It’s that time of year again. What time you ask? 20SB Blog Swap time, of course! It’s the fourth swap and I’m so excited to be partnered up with Vicky from Utterly Confused. After reading her post, be sure to stop by her blog and check out her other fantastic posts! You can see my swap post here.
A while back I heard this guy on the radio presenting his wonderful new business. Overall it sounded quite interesting, fun, might work, might not (how would I know, I’m clueless about business), might be worth a try. But when he explained his basic assumption, it made me laugh so much, the water I was drinking came back out through my nose. Ouch. (Well, at least it wasn’t vodka this time, that stuff really burns in your nose!)
His idea is to develop a “group-beer” (that’s what he called it, I added the quotation marks). He wants anyone who’s interested to have a say in what this new beer would taste like, what ingredients to use and so on. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find his website, but that’s what he was creating. An online project, where anyone can add their own personal views on what the perfect beer should be to the mix.
To be honest, I can’t really see that working out too well. You’d almost certainly get some idiot trying to dick it up just for fun. And if you’re unlucky, you might even get an intelligent prankster, who knows what he’s talking about, making suggestions that aren’t obviously screwy, but leave you with a practically poisonous substance rather than the perfect beer. But I suppose you might get lucky.
While I’m not too optimistic about the whole thing, there’s nothing there to get my nose hurt. It’s the following assumption that has me questioning his mental capacity:
A group will always come up with a solution that is more intelligent than the most intelligent member of that group.
I might have paraphrased slightly (I didn’t write it down immediately), but that was what he said.
Has this guy ever solved a problem in a group?!
Yes, if you have a team comprised only of relatively intelligent people, odds are your solution will be even better if they work toward it together rather than separately.
But honestly? I’ve had to work in teams with people significantly less bright than I am before (there’s just no way to say that without sounding stuck up, is there?). If there are enough of them, and they’re stubborn enough in their idiocy, eventually the less mentally challenged team member(s) will give in. It’s just not worth spending what looks like turning into the rest of your life trying to convince them that their plan sucks, when you can just demonstrate it by letting them have their way, sitting back and watching the fireworks.
And in the end, it’s just a beer…
Am I wrong about this? Do you agree with him, that a group will ALWAYS get a better result than an individual? I just don’t see it.
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I’m not a big fan of group work, never have been! I think its entirely possible for an individual to come up with a far better idea than a group would. Not ALL of the time, but MOST of the time…
Paulas last blog post..WANTING SOME COMPANY . . .
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Definitely disagree.
Example: My advanced composition course in college had a large chunk of the final grade determined by a group assignment. My 3 (randomly selected) partners were non-native English speakers. Which I’m not trying to offend anyone at all… but yikes. It was difficult.
LovelyAnomalys last blog post..The best way to title this is “Ouch.”
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I think it depends on the situation, like you said. brilliant group members? well, they will probably come up with the best solution? a mix a group members? I guess whoever wins that fight determines how good the outcome/product is. in school, I always hated group assignments, UNLESS I could pick my group members! ha.
note to Jenn: I left you a blog award on my blog today. just wanted to send you some love!
Carissas last blog post..Bloggy Awards
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