• DOI:10.1177/105256298400900409
• Corpus ID: 144047578

Why Some Groups Fail: a Survey of Students' Experiences with Learning Groups

@article{Feichtner1984WhySG,
  title={Why Some Groups Fail: a Survey of Students' Experiences with Learning Groups},
  author={Susan Brown Feichtner and Elaina Davis},
  journal={Journal of Management Education},
  year={1984},
  volume={9},
  pages={58 - 73}
}

• Susan Brown Feichtner, Elaina Davis
• Published 1 November 1984
• Education
• Journal of Management Education

never really considered what a disastrous experience some frustrated students must endure, or why some students reported only positive experiences from classes utilizing group learning techniques. The issue of group learning has become an even greater concern in recent years as more college and university professors have begun to incorporate specific group assignments (i.e., assignments which require that students meet as a group and equally contribute to a final product) into their class requirements. There are several reasons for this movement toward an increased number of group assignments. In recent years there has been a marked trend for business decisions to be made within groups rather than by individuals acting solely on their own. One possible reason for this is the growth of professional management teams, together with the general movement within the business world towards more participative management styles. Arguably the most important single factor is that as the business environment has become more complex, the ability of any one person to cope with it satisfactorily has been greatly reduced. Hence, group learning is an attempt to introduce students to real-world experiences before graduation. On the surface, this sounds like a good idea; however, survey data reported in this study reveals that many things can and do go wrong when