Teachers need to balance the joy of group work with the need for academic performance. This post will explain what group effectiveness is and what the teacher can do to make sure students produce while working in groups.

Group Effectiveness

Group effectiveness can be measured through the quantity/quality of the group’s output, the satisfaction of the individual group members, and the potential for future cooperation. If a group can produce a large amount of work, high-quality work, or the ideal, which is a huge quantity of high-quality work, this is a highly effective group. The challenge in the classroom may be to find ways to measure the amount and quality of a group’s work.

A hard-working group can still be a dysfunctional one if the members struggle to tolerate each other. Therefore, needs satisfaction is another way to measure a group’s effectiveness, especially in situations where production was not the primary purpose of the group.

Potential future cooperation is yet another way to measure the effectiveness of a group. If people look forward to working together again, it is reasonable to assume that the performance will be strong and the satisfaction of the needs met. As such, determining people’s willingness to work together in the future is a vital insight into effectiveness. However, with students who are not under the same performance pressures as adults, future cooperation may mean future socializing and off-task behavior.

Other determinates of group effectiveness include effort, knowledge/skill, and strategies for performance. Students who are willing to work hard are often students who will help groups be more effective in terms of the quantity/quality of the output. Naturally, the more knowledgeable a student is, the increased effectiveness of the group as these skills the student possesses help to achieve goals. Performance strategies are essentially specific skills that are used to enhance the efficiency of the group.

Teachers and Group Effectiveness

There are several things that teachers can do to improve the effectiveness of groups working in the classroom. Withitness is an idea in which the teacher is always aware of what is happening in the classroom. It is similar to having “eyes in the back of one’s head.” When students know that the teacher knows what is going on, they are more likely to be on-task and contributing.

Setting general rules is another beneficial way to improve group effectiveness. Basic protocols like how to act in a group, the roles of group members, how to handle off-task behavior or conflicts, etc., can all be used to give the students clues about how to proceed. In addition, directions for completing the assignment are also essential, and it may seem obvious that this is needed. However, many teachers forget to provide this kind of crucial information.

Despite having general rules, each group must establish its own set of norms. These can be such things as who is the leader and the quality or quantity of work the group wants to produce. It often takes time for these norms to work themselves out. Therefore, complex projects need more time for these norms to be developed than more straightforward projects.

Encouraging cohesiveness is another useful tool. This means making sure the group frequently meets, is not too big, has clear goals, etc. Are all beneficial in improving effectiveness. When students have relationships with one another and have a clear sense of purpose, good things can happen.

Conclusion

Maintaining productivity and effectiveness in groups can be challenging for many teachers. However, understanding some of the fundamental underlying factors for encouraging effectiveness can help teachers know where to look when there is a problem.