Student “work group” not working

Happy Paul and Srinivasan Tatachari

he skies above the building were completely bare, ink-black, with lots of stars visible, Happy Paul and Srinivasan

T reflecting the approaching winter season. It was 8:30 p.m. on 10 November 2019 but
Hemant Patel [1] had no time to glance up and appreciate, as his mind was
Tatachari are both based at
T A Pai Management
Institute, Manipal Academy
preoccupied with matters related to managing student issues and handling courses in the
of Higher Education,
various programs of the school. As he walked into the students’ cafeteria building with Manipal, India.
Suhas Shah, both looked around at the lively scene of groups of students eating dinner
together, seemingly having great bonding with each other. But it weighed heavily on their
minds that there was one group, Group V5, which continued to have major conflicts as per
the members, while portraying collectively that things were fine. As they had dinner, the first
question both started the conversation with was “How do we actually make this Work Group
work?” With one term [2] completed out of the six in the Masters in Business Administration
program, how could they get this group back on track to perform cohesively and improve
their group evaluation scores?

Background
Patel was working as a Faculty with Indian School of Management Science (ISMS), a
reputed business school situated on the western coastline of India, for the last three years.
Presently he was managing a student development center and had student mentoring as
one of his job requirements. Shah was also a Faculty in ISMS and held the administrative
responsibility of the Program Chair, of the specific program that Patel was teaching in. ISMS
was consistently ranked among the top business schools in India and was known for
its academic rigor and discipline. It also emphasized on experiential learning, continuous
assessment and group work in all its courses. For this purpose, the entire student batch was
carved into a smaller group of 5–6 students known as work groups. The groups were
created by the program administration keeping in mind the need for demographic diversity.
Each course invariably had around a 30%–40% component of evaluation marked for group
assignments/activities and therefore, the work group members, bound by fate
interdependence, spent considerable amount of time working and preparing together.

Unexpected meeting
After working till late on a Saturday in September 2019, Patel was at the food court to get
palak paneer [3] packed for his dinner at home. While he was placing the order, Mansi
Kapoor, a first-year student of the postgraduate program in management (Master of
Business Administration [MBA]) approached him asking to speak with him. Although
Disclaimer: This case is
Kapoor had a smile on her face, the hesitation and anxiety along with it could mean only one intended to be used as the
thing – a problem. Wondering what it could possibly be, Patel agreed to meet her as soon basis for class discussion
rather than to illustrate either
as he placed his order. As he made his way to the table where Kapoor was sitting, Reshma effective or ineffective handling
of a management situation. The
Khan and Payal Kumar, both first-year students from the same program, were with her. It case was compiled from
was very clear to him that there was something bothering these three women. As he joined published sources.

DOI 10.1108/TCJ-01-2021-0025 VOL. 18 NO. 4 2022, pp. 561-581, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1544-9106 j THE CASE JOURNAL j PAGE 561
 them, they looked hesitatingly at each other, optimistic that one of the others would start
talking.
Finally, Khan gathered the courage to speak, “Professor, we are facing issues in our Work
Group: Group V5. We are five members in our Work Group (See Exhibit 1). Apart from the
three of us, we also have Nishu Singh and Naveen Kamath. The issue that we want to talk is
about them. Their involvement and contribution towards the group’s work is very less.”
We have tried a lot to make them understand the importance of working together but they just
don’t bother. They always have one or the other excuse to make. Whenever we call them for
work, they are never available, added Kapoor.

Khan nodded in support and continued, “She (Kapoor) is having some health issues but
even then, she finds time to work on the group assignments. Even I am loaded with extra
work being a member of the student placement committee, but still whenever it is possible, I
try to attend all the Work Group meetings and work till late to contribute on the group
assignments.”
We understand that apparently Singh is going through mental health issues, but every evening
she says that she needed to visit Student Wellness Centre (SWC) [4] and would not turn up till
11PM. Kamath, on a similar note, has the ability and can contribute a lot, but he is just not
bothered. He is a very careless person. Even as Khan said this, Patel could see the frustration on
her face.

I am aware of Singh’s depression problem but isn’t the SWC open till 7PM only, Patel responded
back to Khan.

For the first time Kumar entered the conversation, “We don’t know Professor. This is what
she tells us all the time. I have offered to accompany her to SWC, but she refused and will
always go alone. In fact, we have three submissions to make tomorrow but even today they
both left for partying and surely will not return before 11PM.”
Patel could make out that Kumar had tried hard to avoid making that last statement but
could not help it, the frustration eventually was breaking through. Khan, however, was blunt
about it as she stated, “Kamath is in habit of heavy drinking. Will he be in position to work on
the assignments after drinking?”
They are not bothered because they have scored well in their individual evaluation components
and are sure that group component marks will not affect them much, added Kapoor with a
helpless and complaining face.

Because of all this, our group is consistently scoring low on assignments. The last assignment on
creating a video [5] was also done at the eleventh hour and we were not happy at all with the
quality of the work. The group dynamics are just not present, Khan concluded the narration of the
problem their group was facing.

The three students told Patel that it was almost the end of first term but because they have
five more terms to exist together as Group V5, they would like to find a way to address the
issues and get the group working. Patel asked for some time to interact with Singh and
Kamath as well before jumping to any conclusion. He promised to get back to them with a
plan.

Meeting with Singh

Patel spent the entire Sunday evaluating some student assignments that were because of
be returned on Monday. He wanted to call Singh and Kamath on Monday morning, but got
pulled into other academic matters. It was only the next day that Patel could call Singh to his
office. He began by welcoming her and enquiring about her health.

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 I am now doing fine Professor, she began. It was during the Mid-Term examinations that I had
fever and later had to be admitted to the hospital because of some node infection. The doctors
here treated me, but it became septic and then my father took me to our family doctor back
home. There I was again operated upon, and the node was removed. The wound is healing now.

Because of all this I could not attend my classes for two weeks but am trying to catch up with
what I missed. I’m not doing very well on the academic front. My rank in most of the subjects like
statistics, marketing management, communication and economics is in the bottom 20 percentile,
she concluded.

At this point, Patel wanted to know if she received help from Group V5.
Few of my friends are helping me out, but not the Group V5 members though, Singh shrugged.
She continued, The dynamics in our Work Group are not good. As a group we are not performing
well in assignments. You can see our scores in OB also. Kapoor and Kumar are quiet most of the
time when we are having a discussion on any assignment. Kamath is also a problem as he
cannot concentrate. He is always distracted. Khan, I agree, participates, and contributes. I tried
many times to pull up the entire group but all in vain. When I joined back after those two weeks, I
was told by Kamath that the group was quite critical about me. I could sense that and overheard
talks as well. Other Work Groups were talking about us and about the back-stabbing nature in
the group. In our Work Group everyone hates everyone. It was then that I lost interest in group
work.

Patel had interacted with Singh earlier as well when she had confided in him about her
apprehensions about being successful in the MBA program. Having recommended her for
a visit to the SWC in the past, he asked her about it.
“I was taking the sessions before our Mid-Term examinations but after that I could not
continue. Today I have a planned session at 4PM. They are saying that the depression and
anxiety could be the symptoms of a borderline personality disorder,” responded Singh. On
hearing this Patel reflected on what the other students had mentioned about her visits to the
SWC, wondering what was being communicated and understood within the group. Patel
offered to get his faculty colleagues to spend time with Singh if needed and thanked her for
her time and wound up the meeting because she had a class starting in the next 5 min.

Intervention support
Later, while the students were busy writing their end-term examinations, Patel thought of
having a discussion regarding Group V5 with Shah, the Program Chair. To his surprise, the
three women had already approached Shah regarding the matter. After some deliberations
on the group dynamics issue, Shah pointed out that a renowned organizational
development (OD) coach was visiting the campus for a different program, and she could
conduct a workshop (pro bono) on group dynamics for all the program’s students at a very
nominal charge. Both decided to go ahead with the workshop in the hope of solving the
issues with this particular work group.
It was communicated to the facilitator that there were group bonding issues in the program
and that there were gender-related issues, which she could focus on as well [6]. The
workshop was conducted over a period of three days which included activities like running
a world café [7] and building family and belief appreciation using chess games as well as
group activities to work on groupism and gender differences.

Meeting with Kamath

The meeting with Kamath happened after the holidays for a very popular Indian festival. On
his return to campus after the holidays, Patel dropped an email requesting Kamath to meet.
When they met, Kamath looked perplexed about the purpose of the meeting. Patel tried to
make him feel comfortable by enquiring about the holidays. This small talk relaxed Kamath

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 and then Patel worked his way to the meeting’s raison d’être – on how this Group V5 has
been functioning so far:
Professor, this is the first time I am working in a group, and to be honest we are not doing very
well when it comes to performance in group assignments, replied Kamath. He continued, I won’t
say that the group is not cohesive but for some reasons the suggestions or ideas that are
discussed in the group are very general and we score low on group projects and assignments.

There are no major conflicts in the group but like we discussed the group stages in the OB
course, we have been in few stages, Kamath was smiling as he made this statement.

He went on “I am the only male member in the group, and I stay in a hostel from where I
take at least 15 minutes to reach the food court. They all stay in the women’s hostel near the
food court and at times they prefer to work from their hostel itself as all of them are available.
Also, some members have other commitments; for example, Khan is a member of the
placement committee, so she has that additional work as well till late night. Kumar, on the
other hand wants to go to bed early, so we decide to meet early around 7 p.m. daily to work
on the group assignments. But, it’s not just the work all the time, we also have dinner
together sometimes.”
Recalling the group dynamics workshop conducted just before the holidays, Patel asked
him about it and whether it helped in any way to better the functioning of Group V5:
It was an eye opener in some sense. But we were asked to sit with the people whom we don’t
interact much, so we avoided doing the activities with our Work Group members, responded
Kamath.

While wondering if the workshop met its intended objectives, Patel thanked Kamath for his
time and ended the meeting.

Problem resolved?
Reflecting on his interaction with all the group members, Patel started thinking of how this
group can address the conflict and start performing. Looking at his phone’s calendar, Patel
realized that it was more than a month now since the students first discussed the issue with
him and that it was high time to get back to them with an action plan.
Before suggesting any action plan to the group, Patel decided to meet the group one more
time along with Shah. Both considered that it would be better to first meet Kapoor, Khan and
Kumar, since they had raised this issue with them. Patel dropped them a mail for a meeting
and called them to Shah’ office.
Patel welcomed the three and initiated the conversation asking them about their
performance in end-term exams and how they were finding the new term. Soon after
listening to their responses, he came to the point and asked them about the dynamics of
Group V5. The three looked at each other and in unison said that things were fine now:
Khan: Professors, after meeting you, we decided to discuss issues with the other group
members and things are sorted out now.
Patel: How did you go about it?
Khan: We sat down and discussed the issues openly. We set the priorities and agreed on the
timings to do the assignments. So far, we had only two assignments and we are satisfied with the
way we have worked.
Kapoor: Although we are yet to receive feedback and scores for those assignments but at least
we are happy with the working of our group.
Kumar: We also went for a group outing and had dinner together.
Patel: Did you discuss the specific issues with Singh and Kamath?

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 Khan: Yes, in fact, we realized that we were putting the group work on priority more than the
health. So, we communicated to Singh that her health is more important than the assignments
and whenever she needed to go to the SWC, she can go, and we will manage the work.
Kapoor: At times, we even decided to work late from our hostel, as four of us are in the same
women’s hostel. We also kept Kamath in loop over phone and emails.
Kumar: Even Kamath is serious now and has started contributing to the assignments.
Shah: Did the workshop on group dynamics help you in addressing the issues.
Khan: In the workshop we were asked to mostly sit with the people we haven’t interacted much,
so we sat with the other classmates. But yes, it helped improve the overall bonding in the class.

What next?
After the meeting got over, Patel and Shah felt relieved thinking the group had been able to
sort out issues but just to confirm they decided to meet the other two group members as
well. Next day they both met Kamath and Singh to understand their perspective on the
present dynamics of Group V5.
Patel initiated the conversation by asking Singh and Kamath about how things were
unfolding in the Group V5 now. Singh responded that there had not been many
assignments so far in the term, but things were pretty much the same. The other three
women of the group had come and talked but it did not appear that they were really
concerned. Singh asked Kamath for a moment to talk to Patel and Shah in private. Nodding
his approval Kamath left the room.
She continued, “I have again heard people talking about me. In fact, I have heard that
Kamath was talking bad about me. I have given everything to this, but it seems that we are
going nowhere. It is more like nobody is discussing about the differences and the issues
openly. It’s more like covering it with a blanket and being very superficial in the dealings.
But I am sure whenever we again work on any major assignments, things will again surface
and it will be worse than what it was:
Kumar has opened up with me to a certain extent. She also told me that earlier she had a
perception that I’ll be a difficult person to approach, but it’s not. She also shared that she’s going
through a lot psychologically and that’s when I advised her to visit SWC and shared the contact
details, said Singh.

Realizing that Kamath was out for some time now, Singh called him inside and requested
him to share his opinion on the dynamics within Group V5. A bit hesitantly Kamath opened
up, “It appears that everyone is trying to avoid the conflict, but I am sure we are not
performing well this way. The way in which we worked on assignments was also not good.
But nobody complains now, the way things are going people have accepted it as an
eventuality.”
Shah ended the meeting by thanking both Kamath and Singh. Turning to Shah, Patel said
“This seems to be unending. I don’t think all members of the group are on the same page.
What do you think?”:
I think we need to take their individual opinion about each other from the very beginning and then
try to figure out what is actually troubling the group and what can really make the Work Group
work, replied Shah.

In next few days, Patel and Shah shared a brief online survey with all five members of the
group requesting them to record their responses confidentially. To their surprise, two of
them responded immediately, another two responded after multiple requests, whereas
Kamath eventually did not respond at all.

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 Looking at the responses (Exhibit 2) and the interactions, he had had so far with the group,
Patel was not sure what would be the way forward. Though on good terms with Shah, Patel
had received an ultimatum to get the group back on track within the first half of the new term
[8]. He was to meet Shah for dinner and present his final plan of action.
Patel could think of a few options, the first recommend that the group continue as is and let
time resolve the matters. The second recommend fragmenting this group by removing
Singh and Kamath and reassigning them to other groups. The third recommend mixing up
and recreating new groups altogether in the entire class. The questions remained – which
option will be the best for the group’s members? Could there be any other intervention?

Notes
1. This case is based on real events and characters. However, the names of the characters and the
school have been masked with fictitious names.
2. Term is an academic trimester. One academic year consists of three trimesters.
3. Palak paneer is a vegetarian dish from the Indian subcontinent, consisting of fresh cheese in a thick
paste made from pureed spinach and seasoned with garlic and other spices.
4. Student Wellness Centre is a completely confidential service devoted to supporting the emotional
well-being of students.
5. As part of the organizational behavior (OB) course which Patel taught, all work groups were
supposed to create a video which explained a topic from the course. This would be exhibited in the
class and carried some weightage as part of the group’s evaluations in that course.
6. The program had a gender ratio where the women significantly outnumbered the men. There were
some instances of couple of male students finding it difficult to work in this demographic setup.
7. A popular method for conducting large group dialogues in a flexible format. See www.
theworldcafe.com/
8. Patel was slated to start another course with the same students in the new term.
9. For simplicity in the rest of the point 5 discussion when we mention Patel, we mean both Patel and
Shah, because they are closely working on this.

Exhibit 1. Group V5 member information

1. Nishu Singh

䊏 Female, aged 23 years

䊏 Education in Literature
䊏 No industry work experience
䊏 Was a student volunteer at a de-addiction centre during under-graduation
education
2. Naveen Kamath

䊏 Male, aged 22 years

䊏 Education in Electrical Engineering
䊏 No industry work experience
䊏 Currently a member of the school’s literary club
䊏 Knew Kapoor from earlier through the school’s social media group for students
joining the program
3. Mansi Kapoor

䊏 Female, aged 24 years

䊏 Education in Electrical and Electronics Engineering
䊏 Worked for 19 months as a programmer

PAGE 566 j THE CASE JOURNAL j VOL. 18 NO. 4 2022

 䊏 Was a student volunteer during under-graduation education
䊏 Currently a member of the school’s societal welfare committee
䊏 Knew Kamath from earlier through the school’s social media group for students
joining the program
4. Reshma Khan

䊏 Female, aged 26 years

䊏 Education in Electrical Engineering
䊏 Worked in software engineering for 45 months
䊏 Currently a member of the school’s student placement committee
5. Payal Kumar

䊏 Female, aged 25 years

䊏 Education in Mechanical Engineering
䊏 Worked in software engineering for 12 months

Corresponding author
Happy Paul can be contacted at: happy.tapmi@manipal.edu

VOL. 18 NO. 4 2022 j THE CASE JOURNAL j PAGE 567

 PAGE 568
Table E1
Question/respondent Payal Kumar
1. Describe your When we were allotted this Work
experiences working in Group, I wasn’t so sure of it as I had
the Work Group during interacted only with Kapoor by then
the first month and the others were almost strangers
to me. I created a WhatsApp group as
soon as I got to know them after a little
interaction. Then came our first
assignment and we all very cautiously
did it. That was the best case-analysis
j THE CASE JOURNAL j VOL. 18 NO. 4 2022
we had submitted in that term. After
that maybe the next two case-
analyses we sat together and did it
with whole dedication but after that we
started facing issues of timings
mismatch and procrastination in the
group
2. Elaborate the way in We collectively thought of the concept
which the assignment of on which we would be doing the video,
creating a video in Term but we started shooting the video quite
1 was prepared by your late. There was lot of panic due to lack
Work Group of proper preparation but while
shooting the video, we had fun and
collaborated constructively. Also,
everyone contributed equally for the
video assignment. However, there was
an incident when we had to shoot early
morning and because of Kamath‘s
negligence we had to start the video
shooting an hour late. That caused a
little tension within the group
Mansi Kapoor
The first month was the time
when we did not know about
each other and our timings for
work did not match. Since we all
were from different
backgrounds, so the way of
working was very different.
Many times, we were not able to
do the assignments properly as
the Work Group did not give
required time
The video assignment was done
on the last date of submission
as all team members were not
able to meet because of other
commitments. Moreover, since
none of us knew video editing it
was very difficult to work on that
Reshma Khan
In the first month we all were very
excited about the members and
expected a lot in terms of output and
involvement but slowly we realised the
other groups are giving their best to
create a connection among them
which was clearly lacking in us and we
just overlooked all. We thought
everything will fall in place and it’s
natural, it’s just a matter of time. We
didn’t understand the importance of
bonding with one another and took it in
a way which is just related to the
subjects, academics, marks and
competition
In the reflective video making process
we didn’t do anything in the initial
phase and thought one of us will take
the initiative until it was too late. Then
we started making the video in a hurry
by distributing all the activities. The
idea of doing the video on the chosen
theme was of Kumar’s and to be very
honest we just wanted to copy the real
show in terms of rules and screen play,
we didn’t write our own script thinking
that it will naturally be aligned with our
concept. Singh and I implemented the
OB concepts and thought of how to
reflect the same in the video. Kapoor
and Kamath helped us in all the
technical ways. We couldn’t give
much time to the editing part and
that’s why we couldn’t score high.
Though the outcome was a complete
mess, it was the first assignment that
we all worked together, and the result
forced us to think about the dynamics
in the group
Nishu Singh
The first month had a lot of
assignments that needed to be
fulfilled. I soon realized that
there were people who had a lot
of different strengths. I had a
feeling that all the people were
not working or contributing to
the assignments. I felt that
during the marketing cases
Khan and I would do most of the
work while Kamath would do a
little and the rest would just sit
around. There were a lot of
times when I felt as if I was the
only one doing the work
The assignment was complete
very haphazardly. Kamath
didn’t turn up on time and the
editing was not done properly
by him. Though he promised
that he would be able to do all
sorts of editing techniques.
Kapoor and Kumar had a lot of
ideas, but we stuck to the one
that Khan suggested. Kumar
was the one who made sure we
were on point. She had done a
lot of research on the topic and
was the one who had done the
groundwork. There was a lot of
stress and unaddressed tension
in the Work Group at that time
Exhibit 2. Online survey responses from the work group: Group V5 members
(continued)
 Table E1
Question/respondent Payal Kumar Mansi Kapoor Reshma Khan
3. Now at the start of Kapoor – She is very hardworking and Now the group is working Kumar – She is ready to take the
Term 2, what is your dedicated towards work better, but still I think Singh is responsibility and completes all the
perception about the Khan – She is very passionate and not willing to work. She is always tasks, but it should be assigned to her.
other members of the binds the group together in a haste of completing the So, in some ways she still hesitates to
group? Please write the Singh – She is caring and considerate work without giving much efforts take the initiation.
name of the member Kamath – He is talented Kamath – He is the best as far as
and then the comment creativity and innovative ideas are
concerned but needs constant
reminder to complete the task on time.
Other than this the only point is that he
is now dedicating a lot of time to the
Work Group and doesn’t settle with
anything other than the best.
Singh – Keeps our energy high, takes
a lot of initiatives and keeps the group
together.
Kapoor – she is the best asset of our
group but still struggles to articulate
her thoughts effectively. She is a
wonderful team player and keeps our
team going. Self – I need to put a lot of
effort in terms of understanding others
point of view which I am trying to do
now
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j THE CASE JOURNAL j PAGE 569
Nishu Singh
Kamath – I can’t trust him. He is
doubled faced and I have
personally heard him talking ill
about me behind my back.
Reshma – She puts in a lot of
effort. I feel like we understand
each other better. But I am a
little hesitant around her.
Kumar – I believe she’s very
genuine. She has a little lack of
confidence, but she is genuine
and helpful
Kapoor – I believe she is a little
self-centred and gets offended
very easily if people don’t
appreciate her work or
acknowledge her.
I also feel that Kapoor, Kamath
and sometimes Kumar don’t put
in efforts or take initiative when
the team really needs it