Benefits & Pitfalls of Group Work

Work groups bring together people with diverse skills. Communication is higher on teams, and the diverse skill set means organized groups and teams can discover new approaches. Because members have shared goals, members usually enjoy greater autonomy, variety, task identity, task significance, and feedback. Members provide social support for difficult tasks, improving morale and motivation.

In terms of problem solving, work groups can accomplish more than individuals can. People, each of whom have specialized skills, talents, experience, or education come together in new combinations with new challenges, find new perspectives to create unique approaches that they themselves would not have formulated alone.

Because we often don’t have the luxury of choosing whom to work with, there can be many problems that hinder good group work. Members have different personalities, work ethics, and personal agendas that may not complement one another. Poor communication is a quick way for a group to be unproductive and ineffective. Other common challenges include dominant personalities, non-contributing members, and groupthink. Many of the pitfalls of group work may be avoided by being aware of what makes an effective group, and by consciously working toward those characteristics. For the remainder of this chapter, we will explore an inevitable aspect of group functioning: conflict. When we hear the word conflict, we typically think about all the negatives associated with the word. Most of us would like to avoid conflict entirely; however, conflict can also be productive. When members feel safe expressing conflicting beliefs and opinions, groups are more productive and less prone to conformity.