In the last couple days I became conflicted with an issue that distracted me from my everyday normalcy, leaving me to question the true meaning of ethics and who has them. Let me start at the beginning.
I am currently still in attending school to obtain a degree and in each class we have Learning Teams, which is basically a small group of people with whom you have to do a group project. Our weeks start from Tuesday to the following Monday when the team assignment is due. One person on my team took the initiative or the lead to start this week's project and everyone agreed to it, meaning myself and the other two members. Then on Sunday, less than forty-eight hours from our assignment's deadline, one member decides he needed to change how we were doing the assignment. I had a problem with this because he did not think his strategy through. The team member that started the project was busy at work most of the weekend and said she would not be available much to check the assignment online. The other member was, at that time, in the hospital sick so she would not be checking the assignment often. I had half of my part done, which had already taken a couple hours and also had other obligations that required my time. So unless this individual wanted to write the assignment alone he should have mentioned something earlier so modifications could be assessed on the assignment even if he had already agreed prior to what was initially set up.
Here is where my questioning started. In a professional manner I told him that it was rude for him to change the assignment on the team when people were missing and would not be able to check the assignment to give them sufficient time for them to finish their part. I asked him next time to change things earlier and then to clarify parts on his changed assignment as I did not understand exactly what he wanted. Instead he got mad, deciding that taking a personal 'jab' in my direction was most appropriate for the conversation. Two things popped into my mind after he posted his reply. One, how is your post following the school's code of ethics? Two, I wanted to know what gave him the right to think that his idea was superior to the rest of the team that he had to degrade members when they challenged him. I looked up his profile to find he had two BAs, an Associates degree, and a Master's thus far. I am going to shake my head at this one.
I could have replied immaturely, matching his demeanor and level, but I firmly stated that next time he wants to change things to do it earlier to allow sufficient time for change and quality in the assignment and to clarify his idea. Instead he digressed and removed his outline/ideas. The only thought I had was, "How childish?"
In this scenario, it is funny to me how someone so "smart" could be so "dumb." Let me try this again, a person who is scholastically intelligent does not always have common sense or common decency. I would hope a person of his intellectual stature could have been mature enough to at least said something to the effect of, "I'm sorry this is such short notice. I would like you to do blah blah blah to your part. Does that help?" In a corporate business/organization is that not how a leader would lead? To sit there and verbally throw a temper tantrum from a person with that much education saddens me. Just because you may have more scholastic education or more education does not give a person a right to be rude and inconsiderate to others.
The event left me so angry that I discussed it with a friend who gave the response, "Well, remember that as you are soon to be one of those highly educated people [when you get your Masters degree]." All I have to say is, "Yeah and I will be smart enough not to disrespect others, hence I did not insult my team member." I will say though, sometimes it is hard to take the 'high road.' At times it can be really steep.
