Measuring Team Collaboration in a Distributed Coalition Network
Abstract
Distributed teams representing multidisciplinary perspectives and operating in a collaborative information environment will define the future of Command and Control (C2). Multinational Experiment 4 (MNE 4) provided researchers an opportunity to evaluate how distributed teams interact in a collaborative, networked environment to conduct the Effects Based Approach to Operations (EBAO). Several factors related to team collaboration were evaluated. These included measurements of workload, perceptions of information quality, ability of subjects to develop trust in teams and the staff process, team process dynamics and the assignment of roles and responsibilities within teams. Results show that distributed teams were able to establish trust, but not all teams were equally effective in assigning roles and responsibilities and in establishing inter-team relationships. This resulted in confusion about the overall objective. Teams also reported an unequal distribution of effort, performance, and frustration. Larger teams reported increased workload, lower performance, and higher frustration. Respondents' ratings of information quality suggest that information was complete and sufficient, but less timely, understandable, and accurate. These findings are summarized and recommendations made for organizational design, collaborative system use, and training.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA481312
Entities
People
- Elizabeth K. Bowman
Organizations
- United States Army Research Laboratory