Taking Trust to the Field: Pilot Study on Trust and Communication in Teams
Abstract
This paper describes the results of a pilot study to explore trust in teams and team communication. A field trial involving 24 Canadian infantry soldiers in Fort Benning, Georgia was undertaken in conjunction with the Soldier Information Requirements Technology Demonstrator (SIREQ-TD). This trial involved 3 sections conducting at least 8 tactical assault missions over the course of several days. Teams were required to manoeuvre on assigned routes through a heavily wooded area, to dispatch an enemy sniper encountered enroute, and to overtake two enemies occupying a defensive position at the final destination. After each mission was completed, trust within the team was measured using the Trust in Teams Scale (Adams & Bruyn, 2003). During each mission, all communications were logged using a radio system. All communications were analyzed into discrete transmissions, and coded by type (transfer, request for information, acknowledgement), function (related to location, status), and referent (friendly or enemy) according to a classification system developed by Entin et al. (1993). In addition, the content of communications was also analysed for trust relevant events. The first iteration of the team trust scale seemed to perform relatively well. More importantly, the team trust scale did seem to capture team trust as it evolved over time, and there were some predictable matches between events that occurred during tactical assault missions and measures of team and leader trust. Several conceptual and pragmatic challenges of conducting future trust field research are noted.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 23, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA630695
Entities
People
- Barbara D. Adams
- Lora Bruyn
Organizations
- HumanSystems Incorporated