Exploring the impact of team-building strategies on social loafing in Ashesi University student teams

Undergraduate thesis submitted to the Department of Business Administration, Ashesi University, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, May 2022Despite the importance of developing team-based competencies, students in higher education institutions engage in social loafing during their academic teamwork experiences. Various researchers have proposed team-building strategies as a remedy. However, these strategies' effectiveness has been debatable, with little insight into the why behind the conclusions. Therefore, this study sought to qualitatively explore the phenomenon as it occurs in Ashesi University using Tuckman's Stages of Group Formation as the guiding theoretical framework. The study employed semi-structured interviews to gather in-depth information from twenty-five participants comprising twenty students and five faculty of Ashesi University. The interviews addressed: (1) faculty and students' perception of social leafing in student teams, (2) the strategies they initiate during each team-formation stage, and (3) the strategies' impact. Through a thematic analysis, the study found that the strategies employed in Ashesi University student teams are role clarification, feedback systems, and interpersonal relationship-building. However, the central insight from this study was that these strategies are more effective when they are executed in sequence to provide a mutual reinforcement than when they are executed individually. Thus, the study recommended that higher education institutions shift the focus to sequential strategy execution instead of individual strategy execution.Ashesi Universit

Towards a strategy for workplace learning: Report to HEFCE by CHERI and KPMG

The study, undertaken between March and November 2005 aimed to inform HEFCE thinking on developing a strategy for workplace learning by: exploring the nature, purposes and outcomes of workplace learning; considering workplace learning within the broader relationships between the worlds of work and learning; exploring emerging changes in higher education which may impact on workplace learning in the future; identifying structural issues that currently enable or inhibit workplace learning, and identify future opportunities

ELearning and the Lisbon strategy: an analysis of policy streams and policy-making

Under the Lisbon strategy, education and training form an essential element of the social pillar which aims to modernise the European social model through investment in human resources and combating social exclusion. Up to 2004, elearning was promoted as a key element in achieving the strategy especially through the Elearning Action Plan (2004-2006). This paper will analyse the process through which elearning emerged as a policy measure in implementing the Lisbon strategy. Using Kingdon’s policy streams metaphor (Kingdon, 1995), this paper will outline the policy and problem streams which coalesced in the late 1980s, opening a ‘policy window’, and which pushed distance learning onto the EU political agenda in the early 1990s. These included the accretion of ‘soft law’ around the area of vocational education and training since the Treaty of Rome in 1957; the challenges offered by the emerging new information technologies, declining industries and changing demands for skills; the adoption of distance learning systems at national level to redress disadvantage, and to provide flexible, high-quality and cost-effective access to higher education to adults who were unable to attend on-campus; and the role of the Commission, policy entrepreneurs and networks in promoting distance education as a solution to the major social and economic problems facing Europe. The Treaty of Maastricht committed the EU to supporting education and training in the community, and in particular, to ‘encouraging the development of distance education’ (Art 126 changed to Art 149 in Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon Treaties). A series of implementation programmes in the 1990s, including Socrates, Tempus and Phare, funded distance learning initiatives in the EU and accession countries. With the development of the Internet and web technologies, elearning came to replace distance education in the EU discourse. The paper will conclude with some observations on the current role of elearning policy within the Lisbon strategy

Strategies for sustainable socio-economic development and mechanisms their implementation in the global dimension

The authors of the book have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to effectively use modern approaches to developing and implementation strategies of sustainable socio-economic development in order to increase efficiency and competitiveness of economic entities. Basic research focuses on economic diagnostics of socio-economic potential and financial results of economic entities, transition period in the economy of individual countries and ensuring their competitiveness, assessment of educational processes and knowledge management. The research results have been implemented in the different models and strategies of supply and logistics management, development of non-profit organizations, competitiveness of tourism and transport, financing strategies for small and medium-sized enterprises, cross-border cooperation. The results of the study can be used in decision-making at the level the economic entities in different areas of activity and organizational-legal forms of ownership, ministries and departments that promote of development the economic entities on the basis of models and strategies for sustainable socio-economic development. The results can also be used by students and young scientists in modern concepts and mechanisms for management of sustainable socio-economic development of economic entities in the condition of global economic transformations and challenges

WP6 Comparative Analysis Skills Supply and Demand

This report addresses the regional governance of the skills supply and demand in Glasgow City Region and Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshrie Region. The document describes and analyses how actors in the two Scottish regions understand and face the developmental challenges and how their skills agendas are constructed. The document also focuses on the levels and mechanisms of coordination among actors to implement the regional skills agenda given the socioeconomic context and regional skills (mis)matches

Capabilities For Catching-up: Economic Development and Competitiveness in Uganda: Implications for Human Resource Development

The study summarizes desk research for a GTZ report on the human resource dimension of Uganda's economic development