The infuriating reasons why group work is important
At this point in our academic careers, we have all experienced the joys of group work. As a person who despises said group work, anytime a professor announces a project in which we must work with our peers, I find myself dreading the weeks to come. Although I am a group work hater, I recognize that there is an importance to working with our peers toward a common goal. The following are some of the biggest reasons that group work is not only important in college, but in the grand scheme of things.
Going into our future professional careers, it is highly unlikely that we will be working individually on everything, unless you are one of the few individuals who longs to be isolated in a cubicle. In college, we are put into groups to pursue a common goal with a “high stakes” reward also known as our final grades. Working with a team toward something that can be seen as trivial in the future can prepare us for the real world where our livelihoods could depend on the outcome of a project and our cooperation with others.
Learning to work with others in these projects also encourages us to learn to delegate responsibilities. Like I said before, you most likely will not be working completely alone and that is a good thing, because it allows you to allocate portions of a project to someone else; by doing this, you have less on your plate.
When I bring up the point of delegation, I feel my stomach drop, as there is always at least one person in the group that has been proven to be unreliable. While this causes extreme stress for fellow group members in the moment, I suspect that it actually improves their ability to adapt on the spot in future situations. Let me present to you an example from my own life as proof of this.
During my sophomore year here at Geneseo, I was thrown into my first real group project as before this, studies were isolated due to the pandemic. One of my assigned group members was unreachable. The other members and I delegated responsibilities and completed the parts we were assigned. When it came down to the night the project was due, one group member still hadn’t done any work, causing the remaining group members and me to scramble to come up with the missing content. In the moment I was stressed, but looking back I think it gave me the tools to handle situations like that in the future.
Group work also provides a collaborative environment to discuss new ideas. In the “real world” you very rarely hear of a single researcher—most of the time you hear about a research team winning an award or solving a major problem. There is a reason for this! The old phrase “Two (or more) heads are better than one” rings true in many situations. The more people you have involved in something, the higher the likelihood that you will reach an appropriate solution to your problem.
While I hate group work, I respect the fact that it better prepares us for our professional careers. This does not mean that I won’t groan in disgust the next time a group project is assigned, but it does mean that I will do my part and accept the process more openly.
