How to Survive Virtual Group Work


virtual group work
The typical online group project involves the following steps:

  • The instructor assigns you to a group of three or four other students.
  • You are expected to produce a group project together.
  • The project is usually gargantuan, and it requires the creation of a PowerPoint, text, and other presentation materials.
  • After you read the requirements, you e-mail your group members. No one responds.
  • You end up doing all the work yourself.
  • You swear that you will never work in an online group again!

Does that sound familiar? How can you succeed?

Bond with your team-members.



Clearly identify the work required.

Determine what the final outcome will look like. Avoid generalities and be specific early on.



Identify the tasks that you will need to do in order to accomplish the goal.

Potential problem: Irrelevant activities. Group members may resist doing activities they perceive to be irrelevant to the overall goal or objective they envisioned when joining the group. Even those who go ahead and do the activities may feel resentful.


Simplify the tasks and break them up in to individual steps.

Instead of envisioning one large group project, visualize the entire assignment as four or five smaller projects that will each require just two or three steps, rather than dozens.


Potential problem: Resentment because of lack of work parity. Group members become angry because the work load is not evenly distributed. Some team members may be perceived as slackers or freeloaders, who take credit but refuse to pull their weight. The converse can also be true. There may be resentment because one team member will attempt to dominate and not allow individuals to participate in the process. The dominant person may be perceived as a bully, much to his or her surprise. She thought she was simply being efficient, proactive, and "Type A."

Solution: Listen. List the roles and the responsibilities and behaviors expected of each role. Then, assign tasks to specific team members, and develop a realistic set of due dates. Make sure that there are clear ways to be in touch with each other if there are questions.

Coordinate time.



Develop a communications plan.

Try to communicate live-time if you can, either with instant messenger, chat, video chat, or with Internet telephony, such as Skype.

Admit it when there is friction between group members.

Get it out in the open. Then, develop a productive solution.


Solution: Define the roles as well as the tasks. Provide guidelines for team-member roles, and describe actions to be taken by each member of the group.

Continuously review the tasks and see where you are with the deadlines.



Redefine the outcomes as you go, based on the types of work coming.

Be flexible and make adjustments as needed.


Solution: Make sure that the outcome and goals are as clearly defined as possible. "SMART" goal-setting is ideal: Specific, Measured, Achievable, Reasonable, Time-based. Of course, there are downsides to having rigidly defined outcomes. They can inhibit extremely creative and driven students, and they can result in conformity and mediocrity.

Build in rewards for working with each other.

Make sure that each person clearly perceives that there exists a clear reward for the effort expended in the group work.

