An Analysis of Hitchhikers and Couch Potatoes

D. Buchner 15686086 July 22, 2011

This text is based on the paper Coping with Hitchhikers and Couch Potatoes, which is adapted from a book by Barbara Oakley [1]. The important aspects of dealing with troublesome individuals in situations that require teamwork are discussed. Ideal teammates and perfectly synchronized task management are rare luxuries. Encounters with so-called hitchhikers and couch potatoes are inevitable, making team work anything but a smooth ride! I am however, of the opinion that situations similar to those described in Oakleys paper occurring outside of the learning environment are rare. This is simply because a certain rule is generally enforced in any successful working environment. This ultimatum may seem cold and harsh to some but to me, it is short and sweet: Do your job, or it wont be yours anymore! Understandably though, this rule cannot solidly be enforced in the learning environment. Students need to grow and learn. Flaws are expected. No student is perfect. To some, a task requiring teamwork may present an opportunity of self exploration and discovery. The discovery that the world out there will not wait for you if you purposefully allow yourself to fall behind. In todays world, everybody even hitchhikers and couch potatoes should be given a fair chance at learning and bettering themselves. It is important, nevertheless, to be rm with those that prove to be dicult when it comes to teamwork. Otherwise, the team sits with an Achilles heel that retards the whole purpose of teambuilding and self-improvement. Hitchhikers are cunning actors with a forte for claiming innocence and completely justifying their apparent predicaments. They would pepper the team with tall tales and excuses. As their stereotypical name may suggest, they would avoid taking control of a task and rather ride on the backs of others. In this way, they complete the piggy-back race with little eort whilst exhausting their burdened teammates. It can be dicult to judge a persons integrity. Sometimes a crisis will jump up and it may be out of their control. They may miss a meeting, or may submit their share of work late. In this case, it is not necessary to punish this person. Rather be the enforcer of rules and adapt accordingly. You do not even have to let them know that you do not believe them even if this is the case! The reason for this is simple, and you do not have to feel guilty for it. The idea behind taking educational courses at university or other institutions is to learn, and acquire new skills. Whether you passed a course or not will show the world if you are ready. You may still be inexperienced in the subject matter, but future employers will at least be able to tell whether you are competent, and that you have acquired the necessary skills to do the job. A person who did not bring their part who did not complete their assignments does not deserve to pass. This may sound harsh, especially to those who earnestly did encounter a crisis or tragedy. However, even 2

these people did not acquire the intended skills, and are not yet t for the working environment. It is important for them to redo the course. Do not let them hitchhike. Keep driving and let them walk their way behind you. Keep in mind though that you should still be reasonable. Do not give up on someone after missing a meeting or two. Support them and help them get up to date. Keep them informed and up to speed with the teams progress. They should, however, show willingness and determination to catch up if they have fallen behind. Remember that you are doing them a favour! If they continue to fall behind further, you may be dealing with a hitchhiker, and this may be a waste of time. Another popular trademark of hitchhikers is their tendency to try and avoid contact with the group. As discussed by Oakley, they may ignore phone messages or emails. They will claim that they did not receive the messages, or that they were too busy to take your phone calls. Oakley further mentions sending emails as a possible solution to this frustrating trait of the hitchhiker. I agree that this is a good bypass to the problem, and may work in some cases. However, the hitchhiker could easily claim that he had not received your email. Sometimes it may be more eective to phone the individual and let him/her know what the teams expectations are. If the individual fails to comply, or stubbornly refuses to take phone calls, leave them a message to let them know that their name will not be put down if they do not contribute. Once again, there is no reason to rant or get angry. Stay on the road, keep driving and do not threaten to run him over in a bout of rage. Stay calm, but be rm! The couch potato is perhaps less devious in nature than the hitchhiker. If this were an action lm or book, the hitchhiker could be portrayed as the evil, manipulative mastermind. The couch potato, however, would be the weary soul who causes problems due to laziness or a short attention span. He most likely does not intend to cause any harm, but may do so by trying to push his luck. It is not necessary to see either of these types as bad people. However, both carry traits that can be devastating to successful teamwork. It is important to deal with the couch potato, just as it is with the hitchhiker. Do not simply try and bear his negligence to produce quality work. It is important to keep control of the reigns. Set clear goals and let him know what is expected of him. As mentioned before, his biggest problem is laziness. It may be a deeply ingrained issue perhaps he was raised this way. This does not mean that you should feel sorry for him. By being clear and rm, he will soon realize that it is important for him to contribute. Failure to deal with the couch potato and to confront him early on will result in larger workloads for the rest of the team. In both the cases of the hitchhiker and couch potato, it is essential to deal with these issues early on. Leaving the hitchhiker in the hopes that he will change, will only grant him a head-start. He will become rm in 3

his position, and learn exactly how far the team can be pushed without consequence. Leaving the couch potato will let him know what the bare, acceptable minimum is. This is precisely what he shall present the bare minimum. Pushing them early on and being rm and clear will set high standards. These standards will be easier to maintain and better quality of work can be expected from these individuals. It is also crucial to realize that you should under no circumstance attempt to complete the entire project on your own. You will have to learn to trust the work of others if you struggle to do so. If you do not allow others to contribute, you might bring out the inner couch potato in them. Later, you may realize that you cannot complete the task on your own. By then, it could be too late for them to get up to speed with the current progress of the task. It is also possible for you to falsely interpret your team members as being couch potatoes in such a scenario. Learn to trust others, and combine strengths. This will allow the interlacing of knowledge, skills and views; creating a stronger, more ecient group of individuals. Personally, I think that the approach in the paper is fair. I myself do not have past experiences with hitchhikers. I have encountered couch potatoes before, but have handled them incorrectly. The methods described in the paper appear to hold some ground. In my opinion, they could be eective if exercised properly. In a perfect world, tasks will be done perfectly; deadlines would be met; altercations would be avoided and everyone would be happy. However, if this were the case, there would be no opportunity to learn. Even though cunning hitchhikers and lazy coach potatoes pose problems, they force the team to unite to nd solutions. This is how knowledge in a learning environment ultimately evolves. As Joshua Dool [2] once said, Success in life comes not from having the right cards, but from playing the bad ones properly.

References
[1] B. Oakley: It Takes Two To Tango: How Good Students Enable Problematic Behavior In Teams, Journal of Student Centered Learning Volume 1, Issue 1 (2002), pg. 1927. [2] J. Dool: Joshua Dool Quotes; Friday, July 22, 2011. Available from: http://www.jimpoz.com/quotes/Speaker:Joshua Dool.