by J. Biggs and C. Tang, Maidenhead, England,
Open University Press, 2007, 360 pp., £29.99, ISBN-13: 978-0-335-22126-4

Teaching for quality learning at university

https://isiarticles.com/bundles/Article/pre/pdf/42550.pdf

The effect of website features in online relationship marketing

Effective Web Presence Solutions for Small Businesses: Strategies for Successful Implementation

The engagement of home-based businesses in the digital economy

Accounting education has been criticised for ill-equipping graduates for professional employment, with calls for accounting students to acquire a broader range of skills. Working in teams is an imp...

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Implementing team-based learning (TBL) in accounting courses

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that examines an under-researched area, the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) in Australian home-based businesses (HBB). Design/methodology/approach – HBB constitute a large part of the economy, yet little is known of how they use ICT to improve their business operations. The study involved a case study comprising interviews with 30 business operators in the Western region of Melbourne, a major Australian city. The findings were analysed using a unique approach to Rogers’ (2003) Diffusion of Innovations, employing the innovation-decision process as a lens for the analysis. Findings – The study findings suggest that ICT application adoption in HBB participants is not uniform, with adoption of applications such as e-mail differing from adoption of newer applications, such as social networking. ICT use needs to be considered according to individual ICT applications and explained in the context of particular HBB. The study cont...

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Examining ICT application adoption in Australian home-based businesses: An innovation-decision process approach

Purpose




The ability to work effectively in a team is highly regarded by employers of accounting graduates, yet they have expressed concern that many university graduates lack teamwork skills. Furthermore, in the context of the accounting curriculum, a “conceptual vagueness” surrounds a workplace-relevant definition of teamwork. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of the healthcare sector where teamwork skills are required to be taught and assessed as part of accreditation processes, this study investigates what teamwork means from the perspective of accounting employers.




Design/methodology/approach




Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of employers to acquire descriptions of teamwork observed from graduate recruits. Using an analyst triangulation process, resulting teamwork items were analysed and emerging themes were identified.




Findings




Teamwork in accounting work contexts were identified, confirmed and explained. Mapped against the healthcare teamwork theories, many teamwork items from the interview analysis clustered around the mutual support competency and the dimensions of traits and motives.




Research Limitations/implications




The study was restricted to employers collaborating in one university’s placement program. Further research could investigate more diverse employer groups, determine importance ranking of identified teamwork themes and seek explanations for differences among different employer groups.




Practical implications




An enhanced description of teamwork is significant in supporting student awareness and informing teaching innovations/assessments of this generic skill in the accounting curriculum.




Originality/value




The paper provides a unique contribution of evidence-based descriptions of teamwork expected of accounting graduates, thus addressing conceptual and practical ambiguity of the meaning of teamwork skills in the accounting profession.

Teamwork from accounting graduates: What do employers really expect?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on the innovative employment of students as technology mentors as part of a Blended Learning Program (BLP) that supported a group of owner-managers of small businesses to adopt appropriate information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance their work practices. Design/methodology/approach – This discussion uses various evaluations undertaken throughout the project to examine why the technology mentor role is vital in supporting small businesses to develop digital literacies. The participants’ self-reporting of their ICT skills as well as their progress in using ICT was also assessed by technology mentors in the course of the program and reported in mentor reflections. Academic staff also evaluated the performances of technology mentors in relation to each business. Findings – Participants in the BLP pilot program singled out the technology mentors as being essential in promoting their uptake of ICT and in their ability to use specific technologies ...

Technology mentors: enablers of ICT uptake in Australian small business

The effective use of information and communications technologies (ICT) can benefit most small businesses. This article examines the design, development and delivery of a pilot blended learning program for entrepreneurial learning that targets the use of ICT by tradespeople. The study involves a case study of tradespeople in Australia who participated in a program designed to build their capacity to identify, use and evaluate ICT to enhance their business practices. The program combined traditional instructional approaches (through face-to-face and online sessions for delivering basic ICT concepts to participants) with learner-centred approaches (through a combination of student mentor visits and practical exercises to identify applications that were context-specific for each participant's business). A blended learning assessment framework is employed throughout the article to inform and evaluate various aspects of the program. Project participants rated the face-to-face sessions, student mentor visits and practical exercises as very effective. However, some participants could not free up the time from their employment to participate in all of the face-to-face classes. From a theoretical perspective, an amended blended learning assessment framework for the delivery of ICT programs to entrepreneurs is presented and potential lessons for the delivery of ICT concepts to entrepreneurs in the trades and similar vocations are proposed.

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Interventions in entrepreneurial learning: Blended learning and ICT capacity

This paper investigates customer relationship management (CRM) technology's value creation potential through service quality (SERVQUAL) considerations. Few studies have looked into the impact of CRM applications on service quality, an established antecedent of successful service business relationships. A survey and interviews with maintenance service customers in Singapore affirmed that functional service quality (SERVQUAL) is a significant factor of customer perceived value. Potential CRM applications features are generally perceived to be value-adding and those that are associated with the SERVQUAL service responsiveness dimension are rated most. Systematic and accessible customer information to facilitate response to service requests and issues is highly-valued. The expeditious communication of issue resolution is another favoured CRM feature. The results provide intelligence to service providers on the design of CRM-enabled customer service programmes. Future research can investigate other industrial services categories/other markets as well as other explanatory factors for CRM value perceptions.

Rafael Paguio

Papers

Examining ICT application adoption in Australian home-based businesses: An innovation-decision process approach

Teamwork from accounting graduates: What do employers really expect?

Technology mentors: enablers of ICT uptake in Australian small business

Interventions in entrepreneurial learning: Blended learning and ICT capacity

CRM technology: can adoption increase service quality and perceived value in maintenance services?