Teaching the attributes of venture teamwork in tertiary entrepreneurship programmes

Abstract

Purpose - The paper seeks to demonstrate the characteristics of group work that are required to teach the attributes of real world venture teamwork in tertiary entrepreneurship programmes. Design/methodology/approach - One-tailed Spearman correlation analysis is used to assess the associations between students' grades in four group assessment tasks involving different levels of complexity and collaboration and the attributes of teamwork. Findings - The results indicate that students learn more of the attributes of venture teamwork, the more complex the group task, and the more collaboration required to complete it. Research limitations/implications - The results cannot be generalised due to the small sample size and restriction of the sample to one course in entrepreneurship. However, the findings are valid conceptually; thus the study makes important contributions to knowledge. Practical implications - The findings should help tertiary educators to improve the design and implementation of their group assessment tasks to reflect the attributes of real world venture teamwork. Originality/value - While considerable work has been carried out on entrepreneurship education at the tertiary level, limited attention has been paid to teaching venture teamwork as part of entrepreneurship programmes. Academics often claim that their courses cover the attributes of venture teamwork when students work co-operatively rather than collaboratively on assessment tasks. The study identifies attributes of group work in the classroom that are consistent with real world venture teamwork.