An Experimental Design to Assess Team Performance Through Shared Mental Models

Abstract

Nearly every domain in the world is moving to a team-based environment. Regardless of application or desired outcomes, decisions must be made in groups. Individual decision-making presents a challenge in every domain, and this challenge grows exponentially more difficult when teams of individuals are forced to build a consensus.

Joint decision-making is a complex system-of-systems, being operated on by teams of teams. This thesis focuses on the challenges of establishing shared mental models within teams, their performance, and possible acceleration of the formation of these shared mental models, to achieve the best possible outcomes of the system.

In order to assess the quality of shared mental models, a framework for an experiment is laid out, in which the quality of a team’s shared mental model is correlated to the team effectiveness during execution of high-stress, fast-paced tasks. Limitations, future research, and practical steps for the implementation of an experiment are outlined.