Ethics Assignment #3: Mutual Accountability in Group Work

Ah, groupwork, both the boost and bane in a college student's existence. When working with a dynamic, interactive group, a student can feel a "boost" intellectually (and not to mention gradewise). But I'm sure you faithful readers have been in "bad" groups. There's several personas to the bad group member. Let's see, there's the "Apathetic Andy," the one who comes to class only for the tests (if even that). There's the "Superior Sam," with the mentality of "I'm only taking this class for (fill-in-the-blank), so it's not going to make a difference in my future as a doctor/engineer/lawyer/pharmacist/professional college student anyway." Finally, there's "Half-Effort Holly," the one who waits until the last minute to turn in her share (a share that's usually incorrect and sloppy anyway).

But no matter how sloppy, apathetic, or maddeningly superior your team members may be, are you all mutually responsible for your work? Of course. There is really no excuse. Of course, you can inform your superior of the team member's lack of participation, but that's no reason to produce a measly share anyway. Do university professors turn in a half-finished textbook to the editors? Does a team of lawyers produce just half a case? Does a team of surgeons only perform part of the surgery? Of course not.

Pride in one's work takes precendence to turning in a half-finished project, assignment, or the like. The reprecussions may come later for the team member who didn't complete his share-whether it be a poor grade or failure to get a promotion.

Members of a team can strive to take care of the issue at the beginning of the project. Assign due dates and member accountability, what each member is responsible for. There's always a zealous team member/team cop on the team-let that person push the slacking member into working. Working together can never be perfect, especially if you have Andy, Sam, and Holly on your team, but by lining out your expectations early, you can hopefully prevent some heartache and produce a superior product.