Group Work (the dark side of studying)

Next week im supposed to hand in and present a marketing plan. We have been placed in groups by my lecturer (wanted to choose group myself but he wanted us to mix). My group consisted of Ilknur (Managing Director), Zubair (Marketing Manager, formerly the production manager), Nabel (Finance Manager), Usman (Franchise Manager, we had to make that up because there was an extra person), and myself (Production Manager, formerly the marketing manager).

With 1 week to go the group now consists of Ilknur, Nabel and myself. Usman was there the day we formed groups and then disappeared and turned up today asking what was going on, so he is fired (he offered typing services, which were regected by the MD, and rightly so).

Zubair is not enthusiastic, he doesnt seem to want to take part and doesnt make any effort to contribute. Whenever we have a group meeting he makes an excuse for why he cant come and doesnt even seem appologetic. He comes late to lectures then dissapears during the break only to reappear 5 mins before the class ends (he goes to play snooker). He was the production manager but said he couldnt do it because he didnt know anything about the bussiness (a cosmetic dentistery clinic, very high class) and wanted to do siomething else, so we swapped and he still doesnt seem to know what needs to be done. I think this is mainly because we didnt go with his idea of distributing international phone cards, but we felt there was nothing we could do with this, they're all pretty much the same. He has been fired (officially today).

This is the problem with group work, you have to rely on other people who dont know in most cases. If they dont pull there wait either the groups suffers or every on else does the work and they get the credit that comes along with it. Everyone ends up with the same mark no matter what their contribution. You feel bad if you have to kick some one out of the group, but cheated if you keep them in (what a dilema).

I think its time that a new system was put in place. Members of the grouop have to show how they contributed to the final product and be marked accordingly, ensuring all freeloaders pull their weight.