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Student success in teams: intervention, cohesion and performance

Glen Croy (Department of Management, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia) (School of Hospitality Management, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK)
Nathan Eva (Department of Management, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia)

Education + Training

ISSN: 0040-0912

Article publication date: 26 September 2018

Issue publication date: 8 October 2018

1541

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to design and test an online team intervention for university students, focusing on communication, leadership and team processes, to influence team cohesion and subsequently team assignment performance. It was administered twice as a formative feedback measure and once as a summative evaluation measure across a semester.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were collected from 154 university students across four management modules in a large Australian university. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses and open-ended questions were used to understand why the team intervention was effective.

Findings

The results showed that the implementation of an effective team intervention leads to higher levels of team cohesion and subsequently team performance. Open-ended responses revealed that the team intervention caused students to develop team-based sills and increase regular contributions.

Practical implications

In order to develop positive team behaviours amongst students in group assignments and increase the effectiveness of team-based learning activities, educators should implement a regular and process focused team contribution intervention, like the one proposed in this study.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the team intervention literature by drawing on the social information processing perspective, to demonstrate how an intervention that is based on the students’ social processing, task focused, regular implementation and formative feedback has a salient effect over team cohesion.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the contribution of Sarah Lindsay in initial project discussions and data collection. Additionally the authors acknowledge Jami Hurley and Kohyar Kiazad for their assistance in data collection. The authors also acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their valued comments.

Citation

Croy, G. and Eva, N. (2018), "Student success in teams: intervention, cohesion and performance", Education + Training, Vol. 60 No. 9, pp. 1041-1056. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-11-2017-0174

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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