Tony Jewels

The Development of a Taxonomy of Desired Personal Qualities for IT Project Team Members and Its Use in an Educational Setting

Although much literature exists on desired qualities of team leaders of IT projects and even desired components of the team, there is a paucity of literature on the desired personal qualities of individuals working within team settings. This research set out to empirically investigate the personal qualities which students believe would be desirable in IT project team members.

Supporting Arguments for Including the Teaching of Team Competency Principles in Higher Education

For optimum workplace effectiveness in knowledge intensive industries in which principles of knowledge management need to be applied, it is necessary to take into account not only the competencies of individuals themselves but also the competencies of the teams in which they must operate. Although the incorporation of various types of group work into pedagogies is already widespread within institutes of higher education, many examples fail to embrace a rationale for, or the potential benefits of, multiple contributor environments. We present in this article arguments for including the teaching of team competency principles in higher education, supported by an original multi dimensional team competency teaching model, a taxonomy for assessing team competency levels and an example of the implementation of these principles.

Ethical IT Behaviour as a Function of Environment

Research is currently being undertaken to compare attitudes and behaviour towards ethics in information technology between students at an Australian and a South African university. This work provides a background to ethics from the literature from which a behavioural model for micro-level ethical standards is proposed. Using a theoretical underpinning of Fishbein & Azjen’s Theory of Reasoned Action, a survey document has been developed to identify and compare what constructs most affect an individuals intention to behave in situations requiring ethical considerations.

What Exactly Do You Want Me To Do? Analysis of a Criterion Referenced Assessment Project

In tertiary institutions in Australia, and no doubt elsewhere, there is increasing pressure for accountability. No longer are academics assumed a priori to be responsible and capable of self management in teaching and assessing the subjects they run. Procedures are being dictated more from the ‘top down’. Although academics may not always appreciate ‘top down’ policies on teaching and learning, they should at least be open to the possibility that the policies may indeed have merit. On the other hand, academics should never be expected to blindly accept policies dictated from elsewhere. Responsible academics generally also need to evaluate for themselves the validity and legitimacy of externally introduced new policies and procedures.