Team Learning: A Theoretical Integration and Review

With the increasing emphasis on work teams as the primary architecture of organizational structure, scholars have begun to focus attention on team learning, the processes that support it, and the important outcomes that depend on it. Although the literature addressing learning in teams is broad, it is also messy and fraught with conceptual confusion. This chapter presents a theoretical integration and review. The goal is to organize theory and research on team learning, identify actionable frameworks and findings, and emphasize promising targets for future research. We emphasize three theoretical foci in our examination of team learning, treating it as multilevel (individual and team, not individual or team), dynamic (iterative and progressive; a process not an outcome), and emergent (outcomes of team learning can manifest in different ways over time). The integrative theoretical heuristic distinguishes team learning process theories, supporting emergent states, team knowledge representations, and respective influences on team performance and effectiveness. Promising directions for theory development and research are discussed

Macrocognition in the Health Care Built Environment (m-HCBE): A Focused Ethnographic Study of \u27Neighborhoods\u27 in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: A Dissertation

Objectives: The objectives of this research were to describe the interactions (formal and informal) in which macrocognitive functions occur and their location on a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU); describe challenges and facilitators of macrocognition using three constructs of space syntax (openness, connectivity, and visibility); and analyze the health care built environment (HCBE) using those constructs to explicate influences on macrocognition. Background: In high reliability, complex industries, macrocognition is an approach to develop new knowledge among interprofessional team members. Although macrocognitive functions have been analyzed in multiple health care settings, the effect of the HCBE on those functions has not been directly studied. The theoretical framework, “Macrocognition in the Health Care Built Environment” (m-HCBE) addresses this relationship. Methods: A focused ethnographic study was conducted, including observation and focus groups. Architectural drawing files used to create distance matrices and isovist field view analyses were compared to panoramic photographs and ethnographic data. Results: Neighborhoods comprised of corner configurations with maximized visibility enhanced team interactions as well as observation of patients, offering the greatest opportunity for informal situated macrocognitive interactions (SMIs). Conclusions: Results from this study support the intricate link between macrocognitive interactions and space syntax constructs within the HCBE. These findings help to advance the m-HCBE theory for improving physical space by designing new spaces or refining existing spaces, or for adapting IPT practices to maximize formal and informal SMI opportunities; this lays the groundwork for future research to improve safety and quality for patient and family care

Editorial: Macrocognition: The Science and Engineering of Sociotechnical Work Systems

The increasing complexity of work systems and changes in the nature of workplace technology over the past century have resulted in an exponential shift in the nature of work activities, from physical labor to cognitive work. Modern work systems have many characteristics that make them cognitively complex: They can be highly interactive; comprised of multiple agents and artifacts; information may be limited and distributed across space and time; task goals are frequently ill-defined, conflicting, dynamic and emergent; planning may only be possible at general levels of abstraction or require adaptive solutions; some degree of proficiency or expertise is required; the stakes are often high; and uncertainty, time-constraints and stress are seldom absent. To complicate matters further, cognition in complex work settings is typically constrained by broader professional, organizational, and institutional practice and policy. These features of cognitive work present significant challenges to scientific methodology and theory, and subsequent design of reliable interventions. Historically, philosophers and scientists have attempted to understand the mental activities experienced during cognitive work at multiple levels of analysis using divergent methods. Some have examined cognition at an associative, contextual, functional or holistic level, relying on naturalistic methods to understand the higher mental processes as they work in harmony during goal-directed behavior. Others have embraced experimental methods and favored internal over external validity, often reducing cognition to a psychology of fundamental acts, such as short-term memory access with millisecond shifts in attention. More recently, Macrocognition has evolved as a complementary paradigm. Macrocognitive researchers have studied the cognitive functions and processes associated with skilled, adaptive, collaborative, and resilient cognitive work in the context of the aforementioned complexities of psychotechnical and sociotechnical work systems. Typically, this research has been carried out using cognitive task analytic techniques that draw on both naturalistic and (quasi-)experimental methods. The primary goals of research in Macrocognition are to better understand cognitive adaptations to complexity, to increase our theoretical understanding of the organism-environment relations by studying the mapping between cognitive work and real-world demands, and to promote use-inspired research capable of improving system performance

Evaluating a Model of Team Collaboration via Analysis of Team Communications

Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 51st Annual Meeting—2007The article of record may be found at https://doi.org/10.1177/154193120705100456A model of team collaboration was developed that emphasizes the macro-cognitive processes entailed in collaboration and includes major processes that underlie this type of communication: (1) individual knowledge building, (2) developing knowledge inter-operability, (3) team shared understanding, and (4) developing team consensus. This paper describes research conducted to empirically validate this model. Team communications that transpired during two complex problem solving situations were coded using cognitive process definitions included in the model. Data was analyzed for three teams that conducted a Maritime Interdiction Operation (MIO) and four teams that engaged in air-warfare scenarios. MIO scenarios involve a boarding team that boards a suspect ship to search for contraband cargo (e.g. explosives, machinery) and possible terrorist suspects. Air-warfare scenarios involve identifying air contacts in the combat information center of an Aegis ship. The way the teamsí behavior on the two scenarios maps to the model of team collaboration is discussed.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Bridging the Gap Between Micro- and Macrocognition: Testing the Multifunction Mental Model Hypothesis

Unique benefits can be gained by combining advantages of both micro- and macrocognitive methods that would otherwise be impossible to gather from either of these methods separately. The proposed research examines several cognitive functions within one systematic study that combines some empirical investigation with post-hoc qualitative assessment to gather knowledge of strategies and computations. Thereby, analyzing a larger cognitive system in a standardized way. By analyzing several cognitive functions the multifunction mental model hypothesis (MMM) is explored. This hypothesis states that performance of one sensemaking operation is predictive of performance of other related sensemaking operations. Three additional hypotheses were also explored. (2) Through brief instruction and feedback, mental models are developed that involve understanding the relational structure between inter-correlated and independent feature(s). (3) Understanding of the relational structure of the features can be used to make error correction decisions. (4) The strategies that utilize the inter-correlated nature of the features can be recognized and verbalized by users. Four Experiments used a multi-cue probabilistic weather forecasting task. Evidence from Experiments 1-4 supported the MMM hypothesis. Systematic variability in probability estimation by using differentially weighted features and inter-correlated features were related to evacuation decisions, error detection, and error correction. Results also supported hypotheses 2-4. The present research provides evidence which supports the integration of micro- and macrocognitive methods for a richer understanding of cognitive function in complex sociotechnical systems

Exploring Relationships Among Macrocognitive Processes with a Card Sort Study

In a world where teamwork is the norm, it is useful to understand how individuals work together in order to assemble an effective team. The study of macrocognition has identified a set of definitions that describe how individuals work together to solve a problem. In prior research, a number of proposed macrocognitive processes have been empirically identified, primarily via coding of verbal transcripts, in a number of laboratory and field settings. However, this set of macrocognitive process definitions has not been validated outside of the initial empirical research. The purpose of this study was to validate that the proposed macrocognitive process distinctions exist. Study participants were presented with a deck of cards with the macrocognitive process definitions and examples of these definitions. They were then asked to sort the process definitions based on a single criterion. This activity was repeated until the participant could no longer make unique distinctions or time ran out. Similar distinctions across study participants were then grouped into categories for validation. The findings suggest that distinctions represented in many conceptual frameworks for collaborative activities are widely believed to exist, even among study participants with little to no prior knowledge of the literature on macrocognition. Future work would include a systematic exploration of how the identified distinctions map onto other conceptual frameworks for macrocognition.Mike Letsky, NavyDave Warner, NavyNo embarg

Complex problem solving: a case for complex cognition?

Complex problem solving (CPS) emerged in the last 30 years in Europe as a new part of the psychology of thinking and problem solving. This paper introduces into the field and provides a personal view. Also, related concepts like macrocognition or operative intelligence will be explained in this context. Two examples for the assessment of CPS, Tailorshop and MicroDYN, are presented to illustrate the concept by means of their measurement devices. Also, the relation of complex cognition and emotion in the CPS context is discussed. The question if CPS requires complex cognition is answered with a tentative “yes.