School Problem with leechers in my group

[sp802]

I'm new to a group of already a close knit people of 4. I really like 2 people in the group, because I find that they're helpful contributing members whereas the other 2 are just leechers. They do nothing to help the group at all.

On our last group assignment, one of them didn't do crap. One of the people I like doesn't seem to have a problem with it whereas I do. One of the leechers actually asked me for my review powerpoint that I made up. I straight up said, "no." I split up questions on a study guide among us to have done by a specific day. Only one person had it done. No BS. She did her part.

I'm thinking about leaving the group, but I also want to help the person who did her part. The thing is if I help her and share some of the stuff I worked on with her, she's just going to share with the leechers which pisses me off.

What would you guys do?

[rei]

Have a conversation with the people who aren't contributing. Find out if they care about their grade, but not through making accusations - coming from a neutral, curious place. Maybe they don't care. I might also just let go of the idea that those other people need to be different. Not because I want things to be easy for them, but because I would prefer to not stress myself out about what they are doing.

If you don't want to share your hard work, then don't If you feel like being generous, then do that.

Group projects in school are a fantastic way to learn the ropes - you'll encounter group projects in many, if not most professions. It's great for developing interpersonal skills.

In a professional setting where this sort of thing happens, the first step is usually to have a conversation - in private - with the individual who seems disengaged. Find out what they hope to get from the process. If they are happy with whatever results they will get by not doing the work.

[AjaTrinidad]

Originally Posted by rei

Have a conversation with the people who aren't contributing. Find out if they care about their grade, but not through making accusations - coming from a neutral, curious place. Maybe they don't care. I might also just let go of the idea that those other people need to be different. Not because I want things to be easy for them, but because I would prefer to not stress myself out about what they are doing.

I completely agree. I hated school projects for that reason, there was always that one person who didn't want to contribute, but from those experiences, I learned how to be more assertive and communicate with people like that.

Just talk to them about it.

[Mist]

You probably have to leave the group as you aren't sharing the same value as them.

In my school day I always grouped up with the leeachers. Basically everyone was a leecher including me No one was willing to work but finally we had the work done in our own cunning way.

[anghel]

I've been there. It really pissed me but I tried to be generous. I still accepted them in my group. Try dividing the task and tell them if you can't do your task, the project will be a failure. I did that to solve my problem. But it looks like even you split the tasks, they're still not helping.
Other leechers are probably not helping because they think they are not needed in the group. They don't need to do the extra effort to finish the project. Someone can finish everything without their help. In your case, it looks like you need to make them feel guilty.

[Alena]

I hated group projects at college for the same reason.
90% of the time I ended up doing everything myself.

I'd say, find another group, if you can. These people won't change

[Apollia]

I remember once in my high school science class, our class was split into 4 groups. We were supposed to research and then debate a certain environmental issue.

I ended up in a group where everyone was totally clueless about what to do.

I was always shy, so usually other people would completely take over group projects, but I finally had the perfect opportunity to take charge, since I just happened to wind up in a group where everyone else actually had even less motivation and leadership ability than I did.

One of the people asked me what she could do to help, but I couldn't think of anything and just told her I'd handle it.

I actually didn't mind everyone else acting helpless - I was happy everyone else stayed out of my way so I could do things exactly as I saw fit.


I did everything, and in the end, I, working alone, got only 1 percentage point less for our team than the winning team, which was full of numerous contributors all working together. I got 89%, the winning team got 90%.

My group members thanked me and one said they couldn't have done it without me.

My ego sure got a kick out of all that. That was the most fun group project for me ever, in school. If my teammates hadn't "leeched" and been "lazy", I wouldn't have enjoyed myself nearly as much.

I didn't resent them at all - I was happy that I turned out to be capable of rescuing us all from the imminent doom that initially had seemed to await us all.

They all seemed more to me like the helpless kind of leecher rather than the kind of leecher who is a "user". These folks just had no idea what to do. I don't know why they even looked to me for leadership, I was shy and none of them knew me very well, maybe they just assumed I was smart because of my glasses.

I don't like "users" much in general, but in the context of a group project, I would appreciate them just as much as the helpless kind of leecher, simply for the fact that they're all staying out of my way and letting me handle everything the way I want.


I guess I didn't learn too much about interpersonal skills or working as a team, and my teammates probably didn't learn much about the topic we (or maybe just I) was studying, but, it was very nice finding out I could do so well alone versus 3/4ths of my class.

I usually didn't like group projects because I never liked having my grade be so much in other people's hands, due to the more extraverted people in the group usually taking over. That group project was the one exception.

What's worse than a group full of leechers? A group full of stupid but enthusiastic workers who are all too eager to take over and mess things up.

Originally Posted by sp802

I'm thinking about leaving the group, but I also want to help the person who did her part. The thing is if I help her and share some of the stuff I worked on with her, she's just going to share with the leechers which pisses me off.

What would you guys do?

I'd help everyone equally.

Inwardly, I might actually appreciate the leechers even more than the contributors (unless the contributors were really excellent), because leechers who stay out of my way give me more control of my own grade than contributors who might insist on doing things their way (which I might not agree with).

Become a control freak like me, and you too might see the value of do-nothing leechers.

With a group of leechers, you'll have to do more of the work, but at least you'll get to revel in more of the glory. And if you fail, who can blame you, given that you had to do the work of n people instead of just 1?

So, in a group full of leechers, victory is sweeter, and failure probably feels less like it's all your fault than if it was a solo project.

---

However, I'm not sure what I'd do if it was a project where there is simply too much work for one person alone to do, instead of a project where I could get away with doing everything myself.

I guess in that situation, I'd be forced to try to negotiate with my teammates.

I would avoid using any harsh tactics because I think that's more likely to make them less interested in working, rather than more interested. (Though even if nasty tactics got results, I wouldn't want to use them, since I'd rather be nice no matter what).

Without trying to guilt-trip anyone, I might explain that while I wish I could do all the work myself, it's simply beyond me to handle all of it alone, so we'll need to work together if we wish to get a good grade.

I'd probably try to make things as easy for them as possible, like by giving them very clear, specific tasks to do. Perhaps I'd draw up a list of tasks and ask them all which ones they'd most prefer to do. Maybe on the list I'd put various due dates for each task, which would be early enough that if anyone drops the ball, there would be a lot of time for someone else to pick up the slack.

If there are questions to answer, I'd let them choose which ones they want to answer, rather than just giving them whatever questions without giving them any choice. They might be more likely to work on tasks and questions of their own choosing than tasks and questions that are just arbitrarily given to them.

I'd also encourage people to trade questions to answer/tasks with each other, even long before the due dates of those tasks/questions, if they're finding they're having trouble finishing the tasks/questions they've chosen. Or even if they're just bored and feel like trying something fresh, new and different.

I definitely wouldn't treat the leechers any less nicely than I'd treat anyone else. And, hopefully, being treated nicely would encourage them to genuinely want to help and participate. I'd do everything possible to help them regardless of how much they do or don't do.

If they still "leeched", I would avoid blaming them. Maybe they have a lot of depressing crap going on in their life and just couldn't do the project, who knows.

My grades would probably be good enough that failing on one group project wouldn't be the end of the world, so I probably wouldn't be totally freaked out if we failed.


Anyhow, good luck with everything.

Apollia

[sp802]

Thanks for all the helpful responses.

I've since left the group and am civil with them when spoken to. I've noticed a guy who seems to know his stuff in class. He's pretty much a loner, and I'll be going his route.

I did divide the task. It wasn't until I started ignoring them that they actually did the work. When they finally handed it to me, I've already left the group mentally. I feel sorry for the one girl who seems nice to everyone, and her friend is helping out. I don't know how she tolerates the 2 leechers. The girl is really behind in her studies, too. If she didn't take on all the work by herself, she'd have time to study for exams more and score better. I don't know what she's thinking.

When I was in HS and was with my niche of friends, everyone helped out. All of us would feel bad being in a group and not do anything. Even when someone didn't know something, they at least typed, went out on food runs for everyone, etc.... There's always something helpful for everyone to do, if they want to do it.

This is definitely a good experience in that I'm learning to weed people out who don't share common values with me, and getting rid of users quick.