In this blog post, we will examine why living right ultimately benefits both individuals and society through the issue of free riding in group projects.
Group work is one of the essential requirements of college life. Before examining the various aspects of group work in detail, we must first define what a free rider is. The term “free rider” refers to someone who rides a vehicle without paying the fare. Free riders in group work behave in a similar manner. People who do not do their share of the work that everyone must do together, but instead take advantage of the efforts of others, are called free riders. Those who do not make any effort and may even cause harm to others while receiving the same grades as everyone else cause many problems in college life. We will present the most effective ways to prevent free riding and explain in more detail the fundamental problem of free riding, which is the reason why we must live correctly.
Group assignments are not just activities for the sake of getting credits. They are valuable opportunities for students to experience in advance the importance of teamwork, cooperation, and responsibility that they will encounter in society. Through group activities, we learn to communicate with others, coordinate opinions, and strive to achieve common goals. These experiences cultivate virtues that are very important in social life. However, free riders ruin the essence of group work and cause frustration for others. Various methods are needed to prevent free riders and make group work more effective.
There are various ways to prevent free riding, but I will explain the most effective method, which is called “group score sharing.” As in other classes, scores are given to each group, but since the group score is given as a whole, the group members must agree on how to divide the score. For example, suppose that the score for a group presentation is 10 points per person, and there are seven group members. The maximum score is 70 points, and if the professor gives a perfect score of 70 points, all seven group members will receive a perfect score. However, if the professor gives a score of 50 points, for example, the seven members must divide the 50 points among themselves. For example, the points could be divided as 10/10/6/6/6/6/6.
Let me explain the advantages of this method. There are two main advantages. First, if you don’t work hard, you will be resented by other group members when the group score is distributed, so you have no choice but to work hard. If you lose contact before the presentation or don’t show up for meetings, the group leader will record everyone’s attendance at each meeting and disclose it later, so group members who didn’t work hard will have no excuse. Second, the person who did all the work will receive the corresponding score. If there is a group of six people where one person does all the work and the other five do nothing, and there is another group of six people who all work hard together, then naturally the group of six who worked hard together will receive a higher score. It is only natural that the group with only one person who did well will receive a lower score. However, that one person who worked hard will receive all the points. For example, if a team of six members received a total score of 30 points, the one who worked hard would receive a perfect score of 10 points, and the five who were lazy and did not do their work would receive 4 points each.
This is where the problem and the biggest disadvantage of this method become apparent. The limitation of this method is when the team member who worked hard is not the team leader. Assuming that the team leader tries hard and leads the team conscientiously, this method can be successful. It is also based on the assumption that people have a certain level of conscience. I believe that open voting is the most effective way to overcome this limitation. Rather than voting for the person who did the worst, the person who is considered to have made the most effort is ranked, and the scores are added up. As long as the other group members do not give low scores to the one member who worked hard, statistically, the person who worked the hardest will receive the highest score.
We have taken a closer look at free riding, and what we can see from this explanation is that the fundamental problem with free riding is not living correctly. In a sense, free riding is a phenomenon that arises from differences in individual values regarding the reasons for and responsibilities of living correctly. Those who engage in free riding can be seen as having the idea that they do not need to live correctly. However, unlike them, I believe there are reasons to live right. First, the reason why many people do not live right, that is, why they engage in irresponsible behavior such as free riding, can be seen as a way to secure their own interests. However, living right actually has a significant impact on an individual’s success in life. By behaving in a righteous manner, you can ultimately accumulate virtue for many people. Such behavior is like taking out insurance for the future. You cannot live only for the present. Even if you suffer a loss in the short term, helping others and acting correctly will bring you more benefits in the long run. If you show a cooperative attitude, the other party is more likely to act altruistically. It is natural to feel more affection and gratitude toward someone who has helped you even once. Of course, not everyone who receives help will repay you. However, people who live righteously and know how to help others are much more likely to receive help when they ask for it than those who do not live righteously and cause trouble for others. The same applies to the method of “sharing group scores.” You could go out and have fun during the time you spend on the assignment and invest more time in yourself, but by sacrificing momentary gains and participating in group activities, you will gain the trust of your group members and ultimately receive a higher score than those who ignored the group activities.
Another point to consider here is that what you learn through group activities is not simply how to complete an assignment, but the importance of human relationships. The process of cooperation, communication, and building trust is a very important factor in forming an individual’s social capital, regardless of whether or not the task is successful. Success in group activities ultimately depends on how well you form and maintain these human relationships. This is an important lesson that can be applied to society as a whole. People who demonstrate good teamwork are always welcome and have more opportunities.
The second reason is that living right is essential for maintaining social stability. Let’s look at a world where no one can bend their arms. In a certain village, no one can bend their arms. This makes it very difficult for them to eat. In an ideal world, two or more hungry people would help each other and eat together in a warm atmosphere. Looking at this in more detail, there are two choices for each person in the situation of eating rice. The first is, as mentioned earlier, to help each other and feed each other. The second choice is to ignore the other person’s hunger and walk away. In this situation, four things can happen. Let’s call the first person A and the second person B. In the first situation, A helps B, and B also helps A. In the second situation, A does not help B, and only B helps A. In the third situation, A helps B, and B only receives help. In the last situation, both ignore each other and do not help anyone. If everyone acts immorally and does not help others for their own benefit, everyone in the village will soon become selfish. When that happens, there will be no one to help you when you are in trouble. By not helping each other, no one will be able to eat, and eventually the village will be destroyed. Spreading selfish behavior like this will eventually come back to hurt you. Without even looking at society, if you apply this to group work, if everyone is selfish and passes their work onto others, eventually no one will do the work and the whole team will fail. If you think, “Someone else will do it,” that irresponsibility will come back to you someday.
In group assignments, which are unavoidable in college, you will inevitably encounter free riders. There are always selfish people who do not do their work, shift all the responsibility onto others, and try to get the same grade. As a way to prevent such free riders, I proposed and explained the method of “group score sharing,” which is a way of dividing scores. I took a closer look at the situation that leads to free riders and answered the question, “Is there a reason to live right?” If free riding continues, eventually the free riders themselves will suffer the most. Furthermore, if the number of people who do not live right and only cause harm to others increases, society will eventually lose its stability and collapse. Even if you suffer a loss in the moment, if you act correctly and make a small sacrifice, you will reap much greater benefits in the future. And it is only when these virtues accumulate that society can maintain stability.
Finally, universities are places that go beyond simply imparting knowledge to students and instill moral values and a sense of responsibility. The experience gained through group activities plays an important role in helping students mature as members of society. In the process of solving the free rider problem, students learn the importance of responsibility, cooperation, and trust, which will enable them to contribute to creating a better society. These experiences at university will serve as important lessons that will last a lifetime. Through group activities, we can take small steps toward creating a better society.
