A Knight's Ethical Dilemma: Teambuilding

[b l a n k]

In addition to the class I've been taking to learn the art of computer programming (thought I should take something fun after earning my degree and while I'm searching for a decent job), I've been taking a class about the principles of business and finance. I was told, "You can't get out of college without knowing how a business works."

Last week was devoted to classmates being divided into teams to tackle a team-based project, but my team members were not as cooperative as they could have been, and not one was half as proactive as I was. I wanted to report their irresponsible behavior to my professor, but I didn't want to lose the trust of my team. Then again, one of the teammates seemed to get a little testy when she talked about how I write vs. how she writes, and I do not particularly like it when people question my integrity as a writer/editor devoted to his craft.

So, put yourself in my sabatons (i.e., knight shoes). What would you do if you had teammates that were non-cooperative and unresponsive to emails as well as deadlines that you and they have agreed on? How would you motivate them to work more harmoniously and responsibly as a team without losing their trust?

[smol Kat]

Report their behavior to the professor after the fact. Do the best you can to get everything done in time. If they don't respond to emails, talk to them in person.

I have had this kind of thing happen in two major instances. The first time we actually got to grade our teammates and so I simply graded them accurately. It was nice. The second time, I talked to them about it; one did nothing but make excuses and the other apologized, said he would do more, and then fell off the earth. So I submitted those specific issues, along with how much each of them contributed (the one making excuses did literally nothing and the other dude did like 10% of one part of the overall project- one other person did a lot of work too and I made sure to emphasize that). The key is to be up front with your teammates, but rational, and if they don't improve be honest with the professor.