work. This essay aims to tell you why working in groups is beneficial, especially in a university setting, where most learnings are structured or occasionally described as ‘safe’. I have had the privilege of working with groups for different purposes at different times of my life. When at university, working in groups served the purpose of completing an assignment.
Additionally, it provided me with the opportunity to not just achieve the academic goal of a good grade but also to benefit from collaborating with other peers to develop the skills, knowledge and attitude (to be referred to as SKA in this blogpost henceforth) I needed. On the upside, I get to select the members of my assignment group i.e. voluntarily and not pre-assigned by the teacher.
When I joined the workforce, I have had to work under different continuum of group functions, explained here through various leadership styles - the Laissez-faire, democratic and authoritarian. Regardless of whether we like it or not, there are no options or time available for us to consider the pros and cons of who you work with in groups when at work, unlike when at university. Group work in the workplace is like being in a different type of family where you cannot choose your members, and a group can be referred to as a unit, team or department.
Thinking back, I realised that my understanding of working in groups while at university was beyond the typical three points of developing the SKA. Teachers then had a pre-set curriculum and learning outcomes to follow to transfer the knowledge as an expert of a particular subject to us students. Students may be required to study a specific subject for a programme; they are indirectly also the by-product of the ‘student as learner’ concept in the philosophy of teaching.
In other words, working with groups when studying does have some benefits, as much as we may dislike it during the university years.
- Enable relationships to flourish - if groups are not self-selected (most groups usually are not when learning), everyone within the team may develop a new form of relationship that may last a lifetime. Some may end up becoming lifelong friends through friendship, work stakeholders or collaborators, or other forms of social groups.
- Learning how to engage with others - there are many different types of relationship-behaviours among individuals, especially when one is at the university. Some positive connotations of individual behaviours maybe extremely altruistic, compassionate, caring, faithful and sincere. On the flip side, the negative ones include aggressive, argumentative, bossy, manipulative and the list goes on. Learning how to work with or around these behaviours is a useful social skill to gain while at the university, where accepted and non-acceptable behaviours are developed, explored, and set. One can learn how to set a degree of boundary amongst peers when working in groups.
- Building life skills - Taking on functional roles, like a group leader, secretary, public relations, and many others are useful when working in groups while at university. Depending on the purpose of the groups - for personal learning and development (non-academic work), teaching (assessments), informal education (community service) or therapeutic (welfare), each individual within the group is enabled with a skillset to take lead, facilitate, collaborate, and experience team work, conflict resolution and cooperation.
If you ask me whether group work can be learned, I will say ‘yes’. Everyone within the group has a role to play when working together. Some may wear the hat of the facilitator, managing a class, role-modelling, and counselling. When all conditions are met at the structured university setting, students will be able to give more detailed help to each other, ask critical questions and most importantly, achieve learning outcomes.
I am sharing a screen shot guide (see attached picture in post) on how a typical project group work is set up in a university setting, back in 2005. Though it may be different now in 2021 due to the global pandemic, I am sure the overall guidelines will not be changing much in learning contexts and how the knowledge is imparted by teachers in a university.
I have enjoyed being a part of various groups back in my university days, and I hope you will be able to share your discovered benefits when participating in group work someday.
List of words that describe behaviours
Making group work work
Wood et al, (2015), 'Working with groups', Chapter 12, Youth Work - Preparation for practice, London and New York, Routledge, p 164. Book link
Westergaard, 2009, 'The role of youth support workers with groups of young people', Chapter 1, Effective Group Work with Young People, Berkshire, England, Open University Press, p 1, Book link (a review).
Contributed by:
Yeong Woon Chin