Training teams to collaboratet as cohesive units

Authors:

  • Nicoletta Baroutsis
  • Peter Berggren
  • Staffan Nählinder
  • Björn J E Johansson

Publish date: 2014-04-08

Report number: FOI-R--3830--SE

Pages: 77

Written in: English

Keywords:

  • Teams
  • training
  • microworlds
  • performance
  • situation awareness
  • workload
  • mutual awareness
  • level of agreement

Abstract

This report describes how teams were trained to act as cohesive units. They went through extensive training in a microworld called C3Fire. It is a microworld where the participants collaborate with the goal of extinguishing a forest fire. C3Fire allows the researcher to present the experiment participants with conflicting goals, numerous response alternatives, in real time, while still providing stable and replicable results. Six three-person teams were trained over ten sessions of increasing complexity. The training contained both interaction with the C3Fire platform and an After-Action-Review (AAR) session moderated by the experiment leader. In order to follow how the teams were progressing, questionnaires were answered after each session concerning teamwork, workload, task awareness, situation awareness, training and motivation. The experimenter also evaluated the tactical performance of the teams. Team performance was calculated from C3Fire recordings. All teams showed improvement in performance, with decreasing differences over time. Also situation awareness, mental workload and mutual beliefs improved over time. Training efficiency was assessed in terms of task efficiency, a measure following the same pattern, improving over time. Team process measures continued to improve longer than performance measures, suggesting that team processes develops at a slower pace.