Please, write a discussion post about the Topic/Statement below (200 words) and respond to the two classmate discussion posts (150 words each). You can make up an experience you had working on a team.
Topic/Statement: Describe an experience that you have had working on a team. As part of your response discuss how the team was evaluated. Also discuss whether or not the free-rider problem existed on your team. If it did exist also discuss how/if the problem was addressed. If the problem did not exist discuss why not or how the problem was managed.
(1 or 2 Citations needed for this discussion post)
Classmate discussion posts: (Please, the responses need to be a discussion, not an evaluation. You can agree with them and add new information regarding the topic in discussion. No citation required for classmates responses)
Discussion 1:
Brittany Russel
In one of my early undergraduate classes, I had to engage in a group project. This was a class early in the academic program so most students had to take this course, which means that most did not have a vested interest in this class. I was one of four team members and ultimately, I was the only one that did the work on the project. They did contribute towards the idea, but when it came to generating content, it fell on my shoulders. In order to assess points fairly, each team member anonymously filled out a questionnaire rating the other’s performance. I did discuss with the professor the group dynamics and he acknowledge that my classmates were not as committed however nothing could be done. I just hope their grade was reflected properly
I think these types of group projects are why most of us grumble about them. We have all been part of a group that had free-riders. I will say that as I have furthered my studies, the free-rider problem has diminished almost entirely. Yes, there may be individuals that do participate more, but everyone contributes their bare minimum.
References
Brickley, J., Smith, C., & Zimmerman, J XXXXXXXXXXManagerial Economics & Organizational Architecture (6th Edition). New York City: McGraw-Hill Education.
Discussion 2:
Melody Chamberlin
Typically, in organizations, the free-rider conflict occurs because each person hopes that the others will step up and do enough work for everyone (Brickley, Smith and Zimmerman, XXXXXXXXXXI work in a department of about 120 employees with eight different managers. Since we are in a call center environment and work tasks out of a ‘bucket,’ some employees believe that if they do what is minimally needed to get off the phone and onto the next call, then their work is complete. Many people in this department have the free-rider approach, and if it is “not addressed proactively, tends to erode the long-term motivation of hard-working employees” (Handling Common Issues, n.d.).
I am cu
ently working in the entry-level team within the claims department, and the free-rider problem has a minimal impact in this work environment. Being aware that the issue exists within the general claims department, the managers for our level ensure that each adjuster is handling their worklist, most of the week. On slower days, we do assist other teams. This can be a challenge because it’s hard to tell if another adjuster is working on the same tasks as you. Recently, we implemented a procedure that requires accountability from each adjuster. Also, several adjusters would not work on the side projects, as it was not being tracked by management. Now, the work is clearly separated, so, at the end of the day, each adjuster’s tasks are expected to be completed. It results in accountability from each employee.
It is beneficial to be proactive about the concern of free-riding because “free-riding in open source communities leads to overworked and underpaid individuals, and eventually to burnout” (Whitacre, XXXXXXXXXXThis does not make for a positive work environment, and success is hard to achieve in these scenarios.
Brickley, J., Smith, C., & Zimmerman, J XXXXXXXXXXManagerial economics and organizational architecture (6th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill/Irwin.
Handling Common Issues. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2019, from
https:
canvas.uw.edu/courses/1076981/pages/handling-common-issues
Whitacre, C. (2016, November 15). Addressing open source's free-rider problem.
Retrieved from Open Source. https:
opensource.com/open-organization/16/11/open-source-free-rider-problem