the disaster

The most disastrous group experience I have had was one of the first I had. As a senior in college, I was in an interdisciplinary class in which a major portion of the grade depended upon successful completion of a group research paper. The group members were assigned by the professors, and the topics for research were given out through a lottery system.

The group comprised six people, representing three different fields of study. The disaster started with the first meeting. Because there was no assigned leader, an initial task was to generate some kind of leadership within the group. By personality, or by apathy, the group members seemed to be in a "go along to get along" mentality. This was the beginning of the group-think quagmire. We got little done in our meetings, because we did not have clear leadership. We remained trapped in an embryonic phase, which eventually led to a coupe.

I became so frustrated -- and concerned about my own grade -- that I simply took over. I led the group in a (sadly) manipulative fashion that was designed to take advantage of their built in acquiescence. While making it look like a democratic structure, it was very authoritarian. For example, when we had to "bid" on our research topic, we obviously had some choices as to which of the disciplines represented in the group we would focus on. By arranging the seating order in the meeting, I ensured that those most likely to succumb to group think voted on the topic last, and arranged for the other communication majors in the group to vote first -- ensuring that at least we would get a topic within my major.

This worked, for a time. However, this style of leadership not only left me feeling ethically bankrupt, it also accelerated the disengagement of several of the group members from the process. Because I assumed they were unmotivated, I didn't even bother to try to motivate them. Instead, I manipulated them to the point of them becoming completely passive.

At some point early in the process I made the decision to essentially complete the research and write the paper myself. However, I needed some assistance, and divided up the research tasks. Three of the team members failed to get their part of the research done. The person whose only job was to type the final paper also did not come through. As a result, I got more of my wish than I wanted, and two of us literally produced the entire product for the group.

The group failed as a whole, and I failed as a leader. However, it was a defining moment in my life -- and it has become the pariah that I try to avoid in any group interaction that I have.