By: Ryanna Lui
Collaborative environments, like school, often promote group work as a necessary life skill. Unfortunately, the idea of group work often strays from its ideals and its effectiveness differs in operation within various settings. Many things can factor into making group work a dream, but more often it becomes an utter nightmare.
Group work is widely disliked because it often results in unequal work distribution, with everyone ultimately achieving the same result. Students are most familiar with this concept. Some team members make great effort to invest time and resources into a group project; however, their teammates might be slackers who are not concerned in the slightest with the project outcome, even if it means projecting those consequences onto their hardworking counterparts. This is cruel and unfair; team members who do care about the project are burdened with immense stress and additional work. The situation is worsened when everyone is punished in the same manner. Why should those who deserve otherwise be reproached and penalized for the failure of others?
There is also the problem of overbearing members. These people are stubborn, unwilling to compromise to a great extent, and not afraid to blindly criticize everyone else. With this person involved, group work essentially turns into a dictatorship. Eventually, the other group members’ dissatisfaction will morph into a virus of negative emotions that could be transferred to personal relationships and be potentially damaging.
Conversely, working independently comes with a myriad of benefits that make matters convenient and time-saving. Waiting for one person to complete his or her part for large-scale projects, especially if one component can only be started after a teammate finishes his or her part, places the entire team into a vulnerable position. So many things could go wrong. Someone might encounter an emergency that hinders him or her from contributing, and the whole project would be halted. For work that requires the presence of all members, conflicting schedules could be an issue that would inhibit them from agreeing on a meeting time. Members could have conflicting visions, and each one would most likely have to compromise a section to satisfy the others, resulting in slight discontent among everyone involved. However, working alone ensures flexibility and guarantees full authority. Be your own boss.