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

Helping healthcare teams to debrief effectively: associations of debriefers' actions and participants' reflections during team debriefings

BACKGROUND

Debriefings help teams learn quickly and treat patients safely. However, many clinicians and educators report to struggle with leading debriefings. Little empirical knowledge on optimal debriefing processes is available. The aim of the study was to evaluate the potential of specific types of debriefer communication to trigger participants' reflection in debriefings.

METHODS

In this prospective observational, microanalytic interaction analysis study, we observed clinicians while they participated in healthcare team debriefings following three high-risk anaesthetic scenarios during simulation-based team training. Using the video-recorded debriefings and INTERACT coding software, we applied timed, event-based coding with DE-CODE, a coding scheme for assessing debriefing interactions. We used lag sequential analysis to explore the relationship between what debriefers and participants said. We hypothesised that combining advocacy (ie, stating an observation followed by an opinion) with an open-ended question would be associated with participants' verbalisation of a mental model as a particular form of reflection.

RESULTS

The 50 debriefings with overall 114 participants had a mean duration of 49.35 min (SD=8.89 min) and included 18 486 behavioural transitions. We detected significant behavioural linkages from debriefers' observation to debriefers' opinion (z=9.85, p<0.001), from opinion to debriefers' open-ended question (z=9.52, p<0.001) and from open-ended question to participants' mental model (z=7.41, p<0.001), supporting our hypothesis. Furthermore, participants shared mental models after debriefers paraphrased their statements and asked specific questions but not after debriefers appreciated their actions without asking any follow-up questions. Participants also triggered reflection among themselves, particularly by sharing personal anecdotes.

CONCLUSION

When debriefers pair their observations and opinions with open-ended questions, paraphrase participants' statements and ask specific questions, they help participants reflect during debriefings.

Chat for teamwork discussion. An exploratory study in a training course

Chat communication play an increasingly important role within the workplace. Messages can be focused on both work tasks and relationships among colleagues, providing support for teams. The present study aims to identify key elements of the chat communication, through a content analysis of written utterances from teams of engineering and psychology undergraduate students engaged in the development of an application software. Our results show that chat allows teammates to share a common structure of knowledge about task, equipment, roles and relationships (i.e., team mental models). Moreover, both the quantity of interactions and the type of information exchanged show an association with the quality of the task performed. Actually the results of this study emphasize the advantages of the effective use of digital technologies. Implication and future research are discussed.

Team reflections, team mental models and team performance over time

Purpose

Although previous research proved positive impacts of team reflection on team outcomes, especially team performance and innovation, there are only a few insights in to which factors (mediators) account for these positive effects and over what period these effects unfold (temporal effects). To close this gap, this paper aims to investigate the direct effects of team reflection on team performance over time, as well as indirect effects because of the development of similar and accurate team mental models to explain this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Within a longitudinal experimental study on 22 student project teams working on a complex problem-solving task, the effects of repeated team reflection interventions on the development of team performance and team mental models over six measuring times were analysed.

Findings

Results show that team reflections caused significant increases in team performance and team mental models over time. Results also provide evidence that team mental models’ quality mediates the effects of team reflections on team performance.

Research limitations/implications

The results are interesting for both research fields, team reflection and team mental models, as the findings indicate the merits of recurrent reflection for improving team mental models’ quality.

Practical implications

For organisational practice, the question of how reflection processes can be deliberately triggered in teams and effectively integrated into the daily routine should be considered.

Originality/value

The findings accentuate the role of team reflections for improving team performance team mental models over time. By continuous reflecting teams increase awareness and insights into effective team processes and strategies (i.e. shared and accurate team mental models), which lead to better performance.

Building team effectiveness through adaptation: Team knowledge and implicit and explicit coordination

We develop a theory of team adaptation that centers on team knowledge structures and coordination processes. Specifically, we explain that when a team’s task changes, there may be a disruption in the extent to which their team mental model (TMM) fits the current situation. Whether this is the case is likely to depend on team compositional factors, emergent states, and structural characteristics of the team. When there is a lack of correspondence between the TMM and the situation, this then requires a shift in the extent to which the team uses implicit or explicit coordination processes. We also explain that the team performance phase matters, such that during action phases, a prevalence of implicit coordination relative to explicit coordination results in greater effectiveness; during a transition phase, the opposite is likely. In this way, we address central questions in the field: what types of task changes require team adaptive response, what happens during the adaptation process, and how this influences team effectiveness over time.

The impact of team characteristics and context on team communication: An integrative literature review

Many studies on teams report measures of team communication; however, these studies vary widely in terms of the team characteristics, situations, and tasks studied making it difficult to understand impacts on team communication more generally. The objective of this review is systematically summarize relationships between measures of team communication and team characteristics and situational contexts. A literature review was conducted searching in four electronic databases (PsycINFO, MEDLINE, Ergonomics Abstracts, and SocINDEX). Additional studies were identified by cross-referencing. Articles included for final review had reported at least one team communication measure associated with some team and/or context dimension. Ninety-nine of 727 articles met the inclusion criteria. Data extracted from articles included characteristics of the studies and teams and the nature of each of the reported team and/or context dimensions-team communication properties relationships. Some dimensions (job role, situational stressors, training strategies, cognitive artifacts, and communication media) were found to be consistently linked to changes in team communication. A synthesized diagram that describes the possible associations between eleven team and context dimensions and nine team communication measures is provided along with research needs.

A Conceptual Review of Emergent State Measurement

Team research increasingly incorporates emergent states as an integral mediator between team inputs and outcomes. In conjunction with this, we have witnessed a proliferation and fragmentation of measurement techniques associated with emergent states. This inconsistency in measurement presents a problem for scientists and practitioners alike. For the scientist, it becomes difficult to better understand the nature and effects of various emergent states on team processes and outcomes. For the practitioner, it complicates the process of measurement development, selection, and implementation. To address these issues, we review the literature on emergent states focusing on various measurement strategies, to better unpack best practices. In so doing, we highlight existing research that suggests innovative solutions to the conceptual, methodological, and logistical problems that consistently plague emergent state research. Our aim is to enhance emergent state theory by applying psychometric principles to the measurement techniques associated with them.

Trust tokens in team development

Purpose

– Computer-mediated communication systems (CMCSs) have become the standard for supporting virtual teamwork. However, interpersonal trust formation though CMCSs is impaired due to limited media richness of the communication channels. The aim of this paper is to identify trust forming cues that occur naturally in face-to-face environments and are suitable to include in CMCSs design, to facilitate greater trust in virtual teams.

Design/methodology/approach

– To select cues that had a strong effect on fostering trust behaviour, a non-participatory ethnographic study was conducted. Two student teams at the University of Waterloo were observed for 6-12 months. Researchers identified mechanisms used for building trust and bridging team developmental barriers.

Findings

– The paper identifies five trust tokens that were effective in developing trust and bridging team developmental barriers: expertise, recommendations, social capital, willingness to help/benevolence, and validation of information. These behavioural cues, or behavioural trust tokens, which are present in face-to-face collaborations, carry important trust supporting information that leads to increased trust, improved collaboration, and knowledge integration. These tokens have the potential to improve CMCSs by supplementing the cues necessary for trust formation in virtual environments.

Practical implications

– This study identifies important mechanisms used for fostering trust behaviour in face-to-face collaborations that have the potential to be included in the design of CMCSs (via interface design objects) and have implications for interface designers, team managers, and researchers in the field of teamwork.

Originality/value

– This work presents the first ethnographic study of trust between team members for the purpose of providing improved computer support for virtual collaboration via redesigned interface components.

The concept of shared mental models in healthcare collaboration

AIM

To report an analysis of the concept of shared mental models in health care.

BACKGROUND

Shared mental models have been described as facilitators of effective teamwork. The complexity and criticality of the current healthcare system requires shared mental models to enhance safe and effective patient/client care. Yet, the current concept definition in the healthcare literature is vague and, therefore, difficult to apply consistently in research and practice.

DESIGN

Concept analysis.

DATA SOURCES

Literature for this concept analysis was retrieved from several databases, including CINAHL, PubMed and MEDLINE (EBSCO Interface), for the years 1997-2013.

METHODS

Walker and Avant's approach to concept analysis was employed and, following Paley's guidance, embedded in extant theory from the team literature.

RESULTS

Although teamwork and collaboration are discussed frequently in healthcare literature, the concept of shared mental models in that context is not as commonly found but is increasing in appearance. Our concept analysis defines shared mental models as individually held knowledge structures that help team members function collaboratively in their environments and are comprised of the attributes of content, similarity, accuracy and dynamics.

CONCLUSION

This theoretically grounded concept analysis provides a foundation for a middle-range descriptive theory of shared mental models in nursing and health care. Further research concerning the impact of shared mental models in the healthcare setting can result in development and refinement of shared mental models to support effective teamwork and collaboration.

Despite Leaders’ Good Intentions?

This article introduces the concept of adverse leadership. Adverse leadership arises when followers (1) perceive their leader to violate leadership prototypes or to concur with antiprototypes, and (2) attribute this violation to internal stable conditions within the leader (i.e., actor-observer bias), even though (3) the leader had no intention to cause harm. Adverse leadership goes above and beyond earlier leadership concepts because it focuses on (a) the role of followers’ implicit leadership theories and attributions in negative leadership, and on (b) leader behavior that is not intended to be harmful by the leader; it is conceptualized on (c) multiple levels of analysis, and posited to have (d) differential negative and positive effects on outcomes in organizations. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Description of dynamic shared knowledge: an exploratory study during a competitive team sports interaction

This exploratory case study describes the sharedness of knowledge within a basketball team (nine players) and how it changes during an official match. To determine how knowledge is mobilised in an actual game situation, the data were collected and processed following course-of-action theory (Theureau 2003). The results were used to characterise the contents of the shared knowledge (i.e. regarding teammate characteristics, team functioning, opponent characteristics, opposing team functioning and game conditions) and to identify the characteristic types of change: (a) the reinforcement of a previous element of shared knowledge; (b) the invalidation of an element of shared knowledge; (c) fragmentation of an element of shared knowledge; (d) the creation of a new element of shared knowledge. The discussion deals with the diverse types of change in shared knowledge and the heterogeneous and dynamic nature of common ground within the team. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: The present case study focused on how the cognitions of individual members of a team coordinate to produce a team performance (e.g. surgical teams in hospitals, military teams) and how the shared knowledge changes during team activity. Traditional methods to increase knowledge sharedness can be enhanced by making use of 'opportunities for coordination' to optimise team adaptiveness.

Perspective: examining communication as macrocognition in STS

OBJECTIVE

There are significant points of alignment between a macrocognitive frame of teamwork and a communication perspective. This commentary explores these touch points in regard to use of teams in sociotechnical systems (STS).

BACKGROUND

The macrocognitive framework emphasizes a team's shared mental models whereas a communication frame emphasizes that shared meaning among team members is more frequently implicitly than explicitly recorded in their messages. Both acknowledge that communication (in macrocognition) or messages (in communication) serve as an index of team members' goal-directed behavior. The two approaches differ in the role of communication: as information exchange in macrocognition as compared with verbal and nonverbal symbols composing messages for which senders and receivers co-construct meaning.

METHOD

This commentary uses relevant literature to explicate the communication position.

RESULTS

From a communication perspective, individuals are simultaneously sending and receiving messages, communication is continual and processual, and meaning construction is dependent on relationship awareness and development among communication partners as well as the context.

CONCLUSION

The authors posit that meaning cannot be constructed solely from messages, nor can meaning be constructed by one person. Furthermore, sharing information is not the same as communicating.

APPLICATION

Architects and users of STS should be interested in designing systems that improve team communication-a goal that is interdependent with understanding how communication fails in the use of such systems. Drilling down to the fundamental properties of communication is essential to understanding how and why meaning is created among team members (and subsequent action).