Strategy Selection in Teams: Exploring How Teams Coordinate Responses to Time Pressure

Abstract

Effective teamwork in dynamic environments relies on the ability to adapt individual as well as collective behavior to respond to varying and uncertain demands. This paper describes an experiment conducted to analyze a two-person team’s strategy selection during a simulated search and retrieve task using Blocks World for Teams (BW4T). The experiment imposes different levels of temporal demands on teams to characterize how individual strategy selection affects team strategy and performance. Hollnagel’s Contextual Control Models are used as the basis for analyzing the experiment data and identifying the control mode of the team and its individual members during the task. Results from the experiment show that control modes are adapted at both the individual and team level to maintain performance under varying temporal demands. The results from the experiment point to the need to have system design support a range of individual and team control strategies to facilitate effective coordination and adaptation in teams.