3.2 Respect

A good team member needs to respect the opinions of other members. Respect does not imply agreement. If you respect the opinion of another person, it does not mean that you are backing down from your own (different) opinion. All that (respecting the opinion of someone else) means is that you understand that people form opinions based on their personal experiences, and people can have vastly different personal experiences.

In a situation where two members have different opinions, whether there is respect can lead to very different outcomes. Without respect, the members can get into a heated (illogical) discussion, which can eventually lead to the team falling apart. When a team falls apart, the project cannot be completed, which ultimately ends up with bad grades for everyone.

With respect, however, the members listen each other out, and try to understand why the other person comes to his/her opinion. This gives the disagreeing members a chance to understand the rationale behind their opinions. This often leads to a compromise that makes both parties happy. In some cases, the compromise that results in different opinions is better than either original opinions because it incorporates the experiences and thinking of two individuals instead of one.