The genre of the performance evaluation: Prompts for eliciting effective feedback

Recognizing the importance of performance evaluations in technical workplaces, this paper focuses on techniques for developing undergraduates' mastery of the conventions of the genre. All too often, these evaluations employ a kind of Prisoner's Dilemma-style of reasoning by which a student cooperates with her teammates. The workplace performance evaluation represents a much more nuanced communication situation. This paper analyzes the genre of the performance evaluation and a series of prompts from a course in technical and professional communication, assessing different ways to elicit feedback and reflection from individuals on their own and their teammates' performance. In particular, it surveys current critiques of corporate personnel evaluation practices and discusses the formal assessment techniques frequently suggested as alternatives. Best practices for classroom peer evaluation procedures are then formulated based on the professional models.