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Managing Group Writing Efforts

Managing Group Writing Efforts. This presentation will describe: why understanding who you’re working with and what you’re producing IS VITAL for effective planning why achieving THESE SPECIFIC GOALS IS NECESSARY for effective writing: AGREEMENT: what client will you produce a report for?

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Managing Group Writing Efforts

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  1. Managing Group Writing Efforts • This presentation will describe: • why understanding who you’re working with and what you’re producing IS VITAL for effective planning • why achieving THESE SPECIFIC GOALS IS NECESSARY for effective writing: • AGREEMENT:what client will you produce a report for? • FOCUS: what will your report do for the client? • CLARITY: exactly who will do exactly what by exactly when? use with permission only

  2. This is an OPPORTUNITY to practice doing group work in a real-world way • Common college strategies for group work: • FIREWALLING: You do really well on all individual assignments, so a poor grade on the group work won’t affect your final grade. WHY do much of anything for the group if it won’t really affect YOUR final grade? • TRANSFORMATION: You need a really high grade on the group work to keep a good final grade, so you just do all the “group” work. WHY trust other people when it’s YOUR final grade on the line? • Here’s the thing: these strategies simply WILL NOT WORK in a realistic workplace setting. Unfortunately, they do work well in unrealistic classroom settings. use with permission only

  3. step zero Who is in the group ? • Knowing who you’re dealing with PREVENTS problems • For example: • GRADE GOALS: does everyone want an A, B, C, etc? • WORK GOALS: who wants to try for a minimal workload? • SCHEDULE GOALS: submit early? on regular schedule? • SCHEDULE LIMITS: who works? who’s taking a light load? who’s traveling? who disappears for weekends? • Understanding (and PLANNING FOR) how group dynamics will affect the project requires knowing (and BEING HONEST) about what your group members’ goals and limitations are use with permission only

  4. Who is in the group ? • ALSO know your group members’ strengths and expertise • For example: • MAJORS: what sort of academic expertise does the group have? • BACKGROUND: what practical expertise do y’all have? • CONTACTS: who could help y’all achieve your goals? • SKILLS: who can best do each of the specific things required for a well planned, well researched, well written, well edited report? • Understanding (and USING) all the expertise and strengths of the ENTIRE group requires ASKING questions and OFFERING info use with permission only

  5. step ONE What are you producing ? • A useful recommendation report that evaluates alternatives • The Basics: • LENGTH: depends on situation, likely 20+ pages total • RESEARCH: defined by the client you pick and the recommendations you select to present • DO NOT neglect the work that your client will also need to contribute: • TIME: a few hours total over the next five weeks • ADVICE: a responsive and enthusiastic client makes life easier use with permission only

  6. step TWO AGREE on the basics • DISCUSS options: • CLIENTS: who knows realistic clients to work with the group? Do you instead want to work for “Bob Mize”? • TOPICS: what could you do for a client? • PRACTICALITY: which of these client/topic options could be researched easily? • It is VERY GOOD PRACTICE for the entire group to hearEACH person describe their specific project idea • It is NOT GOOD PRACTICE to make group decisions based on personality instead of logic use with permission only

  7. step THREE FOCUS the possibilities • DISCUSS possibilities: • NEEDS: what clear needs would each client have? • RECOMMENDATIONS: what options could you present to match these needs? do the clients have problems that you could clearly help them with? • PRACTICALITY: would you WANT to spend time researching these things? • It is VERY GOOD PRACTICE for the entire group to hear EACH person describe what they like AND do not like about each project possibility • It is NOT GOOD PRACTICE to quickly focus on only one possibility WITHOUT examining alternatives use with permission only

  8. step FOUR make a final group decision • DECIDE who does what: • CONTACTS: who will contact which potential clients? • RESEARCH: who will do some quick preliminary research, how, and using what resources? • COMMUNICATION: should you email or call each other before the next class meeting? what if someone isn’t here wed? • It is VERY GOOD PRACTICE for the entire group to understand who is committed to doing what between EACH group meeting • It is NOT GOOD PRACTICE to simply assume that things will get done or that nothing will go wrong use with permission only

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