Adaptive Team Coordination

Abstract

It is hypothesized that highly effective teams adapt to stressful situations by using effective coordination strategies. Such teams draw on shared mental models of the situation and the task environment as well as mutual mental models of interacting team members' tasks and abilities to shift to modes of implicit coordination, and thereby reduce coordination overhead. To test this hypothesis, we developed and implemented a team-training procedure designed to train teams to adapt by shifting from explicit to implicit modes of coordination and choosing strategies that are appropriate during periods of high stress and workload conditions. Results showed that the adaptation training significantly improved performance from pre- to posttraining and when compared with a control group. Results also showed that several underlying team process measures exhibited patterns indicating that adaptive training improved various team processes, including efficient use of mental models, which in turn improved performance. The implication of these findings for team adaptive training is discussed. This research spawned the adaptive architectures for a command and control project investigating adaptive models that focus on changes in the structural and process architecture of large organizations. The research also produced a cadre of integrated performance assessment tools that have been used in training and diagnostic settings, and new components for a team training package focused on effective coordination in high-performance teams.