P11227 Formula SAE Exhaust Acoustic Tuning

Team Values & Ethics

P11227 – Formula SAE Exhaust Acoustic Tuning

Chris Vanwagenen, Bradley Fiedler, Kyle Desrosiers, Greg Wodzicki

Realizing Justice

1)Individuals within the group who have a specialty or a particular interest in any aspect of the project or in any task should be allowed first choice of these aspects. For example, if one’s interest lies in signal processing, tasks which involve signal processing should be offered to this individual first (if there are enough tasks to divide among the group). The team members must all agree to this task assignment. In the case of two individuals with similar interests, the task will be divided or combined when possible.

2)If there are not enough tasks to divide among all members evenly, or some hold significantly more weight or would take significantly more time, an approximate schedule will be developed for each task and the tasks will be divided among members as fairly as possible.

3)Members who are believed to be “pulling less weight” than another will be dealt with in a diplomatic manner. If one member believes this to be true, he or she shall voice this concern to the other members. If the members agree, the group shall voice their concern to the group member believed to be failing to do his or her fair share. If this does not remedy the situation in a reasonable amount of time, group members may volunteer to help with the task that is falling behind, or may try to split the task amongst everyone.

Realizing Responsibility

1)In collective group work, the team leader will be the leader of the group. It is his or her responsibility to make sure each member is contributing, and to encourage those who are not to participate. It is also his or her responsibility to make sure all required tasks are being accomplished. This is also true in work done individually, but as part of the team.

2)To avoid groupthink, one member will be selected during each meeting to play devil’s advocate. This person will hold this responsibility for the length of the meeting. This position will be rotated each meeting, so that each member has an equal chance to voice concerns. Additionally, if any single member believes an idea to be in some way flawed (due to scientific reasons, not personal convictions), he or she shall make this concern known up front, explain his or her reasoning, and attempt to work with other group members towards a solution.

3)The team leader will also function as the group’s spokesperson for general information. If asked about information pertaining to a specific topic that only some group members worked on, these members will be considered the greatest source of knowledge and thus will become the spokespeople for this information. If the team leader is at any time uncertain about facts, figures, or the like, he or she shall ask the members directly responsible for this task, or shall confer with the group.

4)Roles and responsibilities regarding deliverables and project work will be assigned as outlined in the previous section. Once all pertinent responsibilities have been assigned, the team leader shall review all assignments to be sure all members are in agreement. If any questions arise, the team member with questions shall ask for clarification immediately.

Reasonableness

1)To encourage group member participation, all members should be “allowed the floor” when sharing an idea or concept. They should be allowed to speak freely until the conclusion of their presentation of ideas, at which point other members may ask questions or request clarifications. No ideas shall be classified as “bad”, “stupid” or the like.

2)Any disagreements will be restrained until the conclusion of a group member’s presentation of ideas or concepts, at which point they can be freely shared. However, any disagreements with the actual concept must be backed up in a reasonable fashion and explained so that the other group members may understand the concern. If other members see the validity of this concern, all members must work together to come up with a solution.

3)If necessary, a pro- and con- list for each idea may be devised by the team as a whole, and concepts will be chosen based on these lists. This allows for the most unbiased selection of an idea between several good ideas.

Academic Honesty

1)It is expected that all group members will avoid plagiarism and academic dishonestly throughout the course of the project. If any plagiarism is suspected or found, it will be brought to the attention of the member who is believed to have committed it, and he or she will be asked to remedy it. If this is not possible, the team as a whole will work to remove all plagiarized material.

Avoiding Abilene Paradox

1)After each meeting, members will each submit an anonymous survey detailing any lingering concerns or views he or she did not wish to place before the group. The team will then discuss each survey as a group, and attempt to remedy the situation. Any objections to a group decision should be included on this survey.

2)As stated in previous sections, each team member will play the role of “devil’s advocate” in a rotating fashion, to allow for open discussion.

Avoiding Groupthink

1)All objections, doubts, etc. should be shared as soon as possible and recorded in detail. Each group member is encouraged to share all doubts, even if he or she considers them small.

2)Faculty members, group members from the previous Senior Design team, and any other necessary persons shall be invited to all group meetings and encouraged to attend. This will allow for different opinions and constructive criticism.

Avoiding Polarization

1)Negotiation will take place whenever possible, to allow for all members to have their ideas incorporated and the final project to be as successful as possible.