Last semester, I took up a module that required me to form a
group to work on a proposal. Although I signed up alone, I found 3 friends and
we decided to come together to work on the proposal. The group was working
well; we were enthusiastic and had high expectations of it. Two weeks into the
semester, a girl, Jane, requested to join the group. After the formalities, we thought
that she was suitable for the design section for the proposal as her major is
in the same discipline. We welcomed her into the group and reassigned the
workload.
Everyone was busy with work, and felt that the most feasible
way to complete this proposal was to do each section individually and do meet-up
regularly to comment on each other’s work. As Jane was from the Arts faculty
and the rest of us Science, the best place to meet up would be Science. No
effort was made on her part to be punctual, and gave many excuses. Besides
meeting up, we also created an online portal to communicate and share resources.
She failed to update her work online and was seldom involved with conversation
as well.
The group was rather annoyed with her actions, and even
contemplated reporting it to the lecturer. However, we were concerned that this
would reflect badly on our team. She managed to turn up for the final draft
discussion, hence we dropped the idea of reporting her. We felt that Jane’s
work was unsatisfactory and decided to redo her part, which eventually got us
good grades. I felt that Jane did not deserve this grade; moreover, we did not
hear from her again.
The group chose to avoid a head-on confrontation with Jane,
but what could we have done better?
Hey Li Ying,
ReplyDeleteYour group was really nice to Jane in the sense that despite her laid-back work attitude, you guys still gave her chances, one after another which eventually led her to achieving the same grade as all of you.
In my opinion, although it is right to give her a second chance, I find that your group gave her far too many chances. Also, her actions would be what I describe as 'testing water'. She first started off with being late and even gave excuses - this already reflected that she wasn't sorry about it. Upon seeing that the rest of you did not chide her for that, she continued with her nonchalant and indifferent work attitude constantly and as usual, all of you did not reprimand her. This ended up like a snowball effect and a vicious cycle - in which you guys were constantly angry with her and Jane always giving the 'heck-care' attitude.
I think you guys could have done better in the aspect of not being so soft-hearted and letting it pass so easily. Afterall, there is no free lunch in this world and it is only unfair for all of you to do her part and she still gets the credit for doing nothing. You all should have firstly, laid down the goals of the team to be accomplished and once Jane's actions hinders the progress of the group, point it out to her that it is affecting everyone and explain to her firmly the importance of everyone working together as a team. Give her a chance if it is the first time.
However, if she still consistently behaves in that manner, your group should have recognised it as a major problem and report the matter to the module coordinator directly. Subsequently, ask the module coordinator to step in to handle the situation and also for a change of group member if necessary. I disagree with your group's point of view that it would reflect badly on your group if you were to report the matter to the module coordinator. I believe as an experienced Professor himself/herself, he/she would have seen many of such cases and hence your group's case most probably won't be the first one he or she has handled.
In general, in future if you were to encounter any more of such problems (I hope not), I suggest you take my points into consideration when handling such situations. It is always better to voice out your thoughts and ensure that everyone contributed equally than look back in retrospect and feel bitter and unfair about the situation when you could have salvaged the ending earlier.
Cheers,
Rachel
Hey Rachel
ReplyDeleteYou provided a very good overview of the situation, and i'm sure the group could have handled it better if we had your suggestion at that time. I agree with you that such team members that "leech" of the rest of the team should not be tolerated after the second chance. However, the main concern was straining of relationship, hence kept us from reporting her. I will try to voice out my thoughts when the problem is first detected the next time, to prevent it from snowballing.
Thanks!
Liying
Hi Li Ying,
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for your terrible team-project experience in the past. I'm sure Rachel and I will give you a much better one:)
There are 2 things I feel that your group could have probably improved.
Firstly, maybe you guys could have set the meeting place in FASS once in a while for Jane's convenience. We all know how terrible NUS's bus service can be. Sometimes it's just impossible to get on a bus. Besides, FASS is indeed pretty far away from FOS. If Jane had a lesson just before the meeting, I think you guys could probably show her some more understanding about her being late.
Also, I guess you guys could have talked to her more about her not putting enough efforts. There might be some personal or family reasons for her at first. But if you guys showed your unsatisfaction too soon, she might be unwilling to put in efforts into the project the next time. And here goes the vicious cycle. So there may be some communication problems between you and her. That could be another area for improvements.
That's all I can think about right now. Thanks for sharing your life lesson!
Yours,
Maolei