Previous research has suggested that when high-performing teams are experiencing increased workload, they will adaptively shift from explicit to more implicit forms of coordination. This is thought to occur because the team members have shared mental models (SMMs) which allow them to anticipate one another's needs. However, it is currently not known how SMMs are related to implicit coordination. Much of the research on SMMs had focused on the actual level of sharedness and, to some degree, on the accuracy of each team member's model. However, to our knowledge, none has investigated the relationship between SMMs and implicit coordination. Furthermore, one line of research that has received very little attention is the notion of perceptions of sharedness. Must team members have an accurate perception of how well they share mental models in order to exploit them via implicit coordination? The purpose of this paper is to explore these fundamental questions that drive the process of implicit coordination.
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