Enhancing Mental Models for Team Effectiveness

Abstract

The success of Canadian Forces operations relies on team members working cooperatively towards shared goals. It is commonly recognized that some form of shared knowledge contributes positively to team functioning, and as such the concept of team mental models (TMM) has been the focus of many research endeavours (e.g., Edwards et al., 2006; Marks et al., 2002; Mathieu et al., 2010). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether enhancing TMM, more specifically task models (knowledge on task procedures and strategies, potential contingencies and environmental constraints) and team interaction models (knowledge about roles and responsibilities, role interdependencies, information flow, etc.) improved team processes and performance in dynamic situations. Fifty-four participants took part in this study, for a total of 27 two-person teams. C3Fire, a simulation of forest firefighting, was used as task environment. Each team was assigned to one of three learning conditions meant to manipulate TMM: task (additional information on environmental dynamics pertinent to the firefighting task), team (additional information on the roles of each team member and possible interaction strategies) and control (no additional information). t of TMM on team effectiveness. Measures of team performance and team processes were gathered. The results showed that the manipulation of task complexity was successful: better performance and coordination were observed in conditions with a more obvious COA. However, there was no significant effect of learning condition on team effectiveness. This study was a first attempt at investigating the effect of enhancing TMM on team effectiveness. Unfortunately, we can draw limited conclusions as to the impact of additional pre-experimental information about the task or team interaction on team functioning.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA557346

Entities

People

  • Alexandra Muller-gass
  • Ann-renee Blais
  • Marie-eve Jobidon
  • Matthew Ducan

Organizations

  • Defence Research and Development Canada

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Applied Psychology
  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Classification
  • Dynamics
  • Environment
  • Fire Fighting
  • Language
  • Learning
  • National Security
  • Psychological Phenomena And Processes
  • Psychology
  • Security
  • Simulations
  • Training
  • Transparencies
  • Water Supplies
  • Water Tanks

Readers

  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.