Working in groups

We all have experience with different groups. Experience usually teaches us something, but experience can also lead to harmful behaviours, negative attitudes or misinformation. So even extensive experience in group work does not necessarily make us good group workers. In order to learn as much as possible from our experience, we need to critically examine both ourselves as group members and the group’s activities.

Studying and learning also involve working in a group

In university education, working in peer groups is a common way of working or teaching. A variety of approaches based on working in small groups aim to support learner- and learning-centred studying, where students’ own activity and the sharing and developing of views and ideas in small groups are key elements.

Working in small groups of different sizes is possible during and outside lessons. Course learning tasks can take the form of projects in small groups, collaborative essays or analyses, or group oral presentations. In addition, the learning task may also involve observing group interaction and looking at one’s own actions in the group.

How do you work in a group?

Working in a group requires a wide range of interaction skills. For example, you need to have knowledge of the kind of interaction that facilitates group work, the importance of relationships between group members, as well as of decision-making and problem-solving. You also need a constructive mindset and sufficient motivation to work in a group, as well as the ability to take appropriate action in a way that contributes to reaching defined goals. For more information on interaction skills, see the page on Multilingual interaction skills.The questions under the items below reflect the different aspects of interaction skills: attitude and motivation, knowledge and understanding, skills, as well as feedback and evaluation. You may find these useful in reflecting on your own skills as a member of a group or team.

How do you feel about working in a group? Is it usually meaningful and rewarding, or does it feel pointless, even annoying?
Do you prefer to work alone rather than in a group?

Our own attitudes and feelings matter: if working in a group is seen as a waste of time, it is often difficult to be motivated to participate and actively listen to others. In this case, from the individual’s point of view, the significance of the group for learning may remain limited. Attitude has an impact on the effectiveness of cooperation and therefore often also on the outcome.

It is therefore necessary to identify one's own attitudes and feelings towards working in a group. What factors contribute to your attitude towards group work? And what are the things that help you to work in a group? How can you try to work in a group in a way that supports achieving your goals, despite your feelings and attitudes? At the beginning of the group work, would it be possible to discuss the thoughts and feelings the task evokes, the factors that can help and support members to work in the group, and how to take into account the different ways in which the members work?

Are you able to look at group interaction from the point of view of both the task at hand and the relationships between the participants?
Do you know what factors contribute to the functioning of the group? What factors affect the atmosphere in the group?

A group is built, functions and also changes through the interaction between its members. Interaction is essential not only for completing a task, but also for building trust and respect between group members, for providing support and for the overall atmosphere in the group. Do you have experience of a group where you achieved your goal and the work was generally effective, but where everyone did not have room to participate, where it was difficult to express personal opinions or make suggestions, or where invalidating communication took place? You can reflect on the significance of trust, shared objectives, getting to know each other, supporting each other or the experience of being listened to and accepted for the atmosphere in the group.

Are you able to work in a group in a variety of tasks (e.g., generating ideas, planning, leading, coordinating, evaluating, supporting others, making decisions, solving problems)?
How to act as a group or team leader?
Is it usually easy for you to participate and speak up in a group?
In what ways do you take other members into consideration when working in a group?
Do you actively listen to others in a group?
What to do when conflicts or disagreements arise in a group? Do you withdraw or speak up in an attempt to deal with difficult situations?

Groups work interactively on a wide range of tasks, such as coordination (work allocation and scheduling, planning and monitoring), decision-making, problem and conflict identification and resolution, generation of ideas and innovation, maintaining relationships (encouragement, support) and development (comprehensive evaluation of activities and processes as well as competence development).

Each member of the group can also reflect on how versatile their own interaction is in the group. For example, do you often find yourself taking particular care to make sure everyone gets a chance to speak up, or have you found it difficult to concentrate on listening to others and their different views? Do you often take on tasks such as generating ideas, coordinating activities or making decisions? Or do you often hesitate to express your opinions or have doubts about how to take your turn to speak? Do you perhaps think that you are not fit to lead a group or that your opinion does not matter? Getting constructive feedback from others and recognising your own ideas will help you to build a more realistic picture of yourself as a group participant. Do you think you could ask group members for feedback on things you would like to develop in your group work?

What kind of feedback have you received on working in a group? How have you as a group evaluated the activities of your own group, i.e., given feedback to yourselves as a group? How constructive do you think the feedback or evaluation has been? See the principles of constructive feedback.
What are your strengths in teamwork and where do you need to improve?

Many of us have received overly generic feedback on our participation in a group (e.g., “you participated quite well”, “you were rather quiet”) or don’t remember receiving any feedback at all. In addition, there is often little or no collective evaluation of the group’s performance at the end of the group work. Yet, for the development of learning and interaction skills, it would be important for each group member to receive feedback on what was successful in their work and where they could focus their attention in the future, and that the group as a unit also reviews how well they worked together and achieved their objectives (see Comprehensive reflection and evaluation of group activities below). Constructive feedback, meaning feedback that is focused on what is relevant, is well-founded, identifies strengths and areas for improvement, is applicable, expressed in a friendly and respectful way, inclusive, and contributes to the learning of both the group and its members.

The five steps of groupwork

Group activities become more effective if members have a shared understanding of the group’s goals and tasks, how to work in the group and what resources (e.g., time and skills) are available.
Cooperation becomes smoother if group members are motivated to get to know each other.

By applying the following five steps, the group can ensure that its activities and cooperation run smoothly.

Comprehensive reflection and evaluation of group activities

When evaluating a team's performance, it is important to look at more than just the outcome. It is essential to reflect on questions such as the following:

What was done to achieve the result, i.e., what were the stages of the work?
How did the distribution of tasks work?
How were members’ skills utilised and everyone’s participation ensured?
How did the chosen approaches serve the generation of ideas, decision-making and problem-solving?

The evaluation should focus on the group’s working process as a whole.