Group Project Grump (and a to do list)

[averygoodun42]

Painting:
- basket
- flowers
- second coat on sky; glaze with cerulean
- hand
- eyes
- beach rocks
- water highlights/ details

Misc:
- Mending
- shopping:
--- food: (eggs, bananas, apples, broccoli, zucchini, big pumpkin)
--- other: thread (orange, light pink), buttons

Cleaning:
- laundry (Geoff?)
- bathrooms (Geoff?)

Cooking:
- banana pancakes
- veggie curry

Homework:
- read chapters 9, 10 in Mgmt
- finish creating monthly calendar

So, in management, the class has to do group projects. We've split the class up into (supposedly) groups of four, (though we seem to have acquired six) and each group takes a case study. The project is worth 15% of our grade. My group is doing business ethics, with a focus on PETA's "Died" campaign against Procter & Gamble. The group project has to involve each person in the group, and it also has to include a class participation segment. My group's project is due to be presented on Nov. 9th.

I have ideas. Mostly they are off topic, as they go into the psychology of ethics, which is waaaaaaaaaaay beyond the scope of this class, but I've also had ideas on how to work around all of our conflicting schedules (create a yahoo group, for example). The other members have nodded politely (in a vacuous way) and done nothing. Nada. Not even respond to emails, for the most part.

Grump #1: The young'uns are scared of me. Or something. Perhaps they think I'm bossy (which might be a fair assessment, though I haven't exactly given tasks, just made suggestions on what to do), or perhaps they think I'm a weirdo/loser/swot. Probably they've heard my impatient tone and think I'm a snob. Which, again, is a fair assessment. Anyhoo, what results is that they confer amongst themselves and then send the slowest one a volunteer to tell me what's going on. Which leads directly to:

Grump #2: Our project is due in two and a half weeks. We are the second to last group to present, which means we will be graded on a MUCH tougher scale than those preceding us. We have met once, and that was because the teacher gave the entire class time to confer during class. We still don't have any idea (or if they do, they haven't shared it with me) what we're doing for the info session, for the group project or anything.

Grump #3: We have scheduled three meetings so far. "We" have canceled all three because not all the members were there. The first cancellation was warranted, seeing as only half of our group was there. The second one was annoying because only two members were missing. The last one... All of us were there except for one. They are so dependent on the missing person's ideas that they decide its not worth it to see what we FIVE can come up with? WTF!

Grump #3: The professor has announced that there will probably not be class on Nov. 2 because she has to be somewhere else. I suggested, seeing as that's one week before the project, we take advantage of the time that everyone does have free and meet up during regularly scheduled. The one email I have received from that suggestion said, "Um, I'd really rather not come into school that day, because I live half an hour away."

*blinks*

So, I am at the point of wanting to fire everyone and do the group by myself. However, that would really not be to my advantage. After all, if the group gets a zero, I will still come out of the class with a B, because I currently have 95-100% in the class (and expect to get similarly high grades on the other two tests to keep it in the very high range). Doing the project with them, I can do less work for a decent grade. Firing them all would mean I'd need to learn how to do powerpoints, assemble all the information myself and then manage to keep the class engaged with a game or something for a total of an hour. Yeah. I could do it by myself, but I'd much rather not.

However, I am thinking of firing three of the members (we can fire people as a group). The three twits girls. I'd keep the other young twit because he has volunteered to do the powerpoints, and then it would be between older gal (not that she's responded to emails or anything either... But at least she has ideas!) and myself to prepare all the information and come up with the game-thingy. However, seeing as that would be half the group, even if I managed to convince older gal and he-twit to fire the others, we wouldn't have a majority to do so. (Though, yes, I could do it by reducing the numbers one at a time...)

I really don't want to step into the role of "Boss" because, well, I think that will just build a resentment that's already there. I also refuse to do all the work. I will happily do my share and maybe a bit more (like the organization of the fucking group), but they are not riding on my coat tails.

Anyway, this is pissing me off something fierce, though really, I should just relax. I will get a good grade in the class no matter what. I'd really prefer an A, but I'll make do with a B if I have to.

I guess I need to compose a politely worded email asking direct questions, like how long such and such will take to prepare, who's doing what and and such. Bah. I hate nagging.

Comments

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

It's so frustrating to have ANY of one's marks dependent on the performance of others - one of the reasons why I always hated group work at school. I'm sorry you are having to cope with such immaturity on the part of your group. Perhaps they are all just secretly hoping that you will tell them what to do?