| Abstract |
Outline of the Initiative A peer survey component was introduced to the team assignments in the Graduate Business School of Griffith College, Dublin, during the second semester of the 2010/2011 academic year. The modules Corporate Responsibility: Business Ethics and International Operations Management which form part of the PG dip in International Business Management both assessed through team projects and included a peer survey element for the first time. This initiative falls under the category of Authentic Assessment. Motivation for the Introduction of the Initiative As a teacher and a specialist in business ethics, I have long had concerns about the effectiveness of group project assessment and in particular how fair it is and how fair it is perceived to be. Since it is posited (Trevino et al 1999) that perceived fairness is a key indicator of whether employees regard a company as ethical, it is fitting that fairness is of particular concern for assessment of this class. My concerns led me to research group assessment methodologies for the Level 9 award in Training and Education. This research opened my mind to new ideas and best practice examples. A further spur to action was student feedback at the November 2010 course committee meeting of the Graduate Business School (GBS). Student representatives expressed frustration with what they saw as the unfairness of assessment with regard to team projects. They felt that some students who were less focused on high marks were taking advantage of other students and that there was an unfair division of labour. Notes from the meeting regarding this issue were recorded as follows: A team mark versus a team component mark for the team plus an identification of individual contribution as long as it doesn't become a series of three or four individual pieces of work and one common piece written at the end by one person the marking scheme has to preserve the team or group nature of the project. Following the meeting I made a proposal to the GBS Academic Advisor that a peer survey element could be introduced to the two modules in which assessment took place through team projects, Corporate Responsibility: Business Ethics and International Operations Management. |
