Investigating Linear and Interactive Effects of Shared Mental Models on Safety and Efficiency in a Field Setting

Temporal patterns of mental model convergence: implications for distributed teams interacting in electronic collaboration spaces

OBJECTIVE

Our objective is to capture temporal patterns in mental model convergence processes and differences in these patterns between distributed teams using an electronic collaboration space and face-to-face teams with no interface.

BACKGROUND

Distributed teams, as sociotechnical systems, collaborate via technology to work on their task. The way in which they process information to inform their mental models may be examined via team communication and may unfold differently than it does in face-to-face teams.

METHOD

We conducted our analysis on 32 three-member teams working on a planning task. Half of the teams worked as distributed teams in an electronic collaboration space, and the other half worked face-to-face without an interface.

RESULTS

Using event history analysis, we found temporal interdependencies among the initial convergence points of the multiple mental models we examined. Furthermore, the timing of mental model convergence and the onset of task work discussions were related to team performance. Differences existed in the temporal patterns of convergence and task work discussions across conditions.

CONCLUSION

Distributed teams interacting via an electronic interface and face-to-face teams with no interface converged on multiple mental models, but their communication patterns differed. In particular, distributed teams with an electronic interface required less overall communication, converged on all mental models later in their life cycles, and exhibited more linear cognitive processes than did face-to-face teams interacting verbally.

APPLICATION

Managers need unique strategies for facilitating communication and mental model convergence depending on teams' degrees of collocation and access to an interface, which in turn will enhance team performance.

Toward an understanding of macrocognition in teams: predicting processes in complex collaborative contexts

OBJECTIVE

This article presents a model for predicting complex collaborative processes as they arise in one-of-a-kind problem-solving situations to predict performance outcomes. The goal is to outline a set of key processes and their interrelationship and to describe how these can be used to predict collaboration processes embedded within problem-solving contexts.

BACKGROUND

Teams are increasingly called upon to address complex problem-solving tasks in novel situations. This represents a domain of performance that to date has been underrepresented in the research literature.

METHOD

Multidisciplinary theoretical and empirical literature relating to knowledge work in teams is synthesized.

RESULTS

A set of propositions developed to guide research into how teams externalize cognition and build knowledge in service of problem solving is presented. First, a brief overview of macrocognition in teams is provided to distinguish the present work from other views of team cognition. Second, a description of the foundational theoretical concepts driving the theory of macrocognition in teams presented here is provided. Third, a set of propositions described within the context of a model of macrocognition in teams is forwarded.

CONCLUSION

The theoretical framework described in this article provides a set of empirically testable propositions that can ultimately guide practitioners in efforts to support macrocognition in teams.

APPLICATION

A theory of macrocognition in teams can provide guidance for the development of training interventions and the design of collaborative tools to facilitate knowledge-based performance in teams.

Developing a team performance framework for the intensive care unit

OBJECTIVE

There is a growing literature on the relationship between teamwork and patient outcomes in intensive care, providing new insights into the skills required for effective team performance. The purpose of this review is to consolidate the most robust findings from this research into an intensive care unit (ICU) team performance framework.

DATA SOURCES

Studies investigating teamwork within the ICU using PubMed, Science Direct, and Web of Knowledge databases.

STUDY SELECTION

Studies investigating the relationship between aspects of teamwork and ICU outcomes, or studies testing factors that are found to influence team working in the ICU.

DATA EXTRACTION

Teamwork behaviors associated with patient or staff-related outcomes in the ICU were identified.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Teamwork behaviors were grouped according to the team process categories of "team communication," "team leadership," "team coordination," and "team decision making." A prototype framework explaining the team performance in the ICU was developed using these categories. The purpose of the framework is to consolidate the existing ICU teamwork literature and to guide the development and testing of interventions for improving teamwork.

CONCLUSIONS

Effective teamwork is shown as crucial for providing optimal patient care in the ICU. In particular, team leadership seems vital for guiding the way in which ICU team members interact and coordinate with others.

Do familiar teammates request and accept more backup? Transactive memory in air traffic control

OBJECTIVE

The present study investigated factors that explain when and why different groups of teammates are more likely to request and accept backup from one another when needed in an environment characterized by extreme time pressure and severe consequences of error: commercial air traffic control (ATC).

BACKGROUND

Transactive memory theory states that teammates develop consensus regarding the distribution of their relative expertise as well as confidence in that expertise over time and that this facilitates coordination processes. The present study investigated whether this theory could help to explain between-team differences in requesting and accepting backup when needed.

METHOD

The present study used cross-sectional data collected from 51 commercial ATC teams. Hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis.

RESULTS

Teammates with greater experience working together requested and accepted backup from one another more than those with lesser experience working together. Teammate knowledge consensus and perceived team efficacy appear to have mediated this relationship.

CONCLUSION

Transactive memory theory extends to high-stress environments in which members' expertise is highly overlapping. Teammates' shared mental models about one another increase the likelihood that they will request and accept backup.

APPLICATION

Teammate familiarity should be considered when choosing among potential replacement team members. Training strategies that accelerate the development of teammate knowledge consensus and team efficacy are warranted.

Air Traffic Control

Determining how the controller (or air navigation service provider) of the future will function in tomorrow's Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) will require an understanding of the existing literature. In this chapter, after an analysis of the controller's job, we focus on technology, which is an important factor in air traffic control (ATC) today and will become increasingly so in NextGen. We then turn to workload and the extent to which it can be predicted. From human-technology interaction and workload, we move to the multiple facets of cognition thought to underlie these and other aspects of the controller's job. Beyond individual cognition, we review collaboration among controllers and discuss both synchronous cooperation and the cooperative shift change. As we move up the system, we look at error, risk, and safety. Finally, we consider the work on controller selection, covering both “select-in” (KSAOs) and “select-out” (e.g., medical and suitability) factors. For NextGen to be successful, human factors researchers must determine from today's research how the human operator can best function to provide ATC services in the future.

Haptic Interaction Design for Everyday Interfaces

This chapter sets about to provide the background and orientation needed to set a novice designer on his or her way to bringing haptics successfully into an interactive product. To define appropriate roles for haptic interaction, it is necessary to integrate a basic awareness of human capabilities on one hand and current device technology on the other. Here, I explore this integration by first summarizing the most salient constraints imposed by both humans and hardware. I then proceed to relate perceptual, motor, and attentional capabilities to a selection of emerging application contexts chosen to be relevant to contemporary design trends and opportunities. These include abstract communication and notification, augmentation of graphical user interfaces, expressive control, affective communication, and mobile and handheld computing.