'What the Student Does' Undergraduate Business Students in Group Work: A Narrative Study of Learner Experiences

Abstract

<p>Australian undergraduate business education has experienced a dramatic change in the diversity of the student cohort. International students are now expected to co-exist in the same Anglo-western educational frameworks as domestic students. Employers of this diverse student cohort highly desire the skills which are encompassed under the generic banner of teamwork. Group work is a common teaching method utilised to develop the intended outcomes of teamwork, yet when this framework is analysed through organisational behaviour theory, it reveals gaps in theory and practical reality. Critically, the literature suggests group dynamics, and the impact these social processes can have on the development of teamwork skills, is largely absent in teaching practice.</p><p> By eliciting the students' stories and experiences, my narrative research sought to understand 'what the student does' when group work is the teaching method used to develop teamwork skills. The individual stories of Australian domestic and Chinese international undergraduate business students were investigated. My data were examined using a case-centred thematic analysis to preserve the experience of each individual story. This was followed by a critical events analysis to burrow into and confirm the process events themes which students identified. These stories are presented using the Student Group Experience Model, a model I developed within my research based on prominent learning and organisational behaviour theories. My research has shown through a combined literature lens that leadership within the group will influence process events, and impact on an individual student's approach and the acquisition of intended outcomes of teamwork skills.</p>