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Analyzing shared and team mental models

Whereas design team mental models do not differ significantly from team mental models in other domains, task mental models in design are different in that they are contingent on visual representations. To design a tangible entity that must be specified in terms of form, size, materials, colours and so on, the team conducts a search in which partial candidate-solutions are generated and manipulated, while team members discuss and reason about them. Representations in the form of rapid sketches serve as artifacts that represent the designed entity in its various phases of developments. The sketches are used to communicate ideas and concepts, to negotiate features of possible solutions, and ultimately – to converge into one the mental models of individual designers, who endeavor to see the problem and its solution eye to eye and finally espouse a shared team task mental model which is embedded in agreed-upon representations.

We investigated whether a shared mental model is present in elite ice hockey and handball teams. In total, 231 male players participated in the study. Shared mental models were found to exist. Relationships between shared mental models and coaching efforts to develop a general training shared mental model and an opponent-specific model were explored. The relationship between role clarity and shared mental model, general training shared mental model, and opponent-specific model was positive. The shared mental model is a useful construct for analyzing elite team practice and coaching behavior. Coaches and sport psychologists should be aware that establishing a shared mental model in elite teams is essential in facilitating performance.

Crew Resource Management (CRM) training focuses on situation awareness, communication skills, teamwork, task allocation, and decision making. More recently, an interest in cognitive skill is beginning to appear in relation to CRM. One aspect of cognitive skill that has been examined in a variety of team domains is the notion of overlapping or mental models among teammates. While a growing amount of evidence on the relationship between shared mental models and team performance exists, only limited research has focused on the role that shared mental models have-in crew resource management. The purpose of this paper is to provide researchers and practitioners an understanding of the shared mental model construct and the role of shared mental models in team performance, as well as to encourage additional research on this topic within the aviation domain. Crew Resource Management and Shared Mental Models Human error is a major factor in aviation accidents. As a result, pilot training has shifted fiom an emphasis on purely technical skills, to a combination of both technical and teamwork skills (Reynolds & Rhoades, 2004). These training programs have a variety of names, but the most common is Crew Resource Management (CRM). is currently required by all 185 International Civil Aviation Orgauization members, is incorporated into each of the US military branches, and is gaining steady support outside aviation in industries as diverse as nuclear power producers and medical practitioners (American Psychological Association, 2005; Flin, Meams, & O ' C o ~ o r , 2002). Typically, three main skill clusters are targeted: communication, team building and workload management. Within these broad categories, however, content may vary to include: adaptability, assertiveness, communication, leadership, mission analysis, situational awareness, forward planning, risk assessment, group dynamics, stress and coping techniques, and how to monitor automated equipment (Naval Education and Training Command, 2003). The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) (2004) suggests that CRM training focuses on situation awareness, communication skills, teamwork, task allocation, and decision making within a comprehensive m e w o r k of standard operating procedures (SOP) @. l). Under the topic of team building, the FAA notes that 'This topic includes interpersonal relationships and practices. Effective leadership/followership and interpersonal relationships are key concepts to be stressed. Cunicula can also include recognizing and dealing with diverse personalities and operating styles (p. l2). One area not emphasized is team cognition. The goal of this paper is to foster an understanding of the impact of team cognition in promoting effective team work, and to suggest the addition of team cognition, particularly shared mental models, as a focus of CRM. To accomplish this, we begin by discussing the evolution of CRM. Next, we discuss one aspect of team cognition, shared mental models, and how both implicit communication and team performance can be linked to shared mental models. This discussion includes a review of current research on shared mental models, as well as methods of measuring and training such models. We conclude by suggesting that future research and training incorporate shared mental models. Evolution of Kern (200 1) suggested that the roots of can be found in a 1951 U.S. Air Force Inspector General's report which analyzed data fiom 7518 major accidents between 1948 and 195 1, and found that poor teamwork and

Many researchers have explored how people share and construct similar mental models in teams. They have claimed that successful team performance depends on a shared mental model of team members about task, team, equipment and situation. Most of the literature has illustrated simplified relationships between a team's mental model and their performance without a valid instrument addressing the confined and relevant constructs of a shared mental model. This paper describes the instrument development steps and the conceptual framework for factors associated with shared mental models. After development and refinement, the instrument was finalized for use to measure team-related knowledge. The final instrument consists of 42 items that are linked to the five emergent factors of shared mental models including general task and team knowledge, general task and communication skills, attitude toward teammates and task, team dynamics and interactions, and team resources and working environment.

Mental models are knowledge structures employed by humans to describe, explain, and predict the world around them. Shared Mental Models (SMMs) occur in teams whose members have similar mental models of their task and of the team itself. Research on human teaming has linked SMM quality to improved team performance. Applied understanding of SMMs should lead to improvements in human-AI teaming. Yet, it remains unclear how the SMM construct may differ in teams of human and AI agents, how and under what conditions such SMMs form, and how they should be quantified. This paper presents a review of SMMs and the associated literature, including their definition, measurement, and relation to other concepts. A synthesized conceptual model is proposed for the application of SMM literature to the human-AI setting. Several areas of AI research are identified and reviewed that are highly relevant to SMMs in human-AI teaming but which have not been discussed via a common vernacular. A summary of design considerations to support future experiments regarding Human-AI SMMs is presented. We find that while current research has made significant progress, a lack of consistency in terms and of effective means for measuring Human-AI SMMs currently impedes realization of the concept.

Development and initial validation of the Team Mental Models Instrument (TMMI): A psychometric tool to measure shared and complementary mental models in sports

<p>Background: The quality of team-based care impacts patient post-hospitalization outcomes, yet there is a gap in our understanding of how specific team processes impact patient post-hospitalization outcomes. Shared Mental Models (SMMs) is a team process from organizational psychology; it provides an understanding of how providers coordinate complex tasks as a team. SMMs are the team members’ organized knowledge needed for effective team performance. Military research shows that teams with more convergent SMMs have higher performance and better outcomes. In healthcare, patient discharge exemplifies an activity that requires a high level of coordination among interprofessional team members. Two relevant domains of SMMs are Taskwork SMM (team assessment of patient’s readiness for hospital discharge) and Teamwork SMM (quality of day of discharge teamwork). Because of the newness of SMM to healthcare, we lack measures to understand SMMs among interprofessional discharge teams.</p><p>Study Purpose & Aims: The purpose was to pilot a novel measurement approach assessing SMMs of discharge teams, and explore their relationships to patient 30-day post-hospitalization outcomes (quality of care transition and utilization of unplanned medical services). Aim 1 determined the content and degree of convergence of discharge teams’ SMMs (taskwork and teamwork). Aim 2 examined the relationship between discharge team SMMs and patient post-hospitalization outcomes.</p><p>Methods: A prospective longitudinal pilot study was used to examine the SMMs of 64 unique discharge events in three inpatient units at a single hospital. Discharge team members independently completed a questionnaire measuring the Teamwork SMM (using the Shared Mental Model Scale) and the Taskwork SMM (using the Discharge Provider-Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale). Data were collected from the patient 30 days post-discharge to determine the quality of transition (using the Care Transition Measure or CTM-15) and use of unplanned utilization of medical services (unplanned readmission or ED visit). Interrater Agreement (r*wg(j)) was used to determine the SMM convergence (or level of agreement) among the discharge team. The relationship between SMMs and the quality of transition outcome (n = 42) was determined using standard regression analysis. Logistic regression was used determine the relationship of SMMs with utilization of unplanned medical services (n = 56).</p><p>Results: Overall, discharge teams reported high levels of Taskwork SMMs (M = 8.46, SD =.91) and Taskwork SMM Convergence (M = .90, SD =.10), indicating that the discharge team perceived and agreed that patients had high levels of readiness for hospital discharge. Discharge teams also reported having high-quality Teamwork SMMs (M = 6.11, SD = 0.39) and Teamwork SMM Convergence (M = .85, SD = .10), suggesting that most discharge teams perceived and agreed that high quality teamwork was provided during the discharge process. Discharge events from the three inpatient units significantly differed in their Teamwork and Teamwork SMM content and convergence scores. Discharge teams’ Teamwork SMMs and Taskwork SMMs were positively associated with the CTM-15 score, while controlling for key contextual factors (t = 3.94, p = .001; t = 3.94, p = .001, respectively).</p><p>Conclusion : Discharge teams’ Taskwork SMM and Teamwork SMM was positively associated with patient-reported quality of transition from the hospital. There was insufficient evidence to support that utilization of unplanned medical services is related to discharge teams’ SMMs. Measuring the SMMs of the discharge team provides a method for assessing a team process critical to safe patient discharges.</p>

Important non-technical skills enable operating teams to establish shared mental models (SMMs). The importance of SMMs in regards to surgical performance and peri-operative outcomes remains to be investigated. The aim of this study was to explore whether shared mental models (SMMs) of team resources and the current situation, respectively, were predictive of technical skills, duration of surgery, and amount of intra-operative bleeding in video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). A prospective multi-center observational study was conducted at four tertiary academic hospitals during VATS lobectomy procedures. Data included pre-operative and post-operative questionnaires answered by each of the six team members to measure the SMMs; thoracoscopic video recordings assessed using the previously validated VATS lobectomy Assessment Tool (VATSAT); surgery-related time stamps; and amount (volume) of intra-operative bleeding. Linear regression analyses were conducted to adjust for confounders. Fifty-eight lobectomy procedures were included. Median (interquartile range) VATSAT score was 33.3 (scale 8-40) duration of surgery 101min (88-123), and amount of intra-operative bleeding 100ml (20-150). The mean (± SD) of teams' SMMs of the current situation was 20 (± 5). They were not predictive of the surgeons' technical skills, but every one point increase in SMM score significantly predicted a 1min 52s decrease in duration of surgery and an 11% decrease in amount of bleeding. The SMMs of team resources were not predictive of any outcomes. VATS teams' superior SMMs of the current situation related to significantly shorter duration of surgery and decreased intra-operative bleeding, indicating an effect on team performance and patient care. NCT02999113 at http://www. gov .

This paper discusses the hypotheses that shared mental models enhance teamwork skills, and that superior teamwork skills increase the quality of team performance. Methodological problems encountered in the development and evaluation of shared mental models are discussed. These issues include selection of mental models that teammates should share, methods of measuring mental models, training mental models, and validation of the relationships between shared mental models, teamwork skills, and successful team performance.

Purpose Although previous research proved positive impacts of team reflection on team outcomes, especially team performance and innovation, there are only a few insights in to which factors (mediators) account for these positive effects and over what period these effects unfold (temporal effects). To close this gap, this paper aims to investigate the direct effects of team reflection on team performance over time, as well as indirect effects because of the development of similar and accurate team mental models to explain this relationship. Design/methodology/approach Within a longitudinal experimental study on 22 student project teams working on a complex problem-solving task, the effects of repeated team reflection interventions on the development of team performance and team mental models over six measuring times were analysed. Findings Results show that team reflections caused significant increases in team performance and team mental models over time. Results also provide evidence that team mental models’ quality mediates the effects of team reflections on team performance. Research limitations/implications The results are interesting for both research fields, team reflection and team mental models, as the findings indicate the merits of recurrent reflection for improving team mental models’ quality. Practical implications For organisational practice, the question of how reflection processes can be deliberately triggered in teams and effectively integrated into the daily routine should be considered. Originality/value The findings accentuate the role of team reflections for improving team performance team mental models over time. By continuous reflecting teams increase awareness and insights into effective team processes and strategies (i.e. shared and accurate team mental models), which lead to better performance.

Effective team functioning requires the existence of a shared or team mental model among members of a team. However, the best method for measuring team mental models is unclear. Methods reported vary in terms of how mental model content is elicited and analyzed or represented. We review the strengths and weaknesses of vatrious methods that have been used to elicit, represent, and analyze individual and team mental models and provide recommendations for method selection and development. We describe the nature of mental models and review techniques that have been used to elicit and represent them. We focus on a case study on selecting a method to examine team mental models in industry. The processes involved in the selection and development of an appropriate method for eliciting, representing, and analyzing team mental models are described. The criteria for method selection were (a) applicability to the problem under investigation; (b) practical considerations - suitability for collecting data from the targeted research sample; and (c) theoretical rationale - the assumption that associative networks in memory are a basis for the development of mental models. We provide an evaluation of the method matched to the research problem and make recommendations for future research. The practical applications of this research include the provision of a technique for analyzing team mental models in organizations, the development of methods and processes for eliciting a mental model from research participants in their normal work environment, and a survey of available methodologies for mental model research.

This article provides an overview of research into mental models in teams and discusses the relevance of this theoretical concept for design teams. Researchers in several disciplines have applied the construct of mental models to understand how people perform tasks based on their knowledge, experience and expectation. The notion has also been used to study teams and to analyse the relationship between team mental model and team performance. Five different types of mental models for studying design teams are proposed: task, process, team, competence, and context. A review the literature found only very few studies on team mental models in design-related areas. A brief overview is provided on what is known about team mental models in general, on the effect of team mental models on team performance, and on what kind of results can be transferred to design teams. A short review of measurement techniques and how they can be applied to design research is presented. Finally, implications for the field of design are discussed and a methodological framework for studying mental models in design teams is proposed.

PurposeThe research on shared mental models (SMMs) focuses on the importance of all team members holding similar mental models to realize team performance. However, for a perceived decomposable task, it is not required for all team members to have similar mental models to achieve team performance. Moreover, unnecessary overlapping mental models among team members may engender information overloading, translating into suboptimal team performance. Absent from the current literature is an understanding of the factors that determine the minimal overlapping mental models required across specific members for team performance. The purpose of this study is to yield an understanding of these issues.Design/methodology/approachThis study highlights that the requirement to hold similar mental models across specific team members depends on the task decomposition mechanisms used: task complexity and decomposability, subtask assigned and layer, task modularity, workflow interdependence type and tool attributes.FindingsUnlike much prior research which measured the relationship between SMMs and team performance at the team level, our conceptualization suggests that the measurement of SMMs and team performance needs to be conducted across a team and subsets of the team or individuals depending on task complexity and decomposability. This current research offers an important viewpoint regarding when team members need to hold similar mental models to realize task performance.Originality/valueBy suggesting new insights into when mental models should be similar across specific team members, this research also provides understanding of why some empirical SMMs studies do not yield positive relationships between similar SMMs and team effectiveness while others do.

Although shared team mental models are believed to be important to team functioning, substantial interstudy differences in the manner in which mental models are operationalized has impeded progress in this area. We use meta-analysis to cumulate 23 independent studies that have empirically examined shared mental models (SMMs) in relation to team process and performance and test three aspects of measurement as potential moderators: elicitation method, structure representation, and representation of emergence. Results indicate the way in which SMMs are measured and represented at the team level of analysis reveal meaningful distinctions in observed relationships. Specifically, shared mental model operationalization impacts the observed relationship between SMMs and team process; importantly, only methods that model the structure or organization of knowledge are predictive of process. Conversely, while the magnitude of the relationship differed across measurement method, SMMs were positively related to team performance regardless of the manner of operationalization. In summary, knowledge structure is predictive of team process, and both knowledge content and structure are predictive of team performance.