Effects of transparency and at-stakeness on students' perceptions of their ability to work collaboratively in effective classroom teams: A partial test of the Jassawalla and Sashittal model

While teams are common in business school classrooms, scholars note that few instructors provide teamwork-related instruction. The consequent negative experiences may explain the reported cynicism about teamwork among students. This article reports findings from a study that examined the link between a teaching strategy designed to help students function more effectively in teams and its impact on student perceptions of their ability to work collaboratively with others and on their perceptions of their team's effectiveness. The study found evidence to suggest that a teaching strategy designed to help students reach the multiple stages of team development such as high levels of at-stakeness and transparency positively impacts their perceptions and that these stages effectively mediate the link between the strategy and key outcomes.