A role is a task someone agrees to take on. Allocating roles means matching tasks to people before work begins, then recording what happened, which may differ from the plan. This lesson uses an invented team and an original practice project.
How do you allocate roles fairly?
List the tasks first, not the people. Then give each task one named owner and say what “done” looks like for it.
Check the load by counting tasks per person and asking whether any task has no owner or two. Agree the plan in a shared note so everyone has the same version.
Worked example
The invented team has three members and an aim of comparing two explanations for canteen food waste. They list four tasks.
| Task | Owner | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| Weigh waste each day | Aina | Five daily totals entered |
| Find two sources with different explanations | Wei Jie | Two sources noted with author and date |
| Keep the shared log | Kumar | Entry after each meeting |
| Draft the comparison | Wei Jie and Aina | One page, each part labelled |
The last row has two owners, so they write who drafts which part. At the end, the team writes what really happened: “Aina weighed on four days; Kumar covered Thursday because Aina was away.” The record shows the plan and the change.
A plausible mistake
A student writes in a reflection: “I led the whole team and did most of the research.” The log shows two sources found by Wei Jie and weights recorded by Aina. The claim cannot be supported, and it describes other people’s work as the writer’s own.
The correction is to name the real contribution, for example: “I kept the log and recorded the changes after each meeting.” It sounds smaller, but it is truthful and can be backed by the log.
Self-check
1. A task has no owner. What is the risk?
Show answer
It may not be done, or two people may do it without knowing. Each task needs one named owner and a clear finish point.2. A plan says you will interview five people, but you interview three. How should you describe this?
Show answer
Say that you planned five and completed three, and give the reason, such as two people being unavailable. Then note how that affects what the findings can show.3. Rewrite “We all did everything equally” so it is more useful.
Show answer
Name the tasks and owners, for example "Aina weighed waste, Wei Jie found sources, Kumar kept the log", and add any changes to the plan.Where does this lead next?
Roles only stay honest if you keep a record, which is the focus of recording actual decisions and changes. The lesson before this one is clarifying the aim.
A teacher can help you practise describing contributions accurately, without writing your account for you. This is part of our online one-to-one Global Perspectives tuition.