Context-Sensitive Sharedness Criteria for Teamwork (Extended Abstract)

ABSTRACT Teamwork between humans and intelligent systems gains importance with the maturing of agent and robot technology. In the social sciences, sharedness of mental models is used to explain and understand teamwork. To use this concept for developing teams that include agents, we propose contextsensitive sharedness criteria. These criteria specify how much, what, and among whom knowledge in a team should be shared

Planning and Team Shared Mental Models as Predictors of Team Collaborative Processes

This study evaluates the role of team planning and the similarity of team shared mental models (TSMMs) as predictors of two types of collaborative behaviors that are known to contribute to team performance. A computer-based Networked Fire Chief (NFC) simulation task was used as a testing environment for emergent and dynamic situations. The relationships among team planning, similarity of task-focused team shared mental models (TASKTSMMs), similarity of team-focused team shared mental models (TEAMTSMMs), team backup behaviors, and implicit coordination were tested. This study provides evidence for the mediation effect of similarity of TASKTSMMs between team planning and team backup behaviors, and the mediation effect of team backup behaviors between similarity of TASKTSMMs and team performance. The results suggest that better team planning is more likely to encourage more backup behaviors and improved performance through teams having more similar task-focused mental models. Both the theoretical and practical implications were discussed and the limitations and future research were also addressed in the study

Investigating The Mechanisms That Drive Implicit Coordination In Teams

The purpose of this study was to empirically test the oft-noted hypothesis that shared mental models lead to implicit coordination. Specifically, this dissertation investigated the underlying mechanisms of implicit coordination and how different aspects of shared mental models affect the process. The research questions tested in this study were (a)how perceptions of sharedness affect the initiation of implicit coordination, (b) how actual levels of sharedness affect the process of implicit coordination, and (c) how quality of task mental models affects successful implicit coordination. Sixty same-gender, two-person teams engaged in a complex military reconnaissance planning task in which the team members were required to work together by exchanging information to plan routes for one unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and one unmanned ground vehicle (UGV). The results provided partial support for the influence of different facets of shared mental models on the process of implicit coordination. Specifically, individual mental model quality, not perceptions of sharedness or actual mental model sharedness, was the biggest predictor of the initiation of implicit coordination. Additionally, perceptions of sharedness and actual mental model sharedness interacted with one another, such that teams in mismatched conditions (high perceptions of sharedness but low actual sharedness [false consensus], or low perceptions of sharedness and high actual sharedness, [pluralistic ignorance]) tended to increase their communications. The implications and recommendations for future research on implicit coordination and shared mental models are discussed. Additionally, the implications for operators of unmanned vehicles are also discussed

The Emergence of Group Potency and Its Implications for Team Effectiveness

Much of the previous research on the emergence of team-level constructs has overlooked their inherently dynamic nature by relying on static, cross-sectional approaches. Although theoretical arguments regarding emergent states have underscored the importance of considering time, minimal work has examined the dynamics of emergent states. In the present research, we address this limitation by investigating the dynamic nature of group potency, a crucial emergent state, over time. Theory around the “better-than-average” effect (i.e., an individual’s tendency to think he/she is better than the average person) suggests that individuals may have elevated expectations of their group’s early potency, but may decrease over time as team members interact gain a more realistic perspective of their group’s potential. In addition, as members gain experience with each other, they will develop a shared understanding of their team’s attributes. The current study used latent growth and consensus emergence modeling to examine how potency changes over time, and its relation with team effectiveness. Further, in accordance with the input-process-output framework, we investigated how group potency mediated the relations between team-level compositions of conscientiousness and extraversion and team effectiveness. We collected data at three time points throughout an engineering design course from 337 first-year engineering students that comprised 77 project teams. Results indicated that group potency decreased over time in a linear trend, and that group consensus increased over time. We also found that teams’ initial potency was a significant predictor of team effectiveness, but that change in potency was not related to team effectiveness. Finally, we found that the indirect effect linking conscientiousness to effectiveness, through initial potency, was supported. Overall, the current study offers a unique understanding of the emergence of group potency, and facilitate a number theoretical and practical implications, which are discussed

Hazy Team Composition Processes: Shared Team Leadership, a Strategy to Team Excellence in Higher Education

Teamwork is an emergent property of efficacious organizations. Team-based and result-oriented organizational structures are gaining momentum, increasing 6% each year. Over 80% of organizations globally deploy teams by putting ordinary people to work together for extraordinary performance. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center is a unique institute that teaches foreign languages in an immersive and team-based environment. This mixed-methods research study investigated (a) the teaching team composition processes, (b) the applicability of trust and diversity in team composition, and (c) the impact of shared team leadership in the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. Data were collected from 82 faculty across eight undergraduate education schools of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (n = 66 quantitative; n = 16 qualitative). The analyzed quantitative data of Pearson correlations between the core themes of team composition processes showed that all items were positively related and significant at p = .01. Also, the amount of variance and diversity accounted for in the model (adj. R2 = -.031) was not significant F(8, 54) = .769, p = .631. The t-test analysis revealed no significance across demographic information of the respondents and diversity in the teams. The qualitative results found no standardized policy on team composition processes; teams were formed by the department chair(s), and the shared team leadership model only existed partially at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. As per the inputs, processes, and outputs model, prioritization of team composition processes will benefit the organization

Mental Models and the Acquisition of a Complex Skill across Individuals and Teams: A Multilevel Study

A mental model reflects the structural relationships between concepts within a specified knowledge domain. Measuring the structure of knowledge is important because it offers the possibility of capturing expert knowledge which is often difficult to assess using traditional declarative knowledge measures. The concept of mental model has been extensively studied over the last decades and it is often acknowledged in the training literature as one of the key antecedents of performance in complex tasks, particularly in the context of teams where the construct of shared mental models has received ample attention. Whereas the training literature has established the validity of mental models for predicting individual and team performance using single-level studies, the extant literature has not yet tested the validity of mental models as a multilevel construct. Consequently, the purpose of the present study was to assess the extent to which the relationships between mental models and performance generalizes across individuals and teams, that is to test a homologous multilevel model. Participants in this study completed a dynamic, networked computer-based simulation. Three-person teams operated the simulator collectively (through specialized roles) and as individuals (performing all roles simultaneously) over the course of a 2-day 48-hour-interval protocol. The sample consisted of 243 individuals nested in 81 3-person teams. Consistent with the multilevel nature of the problem under study, multilevel analyses were conducted to test the study hypotheses. Consistent with theory and previous research on individual and team cognition, it was hypothesized that stronger relationships between mental models and performance would exist at the individual level compared to the team level. In essence, processes occurring at the team level were expected to attenuate the relationship between mental models and performance compared to the individual level of analysis. Contrary to this expectation, the magnitude of the relationship between mental models and performance was similar across levels of analysis. Additionally, consistent with previous research on the effectiveness of declarative knowledge measures for predicting complex performance, the present results indicated that declarative knowledge was more predictive of individual performance than team performance. In addition to performance, an objective measure of behaviors was utilized to further understand of the processes through which mental models translate into effective individual and team performance. It was hypothesized that the relationship between mental models and behaviors would be stronger for individual tasks than team tasks as a function of the additional interaction requirements associated with team tasks. However, contrary to this expectations, mental models and behaviors were more strongly associated at the team level than the individual level

The Role of Leadership in Facilitating the Performance of Dispersed Teamwork

A mature body of research on leadership has investigated the impact of a variety of leadership behaviors and styles on team performance. This corpus of work is built on an assumption that team leaders can motivate, direct, and monitor teams by way of sustained, personal contact with team members. However, this assumption is being challenged by recent advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs). Use of ICTs has altered traditional team-based structures, enabling organizations to employ teams composed of members who are dispersed across geographic boundaries, while severing the direct, personal ties leaders have to team members. Recent reviews of the literature on dispersed teamwork point to the unique challenges faced by dispersed teams, including difficulties with communication, knowledge transfer, coordination, and Social exchange. No less than five of these reviews call for research on leadership as a means to alleviate these challenges. This dissertation proposal, organized as three essays, seeks to respond to this call by examining leadership issues with respect to task structure, team development, and team structure. Essay 1 explores the role of empowering leadership in helping dispersed teams, and individuals within these teams, cope with information systems development (ISD) risk factors. Essay 2 investigates how technology capabilities can be leveraged to support coaching behaviors directed at facilitating interpersonal processes. Essay 3 draws on the theory of behavioral complexity in leadership to examine how leaders can help dispersed teams respond to the challenges incurred by differing forms of geographic dispersion. The models are tested with data collected from members and leaders of dispersed teams in a large, multinational organization. Results show that leaders have significant and varied influences on dispersed team functioning and can be both beneficial and detrimental for dispersed teams under different conditions. This dissertation makes importance contributions to both research and practice by deepening our understanding of the impacts of leadership in the dispersed team context and providing insight into leadership interventions designed to support dispersed teams in coping with the challenges they face

Leadership Development On The Go: A Multi-Perspective Two-Cohort Case Study To Explore Collective Leadership Development

There is a lack of studies focusing on how self-managed team experience across multiple tasks influence collective leadership capacities in an organisation. Responding to the long-standing calls to study collective leadership development (Raelin, 2006, 2018a; Day, 2011b; Yammarino et al., 2012; Day et al., 2014; Day and Liu, 2018; Eva et al., 2019) and to integrate shared leadership to the conceptualisation of leadership development (Klein and Ziegert, 2004; Klein et al., 2006; Bergman et al., 2012; Day and Liu, 2018; Raelin, 2018a), this thesis explores the potential of self-managed project team experience for enhancing leadership development as a collective capacity. The focus is shared leadership practices in self-managed project teams and the role of these practices for leadership learning and development across various tasks and time. The topic is relevant because collective leadership development has been understudied due to the predominant individualised focus in the existing leadership development studies (DeRue and Myers, 2014). Self-managed project teams engage in shared leadership to reach their objectives autonomously, and this engagement further enhances leadership capacities at multiple levels (Friedrich et al., 2009; Raelin, 2016b, 2018a). Due to the lack of prior studies, an overall understanding of the collective leadership development process and the outcomes was seen as an essential first step in contributing to the relevant literature. Thus, the study has a holistic approach and derives upon multiple theoretical perspectives (Eva et al., 2019). The study conceptualises collective leadership development through the lens of shared leadership. It draws on the concepts of complexity leadership, social network and social learning to explore the development process and outcomes holistically (Clarke, 2013; Eva et al., 2019). Therefore, the focus was on both dimensions of the leadership capacity development process: the acquisition of KSAs and the ability to engage in shared leadership behaviours. This kind of holistic approach requires multiple data sources and collection methods. The research was conducted as a case study with two cohorts embedded in a single organisational unit. The study has mainly utilised naturally occurring data from the practices in the unit across a series of (three) projects within eighteen (18) months to explore the phenomenon. Three primary data sources were post-project reviews (PPRs), participant surveys, and direct observation, with the first two being the main sources. Qualitative data concerning sense-making and learning were collected through document analysis of post-project review sessions, project documentations, open comments in the survey questionnaires, and observations. The behavioural data was collected through survey questionnaires where team members have rated each other’s shared leadership performances. The analysis is based on thematic analysis, time series analysis and constant comparison. The comparison of all data across time, methods and cohorts shows that self-managed team practice offers excellent opportunities for organisations to enhance collective (shared) leadership capacity. However, the impact of the experiences is more significant on creating awareness and acquiring knowledge, skills and attitudes (specifically social awareness and interpersonal skills) than on shared leadership behaviours. Analysis of the qualitative data identified seven broad themes: (1) openness to diversity and working with others, (2) communication and coordination, (3) self-awareness and confidence, (4) problem solving and decision making, (5) situational awareness and adaptability, (6) awareness and acceptance of different leadership styles, and (7) motivating others the learning outcomes resulting as collective capacity. Time series analysis of the shared leadership ratings shows a declining pattern. Integration of both types of analysis identified four challenging areas that need attention and additional coaching support for more effective development and performance. These areas were planning and scheduling, monitoring, providing critical feedback and team building The focus on the construction of meaning, learning and performance outcomes across multiple tasks and extended time is relevant for collective leadership development in multiple ways and thus, enriches the leadership development literature. First, the study contributes to the emerging collective leadership development literature by exploring the learning outcomes and performance outcomes across varying contexts in three projects rather than exploring them within the lifecycle of a single task in isolation from the contextual factors. Second, the multi-perspective conceptual model contributes to the much-demanded theorisation of collective leadership development. The study also contributes to practice by providing an overall picture of the capacity development process in self-managed project teams and identifying the bottlenecks in using self-managed teams for shared leadership development

REVISITING THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL ON KNOWLEDGE SHARING IN WORK TEAMS: A MULTILEVEL APPROACH

Given the nested nature of work teams, this study distinguishes social capital between team-levels and individual-levels to investigate their effects on individual knowledge sharing in work teams. A survey was conducted to test the hypotheses involving 343 participants who were nested in 47 knowledge-intensive teams across 9 Chinese organizations. Our results reveal that social capital at different levels conjointly influences individuals’ sharing of their explicit and tacit knowledge and also plays distinct roles on the individuals’ sharing behavior in work team context. The results also demonstrate that an optimal social network configuration maximizes team members’ knowledge sharing. Our investigation from a multilevel approach articulates how social capital at different levels in conjunction influences individual sharing behavior, contributing to the existing social capital and social network theories as well as the literature of knowledge management