Dealing with slackers in college classroom work groups

- College Student Journal

- June 2009

- By: Scott A. Myers (associate professor of communication studies at West Virginia University)

Nicole A. Smith, Mary A.Eidsness, Leah M. Bogdan, Brooke A. Zackery, Michelle R. Thompson, Meghan E Schoo, Angela N Johnson

Slackers:

“Group members who fail to contribute equally or equitably to a group task. Considered to be deviant group members.” (Gillespoe, 2009)

Not fun to work with, can cause people to not want to work in groups ever again

Method: Focus Groups

37 college students in a communication course

Each focus group was a team of 3 or 4 members› Putting people in groups makes it a good

way to get firsthand information 5 one hour groups Vouluntary and Confidential

Research Questions

1) What do group members find frustrating about working with slackers?

2) How do group members deal with slackers?

3) What recommendations would group members make for dealing with slackers?

What students find frustrating results:

1) Slackers know they are not helpful, and do not care,

2) No respect for the group.3) Bring the group down

-their vibe brings down the motivation of the entire group

4) Make excuses(lies)- “ I think the only think slackers work at

is making excuses to get out of things.”

RESULTS:

How to deal with Slackers?:

Ignore- Only option is to do

the work for them.- Too much of a

hassle to deal with- Not worth the time

and drama

Include- Assign him/her

minor tasks- Keep calling and e-

mailing them- Don’t allow them to

use excuse “well you didn’t let me do it…”

Recommendations for dealing with slackers:

Confront them *-“cut the crap, if you’re going to be a slacker don’t come.”-“pick it up, step up your game.”

Kick them out of the group› Give them a warning first

Tell the professor Some people are afraid of confrontation

so they ignore them, and just do the work.

Effectiveness

Focus groups are effective› Best way to listen and understand how the

students feel and think› Firsthand information› Some people might not speakup, just

agree with what other people say

Conclusions:

1) Slackers make group work frustrating2) There are basically two choices one

has, ignore them or try and include them.

3) The participants said they would confront slackers in future group work

4) Dealing with them give students experience and helps develop conflict management, resource management, and interpersonal skills.