Timeline for How do project supervisors address the "freeloading" problem in group projects?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 19, 2014 at 23:30 | comment | added | Scott Seidman | And I probably should have said "... is likely to shut down" instead of "... will shut down" | |
| Nov 19, 2014 at 23:27 | comment | added | Scott Seidman | Its a classic case of the "accidental manager" described by Heerkens, where you have responsibility for a project, but no authority over the people working on it with you. | |
| Nov 19, 2014 at 23:25 | comment | added | Scott Seidman | No evidence, just a feeling that comes from managing dozens of undergrad teams through a team-based project oriented course over about a decade. Frankly, the description offered doesn't leave me much hope for the team to start. "Making a stand" implies you have something to back up your authority, and the OP has no authority. Working with them to point out that if they could grab a part of the project, the outcome will be better, and they will have something that they can be proud of at the end is a better route (so long as you work with them to show their part is achievable). | |
| Nov 19, 2014 at 23:15 | comment | added | earthling | @ScottSeidman I disagree that taking a stand will shut down any hopes of establishing a team. Do you have any evidence to support this statement? | |
| Nov 19, 2014 at 21:11 | comment | added | Scott Seidman | Taking a stand will simply shut down any hope of establishing a team. | |
| Nov 19, 2014 at 21:03 | comment | added | Scott Seidman | It doesn't have to be social loafing, or more accurately, the person toting the whole load may have been the CAUSE of the situation. I see it happen quite often. | |
| Nov 19, 2014 at 18:33 | comment | added | Ilmari Karonen | These are all reasonable suggestions if they're possible, but there's no indication in the question that they are (which, of course, doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't). If groups are preassigned and immutable, and if (as the OP, justifiably or not, seems to fear) the instructor doesn't respond positively to complaints, then your only remaining concrete leverage (short of blackmail or threats of physical harm, which, even if otherwise feasible, tend to be illegal) on your teammates is threatening to stop working. If they're lazy enough to rather fail than work, even that won't help. | |
| Nov 19, 2014 at 7:16 | history | answered | earthling | CC BY-SA 3.0 |