The Impact of Enhanced Teammate Evaluations on Important Individual and Team Outcomes

There is evidence that teamwork is proliferating in organizations and, in many ways, is replacing working individually. Academia has responded by integrating teamwork into curricula, but the use of teams as a pedagogical approach is also driven by evidence that it can lead to enhanced learning and more engaged learners. Researchers have examined factors in team effectiveness, activities and assignments for student teams and ways to optimize team formation. The current study was designed to focus on an under-explored and critical area of managing teamwork in classroom pedagogy: peer feedback. Students were placed into two conditions - a “conventional” approach using general, non-benchmarked feedback and an “enhanced” behaviorally-specific, benchmarked approach. Findings suggest enhanced teammate evaluations held substantial benefits over conventional evaluations resulting in better student perceptions of team processes (i.e., action, transition, and interpersonal processes) as well as more enthusiasm for teamwork. These findings have important implications for classroom pedagogy and student career development.