A4. IOAs in the Business School

4. IOAs in the Business School

In 2024, the University of Sydney Business School received a Strategic Education Grant (SEG) to introduce and pilot Interactive Oral Assessments (IOAs) in eight units. The project began with a series of workshops run by Dani Logan-Fleming and Popi Sotiriadou, who shared experiences and resources with our staff.

Guided by a nine-step IOA design process, based on a resource shared with us by Dani Logan-Fleming and Popi Sotiriadou, the project team, who are educational developers in the School, worked closely with academics to co-design, implement and evaluate the IOAs.

The figure below provides details about the IOA parameters for these units. As shown, while the unit coordinators often managed the marking on their own, some units had additional markers. The number of students ranged between 7 and 63, the weighting of assessments ranged from 25-40%, and the total duration of the IOAs (including marking time) ranged from 20-30 minutes.

Most IOAs were run face-to-face, with only one conducted fully online and another offered in either in-room or Zoom. Only one unit was run as a group IOA (IBUS3104).

Scenario examples

Example 1: Giving advice to a CEO on workplace management

Management and Organisations (Elly Meredith)

Students are put in role of management consultant giving advice to the CEO of a company related to an aspect of workplace management that is impacting adversely on productivity. In this scenario, the management consultant presents a solution and then has 10 minutes to engage in an unscripted conversation with the CEO about the advice.

Example 2: Sharing leadership approaches with a senior manager

Global Management and Culture (Echo Liao)

Students play the role of a global manager who is facing significant challenges in the organisation. They are asked to have a conversation with their manager about the challenges and present a plan for addressing them, then engage in a conversation about the plan.

Example 3: Conversation with a senior partner on adopting technologies

Digital Transformation, intensive unit (Danny Gozman)

In this scenario the student plays a management consultant in a consultancy firm, and the teacher is a senior partner in the same firm. The students have previously written a series of blogs about a range of digital technologies related to a particular theme. The senior partner has asked them to deliver a 3-minute presentation (using a maximum of 2 presentation slides) to critically analyse the opportunities and consequences associated with adopting these technologies related to the chosen theme, and to provide recommendations based on the opportunities and consequences identified. This is followed by a 10-minute conversation with the senior partner about the critical analysis presented.

Example 4: Job interview

Digital Transformation (Danny Gozman)

The teacher is a partner in a management consultant firm specialising in digital transformation. Students are asked to act in the role of an interviewee going for a job. In the IOA, they are asked to reflect on their previous experience of developing and managing a digital transformation project.

Example 5: Making a recommendation to senior management

Behavioural Finance (Andre Lot)

Students play the role of an analyst in a financial customer protection agency. In this scenario the students, as analyst, participate in a discussion with a senior manager in the same company. Students provide an evaluation and recommendation on an investment tool or system, describing what it does, and evaluating its features based on a behavioural decision-making framework. Students provide a recommendation based on their analysis as to whether or not to endorse the tool or system for use by non-professional investors.

Example 6: Professional meeting with senior leadership

People Analytics in the 4th Industrial Revolution (Angus McBean)

Students assume the role of an internal HR consultant at Agoda. In a professional meeting with senior leadership (teacher), they are asked to provide a critical evaluation of how data and AI have impacted HR processes at Agoda. This will include discussions and recommendations on recruitment, performance management, and employee engagement, as well as the ethical and social implications of these technologies.

Example 7: A proposal to a CEO (Group IOA)

Ethical International Business Decisions (Swati Nagar)

Students prepare a proposal for a CEO addressing a modern slavery issue affecting their industry. In the group IOA they discuss ways and means of executing the proposal and issues around implementation.

Example 8: Sharing leadership approaches with a senior manager

Building Organisational Customer Experiences (Mike Seymour)

This oral assessment varies from the other IOA examples shown here. This structured oral assessment involves (1) a test of concepts presented in the unit; (2) a scenario in which students take on the role of a CX Consultant responding to a CEO’s request for help on designing a new app; and (3) a different scenario with students in the role of project manager needing to recruit CX Designers for the launch of a new product.