Teaching in this course will be face-to-face. Classroom practical sessions will also be face-to-face and will be used to work on the contents of the lectures, to carry out some seminar sessions related to group work and to deliver the oral presentation of the group project. Practical classes will involve the active participation of students, through a combination of lectures, in-class and out-of-class practical activities that allow students to apply the concepts acquired, follow-up tutorials and autonomous work.

The course objectives will be achieved through a combination of theoretical and practical sessions involving the active participation of students. The aim is to stimulate self-learning, teamwork and critical reasoning, as well as the ability to listen and solve problems related to labour dynamics in firms.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

This course may be passed through two assessment modalities: continuous assessment and single assessment. In the case of continuous assessment, there will be both group and individual assessment activities. In the case of single assessment, there will only be individual assessment activities.

To opt for continuous assessment, students must form a group. Only groups of 4 or 5 people will be accepted. Only groups composed of people from the same enrolment group will be accepted. A change of enrolment group may only be made if A) it is requested from Academic Administration within the first two weeks of the course, B) Academic Administration approves it, and C) students inform the teaching staff in due time and form.

I) Continuous assessment

Ia) Group assessment

Group assessment aims to capture the ability to work in a team, as well as the capacity for synthesis and oral and written expression. This assessment will consist of a practical assignment involving the preparation of a systematic literature review (SLR) on a topic to be chosen.

The group project will represent 40% of the final grade: 30% will correspond to the systematic literature review (SLR) and 10% to its oral presentation in pitch format. The teaching staff will provide a template for carrying out the SLR, based on the PRISMA model. Attendance at the pitch sessions and at the oral presentation of the SLR will be compulsory and will be assessed within the 10% corresponding to the individual qualitative assessment, as indicated below. The materials corresponding to the pitch session and the final systematic literature review must be submitted within the established deadlines and in accordance with the format indicated on the Virtual Campus.

During the course, practical sessions will be held to support the preparation of the SLR. These sessions will be compulsory for students who have opted for continuous assessment. Final projects that are not submitted, as well as unjustified absence from any of the practical sessions aimed at preparing the group project, will lead to a proportional reduction of the final assessment grade. Seminars and exercises that have not been submitted or presented within the established deadline, or that have not been passed, cannot be recovered.

Ib) Individual assessment

Individual assessment aims to capture the degree to which students have acquired analytical and conceptual knowledge, as well as their critical and reasoning skills. This assessment will consist of two written tests.

The first will be a written mid-term test, held at the end of the introductory section. This test will combine different assessment formats, including multiple-choice questions, short-answer questions and essay questions, and will account for 15% of the final grade. In order to access this test, students must have attended lectures and actively participated in class activities. The teaching staff reserves the right to verify attendance and to determine the minimum attendance required for students to be admitted to this test, which is open only to those who have opted for continuous assessment.

At the end of the course, there will be a final individual written test, lasting a maximum of two hours. In this test, students will be asked to write a short essay on one of the topics proposed in the monographic section. This test will account for 35% of the final grade and may only be taken if students have passed the first mid-term test with a minimum grade of 4.

The two written tests will represent 50% of the final grade for the course. In order for this part to be averaged with the project grade, students must obtain at least a 4. Answers to exams may be written in Catalan, Spanish or English, regardless of the language in which the questions are formulated.

Students who opt for continuous assessment are reminded that they commit to regular and active attendance at the lectures and practical sessions of the course. For this reason, individual assessment will be complemented by 10% of the grade, in which the teaching staff will qualitatively assess students’ attendance, commitment and participation in the course. This grade will be based on individual participation in the practical sessions, including the dynamics of Block 1 and the practical sessions of Block 2. If this grade is below 4, the course will be failed.

Ic) Conditions for calculating the continuous assessment grade

Students must meet three conditions, in addition to obtaining a minimum grade calculated according to the weight of each type of activity.

1. Participation must be recorded in at least 80% of the compulsory practical seminar sessions, according to the activity calendar.
2. A minimum grade of 4 must be obtained in the written tests carried out in class.
3. A minimum average grade of 5 must be obtained across the set of tests that form part of continuous assessment.

Only individual written tests may be recovered. Under no circumstances may the group project, participation in classroom activities or activities carried out in practical sessions be recovered, given their nature. As regards the group project, no compensatory activity is foreseen.

II) Failed students, “not submitted” and reassessment test

The final project and the individual test are graded from 0 to 10. Students who have obtained less than 4 in any of the continuous assessment tests and less than 5 on average across all continuous assessment tests will be considered to have failed.

Students who have taken the individual written mid-term test and have not passed it will not be able to access the final test at the end of the course and will have to take the recovery test. There will be the possibility of taking a written reassessment test on the first recovery date, including multiple-choice questions, short-answer questions and essay questions. With any grade below 4, the course will be failed. On the second recovery date, only oral tests will be held.

III) Non-assessable students

Students will be assessable provided that they have completed a set of activities whose weight is equivalent to at least two thirds of the total grade for the course.

If the value of the activities completed does not reach this threshold, the person responsible for teaching the course may consider the student as non-assessable.

IV) Single assessment

This course allows single assessment. Students who are unable to participate in the practical sessions —attendance at which is compulsory— are advised to request single assessment at the beginning of the course and according to the procedures established by the Faculty. Requesting single assessment does not, in any case, exempt students from regular attendance at lectures.

In the case of Sociology of the Firm, single assessment will consist of a three-part test that will take place on the first recovery date:

• A written exam on the course contents, including multiple-choice questions, short-answer questions and essay questions. This exam will account for 45% of the grade. A grade below 4 out of 10 in this part invalidates the other parts of the test.
• The submission of a written literature review, on the same day as the exam, referring to the contents of the seminars and accounting for 30% of the grade. The topic must be approved in advance by the teaching staff member responsible for the group in an individual tutorial.
• A short oral interview on the course contents, accounting for 25% of the grade. To prepare for this oral test, students must study the compulsory course bibliography, which is considered the main programme of the test.

The reassessment conditions are the same as for the rest of the students. The same “non-assessable” criterion as for continuous assessment will apply.

V) Copying, plagiarism or other irregularities in assessment

As stated in the multimedia resource Argumenta, in Unit 20, devoted to understanding what plagiarism is: “Plagiarism implies a lack of originality and creativity. Academic plagiarism specifically means failing to develop critical thinking, a trait that should be inseparable from any learning process. It is necessary to believe in oneself and bring out one’s own creativity” [available at http://wuster.uab.es/web_argumenta_obert/unit_20/tot_t20.html.]

In this positive spirit, students are encouraged to use the tools available at the UAB in order to approach studying and the presentation of assignments or other written tests, and to avoid situations of copying, plagiarism or other irregularities in assessment. The website of the Social Sciences Library is an essential source of information and recommendations.

In the event of any irregularity of this kind, the assessed activity will be graded as 0 (see Article 116, Point 10, of the UAB Academic Regulations: “In the event that a student commits any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of an assessment act, this assessment act will be graded as 0, regardless of any disciplinary process that may be initiated. In the event that several irregularities occur in the assessment acts of the same course, the final grade for this course will be 0”, available at http://www.uab.cat/doc/TR_Normativa_Academica_Plans_Nous).

The use of generative artificial intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, is permitted as complementary support in the preparation of assignments and written tests, provided that it does not replace students’ analytical, critical and writing skills. Students may use these tools to clarify doubts, explore examples or improve their understanding of the contents, but the final submission must reflect their own original work. The use of generative artificial intelligence tools must be expressly declared in writing at the time of submission of the assignment. This declaration will be considered a self-declaration by students regarding the use made of these tools.

Failure to declare the use of generative artificial intelligence, when it has been used in the preparation of the assignment, will result in a grade of 0 for the assessed activity. Misuse, such as the automatic generation of answers or a lack of personal reflection, may be considered a breach of academic integrity. Under no circumstances may a text generated entirely by artificial intelligence be submitted. The relevant checks will be carried out to verify that the submitted material complies with this rule. Failure to comply with this provision may be considered a breach of academic integrity regulations.

Any irregularity in an assessment act —academic fraud, plagiarism or misuse of AI, unless such use has been properly declared and complies with the regulations— that may lead to a significant variation in the grade will result in that act being graded as 0. If the teaching guide establishes that obtaining a minimum grade in this assessment act is an essential requirement for passing the course, or if several irregularities occur in the assessment acts of the same course, the final grade for the course will be 0.

The teaching staff reserves the right to conduct oral interviews or an alternative test in order to verify the effective acquisition of knowledge and competences and, therefore, the validity of the assessment tests completed by students when there are suspicions of misuse of generative AI. In addition, disciplinary proceedings may be initiated against students who commit any of these irregularities.

VI) Use of AI

For this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted exclusively as support for the learning process, provided that such use is expressly declared when the activity is submitted. By way of example, the use of these tools is considered admissible for linguistic and formal support tasks, such as spelling or grammar correction, improvement of writing style, translation of text fragments, generation of preliminary outlines or identification of formal errors.

Students must clearly identify which parts have been developed with the support of these technologies, specify the tools used and include a critical reflection on how they have influenced the work process and the final outcome of the activity. This self-declaration must be included at the time of submission of the final assignment, after the bibliography.

Lack of transparency in the use of AI in any assessable activity will be considered a breach of academic honesty and may result in a partial or total penalty in the grade for the activity, or more severe sanctions in serious cases.