The Group Project

It was that time of year again: group projects are being assigned. The weak are were being distinguished amongst the strong within each group's dynamic, as it is typical for the workload to fall heavily on one member. However, who would that member be?

The whole class was buzzing as groups formed while establishing work areas. Each group consisted of four members, and as Margot walked down the aisle of her advertising lecture she carefully summed up her three teammates. The tallest of the three, Jim, had the most exhausted persona. His clothes were wrinkled beyond repair, hair was poking out of the top his baseball cap and he had nothing but a pencil tucked into his flannel shirt pocket.

Unbeknownst to Jim, a sheepish blonde girl, Julia, had just sat down to his left and was presumably the second member of their group. Julia looked nervous and confused like she was scared to interact with anyone near her. While she anxiously tapped her pen on the arm of her chair, the third member of the group arrived, Steven.

As Steven's eyes narrowed in on the group, he asked with a warm and excited smile, "This is Group 4 right? American Airlines?" to which Julia quietly murmured, "Yes." Margot finally joined the group after having spent an ample amount of time sizing up each member. During the short walk down to the front of the lecture hall from the back, Margot had already predicted how the project would turn out.

Creating a promotional campaign for an organization such as American Airlines is quite the task involving the creation of multiple social accounts to interact with such as Twitter and Instagram, a campaign booklet highlighting each important element of appeal and a respectable amount of research on target groups. A project of this magnitude is a hefty portion of each student's final grade, so the room for error is minimal.

Margot, eager to get the whole thing done with, immediately began collecting ideas from each member of the group including what each person was good at so responsibilities could be assigned.

Jim, after much deliberation, shared he was good at collecting images. Julia was a writing minor and offered to read over everything to format and correct any errors. Steven mentioned that he had worked in digital design before and could offer any assistance.

So, desperate to get the ball rolling, Margot asked everyone when they could meet up in order to finish the project that was due in a week. Just as she had suspected, there was not a common time for everyone to meet up as their schedules did not mutually match up.

As class came to a close, the group exchanged numbers in order to communicate about the progression of the project. Margot texted each day without ever receiving a response. Knowing that her grade would greatly suffer if the project was not complete in time, Margot began the monstrous amount of work herself.

When it came time to present their American Airlines campaign, everyone was in attendance and the presentation illuminated the screen at the front of the room. The teacher signaled for them to begin.

Margot smiled, took a deep breath, and began, "I am here today to share with you my plan in promoting American Airlines to be the top airline in the world. Key words being my plan, for I was the sole creator of this entire campaign. It is at this moment that I ask my group to take a seat as they offered little to no assistance."

The room was silent and the teacher offered nothing more than a blank stare making Jim, Julia and Steven the center of attention. Julia, who undoubtedly was living her worst nightmare, quickly found the closest exit leaving behind her backpack. Unaffected and unconcerned, Jim found his seat and sat down as if it had nothing to do with him. As for Steven, he stood. Pure shock covered his face as his cheeks became bright red and beads of forehead sweat formed. He had managed to avoid doing group projects for three years of college, never being called out.

Margot looked to Steven with a warm and excited smile as she said, "Please, take your seat next to Jim. You might learn something."

Author's note:

I based my story on a tale found within the Bidpai unit, The Crow, the Jackal, the Wolf, and the Camel. The original story describes the relationship between the four animals and how three of them smoothly manipulate the camel into sacrificing itself to a Lion for the others had excuses not to. The lion, who provides food for all four animals, returned to his lair hurt after having an encounter with an elephant. The three animals, the crow, jackal and wolf, decide that in order to feed themselves and their king, the lion, they should kill the camel for he was the newest addition and offered little to the group. However, when the camel arrived the lion promised he would be unharmed and safe. Still determined to eat the camel, the others devise a plan to ultimately urge the camel into sacrificing himself for the lion. I do not know what it was, but as soon as the camel offered itself I thought about the dynamic of a group project. Typically, all members of a group seem to put their best foot forward upon receiving the assignment, but, when it comes down to it, there is always someone who does a majority of the work. More often than not the camel of the group project takes pity on the other members, but also is driven to get a good grade, so they believe the rest of the group actually cannot help. However, people are typically not honest about their availability because they know the project will get done regardless. I wanted Margot to call out the rest of her team because I have always thought this type of situation would happen in one of my classes, but it has not but I do wish it would!

Dutton, Maude Barrows. “Bidpai: The Crow, the Jackal, the Wolf, and the Camel.” Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook