The science of training: a decade of progress.

This chapter reviews the training research literature reported over the past decade. We describe the progress in five areas of research including training theory, training needs analysis, antecedent training conditions, training methods and strategies, and posttraining conditions. Our review suggests that advancements have been made that help us understand better the design and delivery of training in organizations, with respect to theory development as well as the quality and quantity of empirical research. We have new tools for analyzing requisite knowledge and skills, and for evaluating training. We know more about factors that influence training effectiveness and transfer of training. Finally, we challenge researchers to find better ways to translate the results of training research into practice.

Teamwork in multi-person systems: a review and analysis.

As the scope and complexity of modern task demands exceed the capability of individuals to perform, teams are emerging to shoulder the burgeoning requirements. Accordingly, researchers have striven to understand and enhance human performance in team settings. The purpose of this review is to summarize that research, from the theoretical underpinnings that drive it, to the identification of team-level elements of success, to the methodologies and instruments that capture and measure those characteristics. Further specified are three important avenues to creating successful teams: team selection, task design and team training. In other words, one can select the right people, provide them with a task engineered for superior performance and train them in the appropriate skills to accomplish that task. Under task design, new technologies and automation are examined that both support and impede team functioning. Finally, throughout are provided critical remarks about what is known about teamwork and what is needed to be known to move the science and practice of team performance forward. The paper concludes with the identification of team issues that require further investigation.

The utility of event-based knowledge elicitation.

The purpose of this investigation was to describe and evaluate an event-based knowledge elicitation technique. With this approach experts are provided with deliberate and controlled job situations, allowing investigation of specific task aspects and the comparison of expert responses. For this effort a videotape was developed showing an instructor pilot and student conducting a training mission. Various job situations were depicted in the video to gather information pertinent to understanding team situational awareness. The videotape was shown to 10 instructors and 10 student aviators in the community, and responses to the videotape were collected using a questionnaire at predetermined stop points. Consistent with expectations, the results showed that more experienced respondents (i.e., instructors) identified a richer database of cues and were more likely than students to identify strategies for responding to the situations depicted, providing some empirical evidence for the validity of the event-based technique. This method may serve as a useful knowledge elicitation technique, especially in the later stages of a job analysis when focused information is sought.

Measuring team knowledge.

Multioperator tasks often require complex cognitive processing at the team level. Many team cognitive processes, such as situation assessment and coordination, are thought to rely on team knowledge. Team knowledge is multifaceted and comprises relatively generic knowledge in the form of team mental models and more specific team situation models. In this methodological review paper, we review recent efforts to measure team knowledge in the context of mapping specific methods onto features of targeted team knowledge. Team knowledge features include type, homogeneity versus heterogeneity, and rate of knowledge change. Measurement features include knowledge elicitation method, team metric, and aggregation method. When available, we highlight analytical conclusions or empirical data that support a connection between team knowledge and measurement method. In addition, we present empirical results concerning the relation between team knowledge and performance for each measurement method and identify research and methodological needs. Addressing issues surrounding the measurement of team knowledge is a prerequisite to understanding team cognition and its relation to team performance and to designing training programs or devices to facilitate team cognition.

The influence of shared mental models on team process and performance.

The influence of teammates' shared mental models on team processes and performance was tested using 56 undergraduate dyads who "flew" a series of missions on a personal-computer-based flight-combat simulation. The authors both conceptually and empirically distinguished between teammates' task- and team-based mental models and indexed their convergence or "sharedness" using individually completed paired-comparisons matrices analyzed using a network-based algorithm. The results illustrated that both shared-team- and task-based mental models related positively to subsequent team process and performance. Furthermore, team processes fully mediated the relationship between mental model convergence and team effectiveness. Results are discussed in terms of the role of shared cognitions in team effectiveness and the applicability of different interventions designed to achieve such convergence.

The impact of cross-training on team functioning: an empirical investigation.

The effects of cross-training (presence vs. absence) and workload (high vs. low) on team processes, communication, and task performance were examined. Eighty male undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of four training conditions: cross-training, low workload; cross-training, high workload; no cross-training, low workload; and no cross-training, high workload. Results indicated that cross-training was an important determinant of effective teamwork process, communication, and performance. Predicted interactions between cross-training and workload were not supported. Implications for the design and implementation of cross-training as a means to improve team functioning are discussed.