Problem-solving teams composed of members possessing unique knowledge tend to be ineffective because of impediments that limit information sharing, including the sampling advantage of common information and differential schema structures among team members. Teams using a team training strategy aimed at ameliorating these impediments were expected to experience knowledge building and high performance. Data were collected from 40 teams of three co-located members, which were randomly assigned to a training or control condition. All teams completed a realistic military-based hidden profile problem-solving task. Teams in the training condition were trained to build knowledge using an information board (which served as a knowledge object) accompanied with schema-enriched communication. Teams in the control condition operated as typical co-located problem-solving teams and did not use an information board or receive the training. All hypotheses were supported. Teams experiencing the training strategy had higher knowledge transfer, interoperable knowledge, cognitive congruence, and performance than control teams. The training strategy appears to be effective in aiding teams to ameliorate communication impediments. Apparently, teams externalized their knowledge by communicating aspects of their schemas for task knowledge and visually representing and collaboratively structuring that knowledge.
Beers, P.J., Boshuizen, H.P.A., Kirschner, P.A., & Gijselaers, W.H. (2005). Computer support for knowledge construction in collaborative learning environments. Computers in Human Behavior, 21, 623-643.
2.
Beers, P.J., Boshuizen, H.P.A., Kirschner, P.A., & Gijselaers, W.H. (2006). Common ground, complex problems, and decision making. Group Decision and Negotiation , 15, 529-556.
3.
Biron, H.C., Burkman, L.M., & Warner, N. ( 2008, April). A re-analysis of the collaborative knowledge transcripts from a non-combatant evacuation operation scenario: The next phase in the evolution of a team collaboration model (Naval Air Systems Command Technical Report No. NAWCADPAX/TR-2008/43). Patuxent River, MD: Naval Air Warfare Center.
4.
Campbell, J., & Stasser, G. ( 2006). The influence of time and task demonstrability on decision-making in computer-mediated and face-to-face groups. Small Group Research, 37, 271-294.
5.
Carlile, P.R., & Rebentisch, E. (2003). Into the black box: The knowledge transformation cycle. Management Science, 49, 1180-1195.
6.
Cooke, N.J., Gorman, J.C., & Kiekel, P.A. ( 2008). Communication as team-level cognitive processing. In M. P. Letsky, N. M. Warner, S. M. Fiore, & C. A. P. Smith (Eds.), Macrocognition in teams (pp. 51-64). Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
7.
Cooke, N.J., Gorman, J.C., & Rowe, L.J. ( 2008). An ecological perspective on team cognition. In E. Salas, G. F. Goodwin, & S. Burke (Eds.), Team effectiveness in complex organizations: Cross-disciplinary perspectives and approaches (pp. 157-182). New York, NY: Routledge.
8.
Craik, F.I.M., & Lockhart, R.S. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 671-684.
9.
Delise, L.A., Gorman, C.A., Brooks, A.M., Rentsch, J.R., & Steele-Johnson, D. (2010). The effects of team training on team outcomes: A meta-analysis. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 22(4), 53-80.
10.
Fiore, S.M., Cuevas, H.M., & Oser, R.L. ( 2003). A picture is worth a thousand connections: The facilitation effects of diagrams on mental model development and task performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 19, 185-199.
11.
Fiore, S.M., Rosen, M., Salas, E., Burke, S., & Jentsch, F. ( 2008). Processes in complex team problem-solving: Parsing and defining the theoretical problem space. In M. P. Letsky, N. M. Warner, S. M. Fiore, & C. A. P. Smith (Eds.), Macrocognition in teams (pp. 143-163). Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
12.
Franz, T.M., & Larson, J.R., Jr. (2002). The impact of experts on information sharing during group discussion. Small Group Research, 33, 383-411.
13.
Glenberg, A.M., & Langston, W.E. (1992). Comprehension of illustrate text: Pictures help to build mental models. Journal of Memory and Language, 31, 129-151.
14.
Hebert, D.M.B., & Burt, J.S. ( 2004). What do students remember? Episodic memory and the development of schematization. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18, 77-88.
15.
Hegarty, M., & Just, M.A. ( 1993). Constructing mental models of machines from text and diagrams. Journal of Memory and Language, 32, 717-742.
16.
Hinds, P.J., Patterson, M., & Pfeffer, J. ( 2001). Bothered by abstraction: The effect of expertise on knowledge transfer and subsequent novice performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 1232-1243.
17.
Langfield-Smith, K. ( 1992). Exploring the need for a shared cognitive map. Journal of Management Studies, 29, 349-368.
18.
Larson, J.R., Christensen, C., Franz, T.M., & Abbott, A.S. ( 1998). Diagnosing groups: The pooling, management, and impact of shared and unshared case information in team-based medical decision making . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 93-108.
19.
Lee, M., & Kim, D. ( 2005). The effects of the collaborative representation supporting tool on problem-solving processes and outcomes in web-based collaborative problem-based learning (PBL) environments. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 16, 273-293.
20.
Levina, N. ( 2005). Collaborating on multiparty information systems development projects: A collective reflection-in-action view. Information Systems Research, 16, 109-130.
21.
Marcus, N., Cooper, M., & Sweller, J. ( 1996). Understanding instructions. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 49-63.
22.
Martins, L.L., Gilson, L.L., & Maynard, M.T. ( 2004). Virtual teams: What do we know and where do we go from here? Journal of Management, 30, 805-835.
23.
Mason, L. ( 1998). Sharing cognition to construct scientific knowledge in school context: The role of oral and written discourse. Instructional Science, 26, 359-389.
24.
Mayer, R.E. ( 1989). Systematic thinking fostered by illustrations in scientific text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 240-246.
25.
Meloth, M.S., & Deering, P.D. ( 1994). Task talk and task awareness under different cooperative learning conditions. American Educational Research Journal , 31, 138-165.
26.
Nosek, J.T. ( 2004). Group cognition as a basis for supporting group knowledge creation and sharing. Journal of Knowledge Management, 8, 54-64.
27.
Rentsch, J.R. ( 2006, January). Developing shared understanding through knowledge management: Collaboration and meaning analysis process (C-MAP). Paper presented at the Collaboration and Knowledge Management Workshop, Boston, MA.
28.
Rentsch, J.R., Delise, L.A., & Hutchison, S. ( 2008). Transferring meaning and developing cognitive similarity in decision making teams: Collaboration and meaning analysis process. In M. P. Letsky, N. M. Warner, S. M. Fiore, & C. A. P. Smith (Eds.), Macrocognition in teams (pp. 127-142). Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
29.
Rentsch, J.R., Delise, L.A., & Letsky, M.P. ( 2007, July). Improving cognitive congruence and knowledge interoperability in decision making teams. Paper presented to the INGRoup: Interdisciplinary Network for Group Research Second Annual Conference , East Lansing, MI.
30.
Rentsch, J.R., Mello, A.L., & Delise, L.A. ( 2010). Collaboration and meaning analysis process in intense problem solving teams. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science .
31.
Rentsch, J.R., & Woehr, D.J. ( 2004). Quantifying congruence in cognition: Social relations modeling and team member schema similarity. In E. Salas & S. M. Fiore (Eds.), Team cognition: Understanding the factors that drive process and performance (pp. 11-21). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association .
32.
Salas, E., Cooke, N.J., & Rosen, M.A. ( 2008). On teams, teamwork, and team performance: Discoveries and developments. Human Factors, 50, 540-547.
33.
Salas, E., DiazGranados, D., Klein, C., Burke, C.S., Stagl, K.C., Goodwin, G.F., & Halpin, S.M. ( 2008). Does team training improve team performance? Human Factors, 50, 903-933.
34.
Salas, E., Nichols, D.R., & Driskell, J.E. (2007). Testing three team training strategies in intact teams: A meta-analysis. Small Group Research , 38, 471-488.
35.
Savicki, V., Kelley, M., & Lingenfelter, D. (1996). Gender, group composition, and task type in small task groups using computer-mediated communication. Computers in Human Behavior, 12, 549-565.
36.
Scaife, M., & Rogers, Y. ( 1996). External cognition: How do graphical representations work? International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 45, 185-213.
37.
Smith-Jentsch, K.A., Campbell, G.E., Milanovich, D.M., & Reynolds, A.M. (2001). Measuring teamwork mental models to support training needs assessment, development, and evaluation: Two empirical studies. Journal of Organizational Behavior , 22, 179-194.
38.
Star, S.L. ( 1989). The structure of ill-structured solutions: Boundary objects and heterogeneous distributed problem solving. In M. Huhns & L. Gasser (Eds.), Readings in distributed artificial intelligence (pp. 37-54). Menlo Park, CA: Carlile.
39.
Stasser, G., Stewart, D.D., & Wittenbaum, G.M. (1995). Expert roles and information exchange during discussion: The importance of knowing who knows what. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 31, 244-265.
40.
Stasser, G., & Titus, W. ( 1985). Pooling of unshared information in group decision making: Biased information sampling during discussion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 1467-1478.
41.
Stein, B.S., & Bransford, J.D. (1979). Constraints on effective elaboration: Effects of precision and subject generation. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 769-777.
42.
Suthers, D.D., & Hundhausen, C.D. (2003). An experimental study of the effects of representational guidance on collaborative learning processes . Journal of the Learning Sciences, 12, 183-218.
