Sally Caird

The Enterprising Tendency of Occupational Groups

With the development of interest in the provision for enterprise education in schools, vocational colleges and higher educational institutions in the United Kingdom, a concern arose with the definition and assessment of enterprise attributes. The University Grants Council agreed to finance research at the Durham University Business School, England, into the development of measures of enterprise attributes.

What Do Psychological Tests Suggest about Entrepreneurs

Reviews and describes the results of some psychological tests which have been used with entrepreneurs. The tests have been mainly employed either to explore the nature of the entrepreneur or to assess so‐called significant entrepreneurial characteristics. Key problems in the psychological testing of entrepreneurs relate to varying definitions of the entrepreneur, numerous entrepreneurial characteristics, uncertainty about the significance of entrepreneurial characteristics, and lack of rigour in test development. The results of well validated tests highlight many personality characteristics which could be correlated with characteristics of small firms and business owner‐managers. However, there have been specific measures of entrepreneurial characteristics developed in a search for a sensitive discriminating measure. Unfortunately, many of these tests have been poorly validated and this fails to supply useful information about the nature of entrepreneurs. Gives examples to illustrate some problems in psychological testing and discusses the importance of new approaches.

Household ecological footprinting for active distance learning and challenge of personal lifestyles

This paper introduces a new distance learning course, “Working with our environment: technology for a sustainable future”. An inter‐disciplinary team within the Technology Faculty of the Open University developed this undergraduate course, which enrols over 1,500 students per year. One of the overall course aims is to help students understand how the use of technology to meet human material needs contributes to environmental effects. The process of producing this course, its philosophy, aims and design will be briefly discussed. At the start of the course a lifestyle environmental assessment activity, called EcoCal, is integrated within students’ study materials. The activity enables students to assess the main impacts on the environment arising from their own households’ consumption of transport, energy, food and water and production of waste. Through the use either of a printed questionnaire or publicly available software students can calculate their “ecological footprints” and then consider and model the effects of changes to their lifestyles. Through the combination of undertaking this activity and submitting an appropriate assignment, students are encouraged to think critically and creatively about their personal and household impacts on the environment and how these might be reduced. At the end of the course students are surveyed to explore whether their attitudes and behaviour have changed.

Enterprise Education: The Need for Differentiation

There has been a proliferation of enterprise courses in the UK in the last ten years. The aims, curricula and target groups for these courses are diverse. Efforts have been made to identify the generic characteristics of enterprise education (See Johnson, 1988). However, the interpretation of the concept enterprise is varied and reflects diverse teaching methods and educational objectives which suggests that it may be time to abandon the general label of enterprise education. This paper explores the characteristics of enterprise education and argues for a distinction to be made between the occupationally focused small business courses and more ‘progressive’ forms of enterprise education which may be more correctly called competency education initiatives.

How important is the innovator for the commercial success of innovative products in SMEs

Abstract Research on innovators and the role which they play in product innovation offers useful insights into the significance of key ‘players’ in the innovation process for commercial outcomes. The paper reports on research which explores the role of innovators who have received a British government award (the SMART award) for innovation in small firms. The nature of this role was explored by examining innovator competences, motives, risk taking behaviours and the significance of the innovators role for commercial success. The interview results support the argument that the innovators role in the small firm is important for the commercial success of innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Approximately 50% described the innovators role as very important for the commercial success of the innovation. Approximately 50% thought that the innovators role was important only at the initial stages of the innovation process, because either they lack the marketing skills to take the project forward or their competences are irrelevant beyond the technical development stages. As one participant pointed out, “once the concept is there and the inspiration is supplied … the innovator is less important and the project needs lots of worker bees”.

Conceptualising the Role of Information and Communication Technologies in the Design of Higher Education Teaching Models Used in the UK.

Despite the widespread availability of information and communication technologies ( ICTs) and some research into specific pedagogical practices using them, there has been little research on the role of these technologies in shaping broader pedagogical approaches in higher education ( HE). Increased experimentation in using ICTs raises questions about their pedagogical role in teaching, learning and assessment provision, and in creating innovative pedagogies. An accepted approach is needed to compare the different ways ICTs and rich media are used in HE teaching models. Within the SusTEACH HE sustainability research project this was needed to support the carbon-based environmental assessment of HE courses using ICTs. Building on a review of learning design theories and models, and ICTs used for pedagogical purposes, this paper considers several approaches to conceptualising the role of ICTs in HE courses, leading to the development of the Teaching Models Rating Tool designed to examine the role of ICTs in course provision. This tool characterises courses as using Face-to-Face Teaching Models, Distance Teaching Models, ICT-Enhanced Blended Teaching Models or Online Teaching Models. Whilst this tool was designed to support research on sustainable HE teaching models in the UK, it has wider applications to support comparative assessments of pedagogical and economic impacts. Further developments will be informed by the complex and evolving role of ICTs in HE teaching models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterprise Competencies: An Agenda for Research.

The proliferation of enterprise education initiatives in Britain emphasises the importance of understanding the meaning of the term “enterprise competency”. Ironically, though the provision for enterprise education grows, there are few research and evaluation studies available to clarify the meaning of enterprise competency for education and assessment. A literature review of this area which is published by the Scottish Enterprise Foundation is summarised. Without precise definitions and research enterprise competency risks meaning everything and nothing to those involved with enterprise education and assessment.

Self assessments of participants on enterprise training courses

This paper discusses research which was stimulated by the controversial question of the educability of entrepreneurial characteristics and the economic value of enterprise training. The research focuses on participants on enterprise training courses within the Irish Republic which aim to help people to set up and run businesses. An attempt was made to develop a technique, that is an adapted Osgoods Sematic Differential Technique, for use in the exploration of participants’ perceptions of entrepreneurial characteristics. This technique could represent a useful assessment technique for appraising participants’ attitudes to themselves as entrepreneurs and any changes over the duration of a training course in participants’ identification with entrepreneurial characteristic. Although, this technique would require self assessments, it could be used to establish the conditions for the development of entrepreneurial characteristics and explore questions of whether entrepreneurial characteristics may be developed. Despite methodological limitations, the reported study lends support to the thesis that many entrepreneurial characteristics may be developed over the duration of enterprise training courses in the view of participants.

Design of Higher Education Teaching Models and Carbon Impacts.

Purpose – This research aims to examine the main findings of the SusTEACH study of the carbon-based environmental impacts of 30 higher education (HE) courses in 15 UK institutions, based on an analysis of the likely energy consumption and carbon emissions of a range of face-to-face, distance, online and information and communication technology (ICT)-enhanced blended teaching models. Design/methodology/approach – An environmental assessment of 19 campus-based and 11 distance-based HE courses was conducted using questionnaire surveys to gather data from students and lecturers on course-related travel: the purchase and use of ICTs and paper materials, residential energy consumption and campus site operations. Results were converted into average energy and CO2 emissions, normalised per student per 100 study hours, and then classified by the primary teaching model used by lecturers. Findings – The main sources of HE course carbon emissions were travel, residential energy consumption and campus site operations....

Creating integrated performance systems: the business of the future

Organized around the concept of integrated performance system, suppliers will not sell physical technologies. They will sell the output of physical technologies. They will sell the output of physical systems. Whether that service is meals or heating and cooling, the supplier will have strong incentives to provide the most efficient and effective technological base in order to optimize performance. Integrated performance systems are envolving under a variety of sponsorships. They offer great business opportunities, stimulate technical innovation, increase efficiency in use of energy and resources, and provide customers and customers with much sought-after, high quality, reliable choices.