Let's Think Together! Assessing Shared Mental Models, Performance, and Trust in Human-Agent Teams

An emerging research agenda in Computer-Supported Cooperative Work focuses on human-agent teaming and AI agent's roles and effects in modern teamwork. In particular, one understudied key question centers around the construct of team cognition within human-agent teams. This study explores the unique nature of team dynamics in human-agent teams compared to human-human teams and the impact of team composition on perceived team cognition, team performance, and trust. In doing so, a mixed-method approach, including three team composition conditions (all human, human-human-agent, human-agent-agent), completed the team simulation NeoCITIES and completed shared mental model, trust, and perception measures. Results found that human-agent teams are similar to human-only teams in the iterative development of team cognition and the importance of communication to accelerating its development; however, human-agent teams are different in that action-related communication and explicitly shared goals are beneficial to developing team cognition. Additionally, human-agent teams trusted agent teammates less when working with only agents and no other humans, perceived less team cognition with agent teammates than human ones, and had significantly inconsistent levels of team mental model similarity when compared to human-only teams. This study contributes to Computer-Supported Cooperative Work in three significant ways: 1) advancing the existing research on human-agent teaming by shedding light on the relationship between humans and agents operating in collaborative environments, 2) characterizing team cognition development in human-agent teams; and 3) advancing real-world design recommendations that promote human-centered teaming agents and better integrate the two.

The congruence of mental models in entrepreneurial teams – implications for performance and satisfaction in teams operating in an emerging economy

Purpose The paper aims to explore the relationship between the congruence of mental models held by the members of entrepreneurial teams operating in an emerging economy (Poland) and entrepreneurial outcomes (performance and satisfaction). Design/methodology/approach The data obtained from 18 nascent and 20 established entrepreneurial teams was analysed to answer hypotheses. The research was quantitative and was conducted using an online questionnaire. Data was collected from each of the teams at two stages. Members of entrepreneurial teams were surveyed independently, which allowed measuring the congruence of their mental models pertaining to running a venture. Findings Findings reveal that team members’ mental model congruence is significantly related to financial performance and members’ satisfaction in the case of established entrepreneurial teams. However, in the case of nascent teams, there is no relationship between analysed variables. Practical implications Implications for theory and practice are offered with a special emphasis on entrepreneurship education. The concept of team mental model congruence is proposed to be included in training of nascent entrepreneurial teams, experienced companies and students. Originality/value The concept of team mental models investigated by the authors has been underexplored in entrepreneurship research. Results indicate that at least in some entrepreneurial teams, team mental models’ congruence is related to obtained outcomes. The paper proposes that principles of effectuation and causation can serve as the lens through which the mental model pertaining to running a venture can be analysed. It allows expanding studies on the congruence of team mental models in entrepreneurial teams beyond the strategic consensus.

A team mental model approach to understanding team effectiveness in an emergency department: A qualitative study

Objectives To demonstrate how the team mental model concept can broaden our understanding of team effectiveness in health care by exploring the knowledge that underpins it, and the workplace conditions that sustain it in a metropolitan emergency department (ED) in Sydney, Australia. Methods This study draws on accounts of 19 ED clinicians (registered nurses, doctors and nurse practitioners) of their teamwork practice and perceptions of their team’s effectiveness through semi-structured interviews. Analysis was conducted in two stages. A thematic analysis was followed by a template analysis using the a priori themes of task, team, team process and goal knowledge to specify the content of the team’s mental model. Results The content of the ED team’s mental model revealed that the knowledge the team employed to coordinate their work was deeply embedded in the team’s tasks and the workplace context. Team effectiveness not only relied on how well team members coordinate, but also their ability to perform their own role effectively and efficiently. Three workplace conditions were identified as enablers to individuals acquiring the knowledge needed to work effectively in the team: stability in team membership; workplace experience; and the spatial-temporal conditions of emergency work where permanent emergency doctors and nurses executed their tasks concurrently, regularly interacted and shared a common goal. Conclusions Getting health care teams ‘on the same page’ is a long-standing challenge. This study suggests that solutions may lay in the organisation of health care work, creating team stability and opportunities for team members to interact that allows a team mental model to emerge.

The Effects of Team Mental Model Complexity on Team Information Search and Performance Trajectories

Drawing on the concept of requisite complexity, we propose that mental model complexity is crucial for teams to thrive in dynamic complex environments. Using a longitudinal research design, we examined the influence of team mental model complexity on team information search and performance trajectories in a sample of 64 teams competing in a business strategy simulation over time. We found that team information search positively influences performance growth over time. More specifically, and consistent with requisite complexity, we found that mental model complexity positively influences both performance growth and information search over time, above and beyond the effects of mental model similarity and accuracy.

Getting the Knack for Team-Improvised Adaptation: The Role of Reflexivity and Team Mental Model Similarity

Organizational teams operate in increasingly volatile environments in which the speed and degree of change accelerates, demanding rapid adaptation processes namely of the improvisational type. It is therefore essential to understand how to prepare teams to operate in such contexts. This work investigates the effects of team mental model similarity, in-action reflexivity, and transitional reflexivity on team-improvised adaptation performance and on team-improvised adaptation learning. Two experiments were conducted with a total of 121 teams. We manipulated the independent variables and used an overtime design to measure team-improvised adaptation learning. Our findings suggest that teams operating in unpredictable environments that require rapid adaptation should be able to reflect collectively, both while acting and between tasks. These teams should also develop a common understanding of the main elements of the context and the task, so that they are effective in the face of unpredictability and rapid change.

Virtual Teaming: Leveraging Team Science Sense-Making During COVID-19

Individuals with cancer anorexia cachexia syndrome (CACS) experience multifaceted distress. To address CACS patient concerns regarding their experience of care, our cancer center established a specialized CACS clinic in 2016. We applied the team science principle of the team mental model (TMM) to support development of an effective interprofessional collaborative CACS care team. In 2020, cessation of CACS clinic in-person visits during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) threatened the viability of the entrenched TMM and once again jeopardized the patient experience of care. We present a case-based vignette as a representative composite of patient experiences to illustrate the challenges. A 48-year-old female was referred to our CACS clinic for pancreatic cancer-associated appetite and weight loss during COVID-19. To reduce risk of infection, in-person clinic visits were curtailed. When informed about the resulting need to defer the CACS assessment, the patient and her spouse expressed concern that postponement would adversely affect her ability to undergo anticancer treatments or achieve beneficial outcomes. To minimize delays in CACS treatment and optimize the patient experience of care, we applied the team science principle of sense-making to help the team rapidly reformulate the TMM to provide interprofessional collaborative CACS care via telemedicine. The sense-making initiative highlights opportunities to examine sense-making within health care teams more broadly during and after the pandemic. The application of sense-making within interprofessional cancer care teams has not been described previously.

Interdisciplinary Team-Based Learning: An Integrated Opportunity Recognition and Evaluation Model for Teaching Business, Engineering and Design Students

This paper describes a pedagogical framework and a set of team-based learning (TBL) activities which can be applied to an interdisciplinary course comprised of a mix of engineering, design, and business students. The goal of the team-based learning (TBL) activities is to help students to appreciate both the benefits and the challenges of working in interdisciplinary teams. To enhance their interdisciplinary collaboration skills, students engage in a series of knowledge sharing and knowledge integration activities, based on the Jigsaw technique, a team-based learning methodology. These activities enable the students to recognize and reconcile their disciplinary differences and biases, which arise because of the cognitive diversity of the team. Students are assigned to interdisciplinary teams to identify and prototype an entrepreneurial opportunity. By the end of these activities, students are able to incorporate the perspectives of all three disciplines to develop an integrated team mental model (TMM) of the opportunity recognition and opportunity evaluation process.