A very difficult issue...
Hi friends from ES2007S if you are reading this I’m glad you are and I really need your help. I have a huge moral and ethics situation here that I cannot resolve. I want to hear from as many people as possible before I decide what to do tomorrow morning.
A little background…
I’ve been working in a design project which is a huge project for mechanical engineering students which spans across 2 semesters. Throughout the process I have made lots of great friends in the group. Everyone in there had great personality and I treasure all the friendships that were forged.
Last semester I had no qualms with agreeing to a common peer review because everybody did a fair amount of work. However in this semester everything changed. Different people involved themselves with different tasks and there were people in the group who contributed negligibly. Being the main designer for 2 sub systems (lighting and dashboard display of a car) had to single-handedly do all the wiring connections and connections. I could not delegate the tasks with my teammates since the systems were very complex and would take a long time to explain. On top of that since I’m only soldering 1 circuit board there is no way others could help me. I’m not upset with the fact that I had much more to do than my teammates and some of them helped me as far as they could and I’m very appreciative.
The problem…
Peer evaluation. It comes in a form a table where you need to rank everyone in the group and also give a grade to individual aspects of in terms of contribution, attitude and all. Although not openly agreed, everyone had the common understanding that peer evaluation will be done together with everyone writing the same thing similar to what we did that last semester.
I personally felt that this was really unfair because there were people who contributed much less than others. I’m not saying that I have done the most and there were certainly people who did more than me. A combined peer evaluation will simply not reflect the extra commitment and effort. The professor was not there to monitor and keep track of individual contributions and peer evaluation is one of the ways that he could have a gauge. Another grading venue which the professor will judge is through the log book which we had to submit. For my logbook I logged everything about the two sub-systems that I did and nothing more. However there are teammates who wrote about every system in the project in which some they did not even participate. A third venue of evaluation would be the presentation that we gave. But since everyone had to have something to present I had to give up 1 subsystem to another teammate.
The concern…
I’m really concerned over how the professors would have valued the amount of work that was invested by me. In all three aspects of individual grading, none reflects the fact that I’ve done a lot. After all the sweat, doing yoga in a tight compartment and soldering the millions of points that needed soldering, I really wanted to be appreciated. The only chance I have now is peer evaluation.
The Questions…
If you are in my situation
Do you message the whole group telling them that you are uncomfortable with the group decided peer evaluation?
Would you have just conformed to the crowd and go with the group decided peer evaluation?
OR
Would you have submitted an honest peer review that you have filled in to how you feel? There is no way that anyone in the team will find out.
By submitting an honest peer review is it very unethical and immoral?
If you are the professor and you realize that only 1 person out of the 8 has a peer evaluation would you mark him down?
On top of that would you even consider his ranking in the peer review since he was the only one which might reflect the fact that he might not be a team player?
Do you think that emailing the professor directly to tell the group to do the peer evaluation individually would be a good idea?
To Conclude…
I’m really in a dilemma right now. On one hand I value these friends I made and on the other it is my grades that are in concerned. I really don’t think I can accept it if I do not get rewarded for all the effort I put into this project. Am I overvaluing grades and downplaying friendship? Please give me your honest feedback and what you would do in my situation as it would influence my course of action.
Thanks in advance.
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Hey See Chai,
ReplyDelete“By submitting an honest peer review is it very unethical and immoral?”
How can something that is honest be unethical and immoral? It sounds like a paradox.
How could they have the audacity to take credit for someone else’s hard work? I think you know what to do but you are afraid of doing what you think is right. I guess you are probably feeling like you want a fair assessment for your work. By not getting it is like doing a disservice to your self. At the same time, you do not want your honesty to be the downfall of another person. I guess your biggest problem is that you are a very nice guy. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact the world needs many people like you. However, in today’s world, there are many who would take advantage of nice people.
I have felt the same way before. For me, giving an honest feedback without anyone knowing can also be tough as it would eat at my conscience even though I know what I did was right. Why don’t you talk to some of your other teammates? There might be others who feel the same way as you. Having their support would make it easier to give an honest feedback, whether it is done anonymously or not. You would not feel as bad.
If you still feel uncomfortable about it, try having a face-to-face conversation with your professor. I prefer face-to-face conversations as I find it easier to express my thoughts and it is much faster.
As for being afraid of losing them as friends, is it even worth keeping them as friends? You are afraid of choosing your grades over their friendship, but I feel that they had already chosen themselves over you. Their decision to fake their contributions was only to save themselves.
I do not think I can still be friends with them even if I choose to go with the crowd because whenever I see their faces, I would just be reminded of the fact that I was taken advantage of. It will always be at the back of my head. However, that is just me. A guy friend once told me that women tend to bare grudges. That’s true to a certain extent for me.
At the end of the day, you need to make a decision that best suits you, one that you can make peace with. It is tough but life is about making tough choices. Good luck for project. By the way, I appreciate all the effort that you had put into our project despite your high workload.
Geraldine
Hi See Chai,
ReplyDeleteI'd suggest you go talk with (not email) your professors first before bringing this issue up with your teammates. Perhaps you'd also want to approach the other teammates who have contributed as much as you did, see whether they feel the unfairness of the situation as much as you did.
I have a feeling those who put their contributions in things they never participated doesn't seem to put priority to how you feel, all they seem to care are their grades. So, I won't say it's unethical to let the lecturer know your honest feelings.
Hello See Chai! I agree with Geraldine and Valarie! Peer review is a means for us to reflect to the professor and allow him/her to see the amount of contribution from each member of the team. It shouldn't be done in a group because then everyone would be subjected to peer pressure and it won't reflect the acutal situation.
ReplyDeleteLike what Val had said, probably a chat with the people that contributed more would help you make your decision? Chill! ((: All the best!
Hey! I think you have done the review already right? I am really interested in what decision did you make. =P
ReplyDeletesame here!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHey Hey
ReplyDeleteOK here is the review results. Contrary to all the unhappiness and all I still decided to go ahead and submit an evaluation which is the same as the team.
I know all of you have replied to do otherwise but after a cost benefit analysis I decided to stick with the group.
Here is why...
I didn't want to be the only one to an honest evaluation and "betray" my friends. I cannot bring myself to do it when I see them in front of me.
Since the professor will know he will know that I'm a very anti social person. I don't want that to affect the grade that I get. Besides, being the professor I will also not base my grading on one persons honest evaluation.
I wanted to keep the other friendship. No doubt there was someone who did less but others who I treasure will also hate me if they knew I submitted something different.
The only cost to me here is my grades and effort recognition. But in the end perhaps grades really isn't as important as friendship.
Well 1 thing that I did do was to wake up really early in the morning and go to the lab to continue updating and write more into my logbook. I believe if I can write a good logbook that reflects my effort then it would be fine to void the peer evaluation.
I would have adviced a friend otherwise but I still went ahead in doing the group evaluation. I know there is a sacrifice in personal interest here in terms of grades but at least I'll be able to sleep better and also face my friends when we run into each other in the future.
Perhaps I was blinded by grades which on hindsight isnt that important at all. Wgat's important is I've learnt something.
Thanks for expressing concern girls. Your responses let me know that you care and that really touched me.
Thanks again. Cheers
Haha! Yay! It's ok! (((: As long as you are able to live with the decisions that you make we are happy for you too! (((:
ReplyDeleteYes as long as you're cool with whichever decision you made, it's a good decision.
ReplyDeleteThere's a Chinese phrase I always keep in mind: 人不為己天誅地滅 (Devil take the hindmost). Every man for himself. The cruel reality is that sometimes it is not worth being the good guy. Being selfless is just a fine line from being a easy target for bullying.
The world will be much prettier if we all learn to practice 己所不慾勿施於人 (Do as you would be done by). To me, this is too ideal, too unachievable. I'm not a saint and I can't be one either; because I admit I identify more with the former phrase. Protect my own rights!
Yikes did I just revealed my twisted mentality??!