Eduardo Salas

University of Central Florida | UCF · Department of Psychology

The healthcare industry is inadvertently a teamwork industry – and yet – little time is devoted to improving teamwork on the field. As a response to this issue, team development intervention (TDI) tools have flourished. Findings suggest the capability for TDIs to better team competencies, and potentially mitigate prominent healthcare problems. Howe...

A collection of articles, books, book chapters, and more on team performance; with short descriptions of each work and what they might be useful for. Check it out here: https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199846740/obo-9780199846740-0220.xml?rskey=tyoq3O&result=1&q=team+performance#firstMatch

Teamwork can have great benefits, but several predictable challenges can negatively impact team performance. In this paper, we examine these challenges, and summarize nine of the most common barriers to effective teamwork (i.e., competing demands, undervaluing teammates, power differentials, a leader not promoting collaboration, inexperience workin...

Perioperative handoffs are high-risk events for miscommunications and poor care coordination, which cause patient harm. Extensive research and several interventions have sought to overcome the challenges to perioperative handoff quality and safety, but few efforts have focused on teamwork training. Evidence shows that team training decreases surgic...

Interprofessional healthcare team function is critical to the effective delivery of patient care. Team members must possess teamwork competencies, as team function impacts patient, staff, team, and healthcare organizational outcomes. There is evidence that team training is beneficial; however, consensus on the optimal training content, methods, and...

Understanding why certain individuals work well (or poorly) together as a team is a key research focus in the psychological and behavioral sciences and a fundamental problem for team-based organizations. Nevertheless, we have a limited ability to predict the social and work-related dynamics that will emerge from a given combination of team members....

Background Handoffs are ubiquitous in modern healthcare practice, and they can be a point of resilience and care continuity. However, they are prone to a variety of issues. Handoffs are linked to 80% of serious medical errors and are implicated in one of three malpractice suits. Furthermore, poorly performed handoffs can lead to information loss, d...

In this effort we draw from the literature on interprofessional teamwork in high reliability organizations from different fields of study, including healthcare, industrial/organizational psychology, and management. We combine this literature with our collective experience to offer five observations on future needs for the field of team science rese...

Gender inequity is globally present in the labor force and advocating for gender equality is not merely a fairness issue, but a benefit for organizations. In this paper, we identify common challenges for gender-diverse teams (i.e., turnover, discrimination, communication issues, conflict between team members, and low team cohesion). We also discuss...

Introduction: Telerounding is slated to become an important avenue for future healthcare practice. As utilization of telerounding is increasing, a review of the literature is necessary to distill themes and identify critical considerations for the implementation of telerounding. We provide evidence of the utility of telerounding and considerations...

As teams are a foundational component of modern organizations, selection and training of employees to facilitate teamwork is of key importance. In this paper, we review and meta‐analyze research on the construct of team orientation. We differentiate between organizational‐, team‐, and individual‐level team orientation and discuss multilevel theory...

In the professional world, there remains an obvious gender wage gap, partly because men ask for raises more often and in greater increments than women (Babcock, Gelfand, Small, & Stayn, 2006). In the current study, we seek to extend the literature on individual differences and negotiation by testing theory regarding how dispositional traits—namely...

Objective We describe a methodology that provides a nonobtrusive means of detecting stress and related deficits through the assessment of spontaneous verbal output in ongoing communications. Background In high-demand environments, operational personnel are exposed to an array of environmental, task, and interpersonal stressors that can negatively...

Team cohesion is an important antecedent of team performance, but our understanding of this relationship is mired by inconsistencies in how cohesion has been conceptualized and measured. The nature of teams is also changing, and the effect of this change is unclear. By meta-analyzing the cohesion-performance relationship ( k = 195, n = 12,023), exa...

Training can, and does, differ greatly across contexts in regard to specific emphases, and these generally vary depending on the organization and its mission. However, the universal goal is to improve the quality of the workforce in order to strengthen the bottom line of the organization. If this is to happen, those who design and deliver the train...

As the need to tackle complex clinical and societal problems rises, researchers are increasingly taking on a translational approach. This approach, which seeks to integrate theories, methodologies, and frameworks from various disciplines across a team of researchers, places emphasis on translation of findings in order to offer practical solutions t...

Introduction In response to a call issued by the National Research Council to investigate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of effective science teams, we designed a team training program for conducting science in collaborative contexts. Methods We reviewed the literature to develop an evidence-based competency model for effective science teams...

Background Certain leadership behaviours are particularly helpful for healthcare teams remain effective through crisis situations, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper summarizes evidence-based insights based on their importance and prevalence in the crisis leadership literature to provide recommendations that apply to medical team leaders bro...

Cross-cultural collaboration is critical for tackling many complex issues of the modern-day, yet can be challenging, particularly when it includes collaborators with a history of conflict, such as Middle Eastern countries and the United States. To explore how collaborators might have unique conceptualizations of collaboration that could ultimately...

In response to calls for research to improve human-machine teaming (HMT), we present a “perspective” paper that explores techniques from computer science that can enhance machine agents for human-machine teams. As part of this paper, we (1) summarize the state of the science on critical team competencies identified for effective HMT, (2) discuss te...

Background: Safe and effective patient care depends on the teamwork of multidisciplinary healthcare professionals. Unfortunately, the field currently lacks an evidence-based framework for effective teamwork that can be incorporated into medical education and practice across health professions. We introduce a comprehensive framework for team effecti...

Most organizations invest in leadership training and development initiatives, but which programs are worth the money is not always clear. To help leaders and policymakers make informed decisions about their leadership investments, we review empirical research from the organizational sciences and provide evidence-based guidance regarding the appropr...

Objective To provide insights for organizations that must rapidly deploy teams to remote work. Background Modern situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, are rapidly accelerating the need for organizations to move employee teams to virtual environments, sometimes with little to no opportunities to prepare for the transition. It is likely that or...

Teamwork in healthcare is particularly salient in the dynamic domains of critical care: emergency medicine, surgery, and trauma and resuscitation. Within and across these services, teams must be coordinated to provide optimal care in order to provide optimal delivery of health care. Although many disciplines study teamwork, it is unclear how schola...

Substantially advancing the study of teams will require a new research paradigm complete with methods capable of capturing the complex, dynamic process of teamwork. In this paper, we suggest studying teams with an integrated mixed methods approach (i.e., methods defined by an interconnected mix of quantitative and qualitative characteristics) can h...

Introduction: Mass casualty events (MASCAL) are on the rise globally. Although natural disasters are often unavoidable, the preparation to respond to unique patient demands in MASCAL can be improved. Utilizing telemedicine can allow for a better response to such disasters by providing access to a virtual team member with necessary specialized expe...

As the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the United States, health care teams are on the frontlines of this global crisis, often navigating harrowing conditions at work, such as a lack of personal protective equipment and staffing shortages, and distractions at home, including worries about elderly relatives or making childcare arrangements. While the...

Background Healthcare organisations are increasingly placing the onus on care providers to lead change initiatives to improve patient care. This requires care providers to perform tasks in addition to their core job roles and often outside of their formal training. The existing literature provides few insights regarding the functions required of ch...

Today’s organisations most often call upon teams, rather than individuals, to solve their most complex problems. In an effort to improve team processes and performance, organisations invest both time and money into team development interventions, including team coaching. Despite frequent mentions of team coaching in academic literature and its popu...

Risk. Complexity. Technical demands. Communication difficulties. Interpersonal demands. Confinement. Periods of high task load. Periods of under-stimulation. These are a few of the human challenges in long-duration exploration space missions. These conditions pose challenges not only to humans in space, but also to studying and enhancing performanc...

Since the 20th century, health care institutions have used morbidity and mortality conferences (MMCs) as a forum to discuss complicated cases and fatalities to capitalize on lessons learned. Medical technology, health care processes, and the teams who provide care have evolved over time, but the format of the MMC has remained relatively unchanged....

Team trust is gaining attention in research and practice due to its benefits for team performance, yet clarity about the intricacies of its measurement is needed. Therefore, we meta‐analyzed 118 studies (N= 7,738) to untangle the role of measurement features by investigating the degree to which they influence the trust‐performance relationship. Res...

Simulation has transformed medical education and the broader field of healthcare. The previous decades have seen tremendous growth in the adoption and endorsement of simulation-based initiatives, driven in large part by persistent reports of medical error and an emphasis on patient safety. Fortunately, researchers and practitioners are able to draw...

In this review, we conceptualize teamwork as the linchpin driving safety performance throughout an organization. Safety is promoted by teams through various mechanisms that interact in a complex and dynamic process. We press pause on this dynamic process to organize a discussion highlighting the critical role played by teamwork factors in the engag...

Objectives The goal of this study is to test an implementation and examine users’ perceptions about the usefulness of telemedicine in mass casualty and disaster settings and to provide recommendations for using telemedicine in these settings. Methods Ninety-two US Army Forward Surgical Team (FST) members participated in a high-fidelity mass casual...

In the USA, baby boomers are aging and choosing to remain in the workforce longer than previous generations of workers. Likewise, many countries are experiencing demographic shifts toward a more age-diverse population. Meanwhile, organizations continue to rely on teams to accomplish tasks and solve difficult problems. Together, this means that work...

Teamwork is increasingly being acknowledged as a necessary part of the engineering workplace, therefore engineering educators may feel a responsibility for teaching teamwork skills to students. Engineering educators cannot improve their students’ teamwork skills without first being able to practically diagnose the students’ strengths and weaknesses...

Objective Review the use of physiological measurement in team settings and propose recommendations to improve the state of the science. Background New sensor and analytical capabilities enable exploration of relationships between team members’ physiological dynamics. We conducted a review of physiological measures used in research on teams to unde...

As health care delivery moves toward more complex, team-based systems, the topic of medical teamwork has gained considerable attention and study across disciplines. This systematic review integrates empirical research on teamwork and health care to identify broad trends. We identified and coded 1,818 relevant, English, and peer-reviewed journal art...

There is a widespread use of leadership development (LD) for students in higher education; however, less is known about the effectiveness of such practices. We provide a summative and meta-analytic review to identify the state of LD programs for students in higher education (i.e., undergraduate and graduate students). The overall objective is to de...

Objective This study reviews theoretical models of organizational safety culture to uncover key factors in safety culture development. Background Research supports the important role of safety culture in organizations, but theoretical progress has been stunted by a disjointed literature base. It is currently unclear how different elements of an or...

During the past decades, population aging, later retirements, and a shift to team-based work have left organizations with challenges associated with age-diverse teams and retirement from a team-based work structure. However, limited research has investigated the interplays between teams, aging, and retirement. Here, we overview the research at the...

Although team leadership is important across many contexts, it is particularly influential in traditional, hierarchical organizations such as the military. In these settings, leadership can explain a major portion of variance in team performance. Failure to understand this relationship can harm the training and development at multiple levels (Zacca...

Objective: The purpose of this meta-analytic review is to examine the role of three work environment support variables (i.e., peer, supervisor, and organizational support) in training transfer and sustainment or long-term use of learned knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs). Background: Estimates demonstrate that little training is transferred...

Team training contributes to improved performance, reduced errors, and even saving lives-and it exists today because psychologists collaborated across domains to contribute their expertise. Our objective was to highlight the salient role of multidisciplinary collaboration in the success of team training, an area driven by psychologists responding t...

Objective: Medical teams play a vital role in the delivery of safe and effective patient care. Toward the goal of becoming a high-reliability health system, the authors posit that the "perfect" medical team is one that develops their attitudes, behaviors, and cognitions (ABCs) to facilitate adaptation. Methods: The authors synthesized the litera...

Objective:: We aimed to provide an assessment of the impact of workload manipulations on various cardiac measurements. We further sought to determine the most effective measurement approaches of cognitive workload as well as quantify the conditions under which these measures are most effective for interpretation. Background:: Cognitive workload...

Organizations leverage training as a means of improving the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of trainees; but, effective training requires that this learning is transferred from the training environment to the actual performance of the work (that is, training transfer). Unfortunately, despite billions of dollars invested in learning each year, the...

Introduction: Teamwork is a critical aspect of patient care and is especially salient in response to multiple patient casualties. Effective training and measurement improve team performance. However, the literature currently lacks a scientifically developed measure of team performance within multiple causality scenarios, making training and feedba...

A key challenge for cost-effective Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) is the ability to create generalizable domain, learner, and pedagogical models so they can be re-used many times over. Investment in this technology will be needed to succeed in developing ITSs for team training. The purpose of this chapter is to propose an instructional framewo...

We need teams in nearly every aspect of our lives (e.g., hospitals, schools, flight decks, nuclear power plants, oil rigs, the military, and corporate offices). Nearly a century of psychological science has uncovered extensive knowledge about team-related processes and outcomes. In this article, we draw from the reviews and articles of this special...

Provides an introduction to this special issue which explores the Science of Teamwork—what psychological science in 2018 tells us about the process and outcomes of teamwork in a variety of contexts. This work draws from and affects all areas of psychology. The science and practice of teamwork is now an interdisciplinary activity. Teamwork is a comp...

The term teamwork has graced countless motivational posters and office walls. However, although teamwork is often easy to observe, it is somewhat more difficult to describe and yet more difficult to produce. At a broad level, teamwork is the process through which team members collaborate to achieve task goals. Teamwork refers to the activities thro...

The rate of teamwork and collaboration within the workforce has burgeoned over the years, and the use of teams is projected to continue increasing. With the rise of teamwork comes the need for interventions designed to enhance teamwork effectiveness. Successful teams produce desired outcomes; however, it is critical that team members demonstrate ef...

Organizations regularly make significant investments to ensure their teams will thrive, through interventions intended to support their effectiveness. Such team development interventions (TDIs) have demonstrated their value from both a practical and empirical view, through enabling teams to minimize errors and maximize expertise and thereby advance...

The present review synthesizes existing evidence and theory on the science of health care teams and health care team training. Ten observations are presented that capture the current state of the science, with applications to both researchers and practitioners. The observations are drawn from a variety of salient sources, including meta-analytic ev...

Interest in effective health care teamwork has advanced in recent years. To ensure these teams are performing effectively, valid and reliable measurement is necessary. This review identifies and organizes information about measures of health care team performance by addressing the following objectives: (a) identify existing measures of health care...

This entry develops the state of science in regards to training for expatriates. Expatriates are those individuals who go to a foreign country to complete an assignment. Unfortunately, they often return early or change jobs upon their repatriation. Although there is little consistency regarding the content and methods used to train these individual...

Past research demonstrates that the relationship between distinct subgroups within teams can be improved using interventions that emphasize commonalities, such as a superordinate team identity. By comparing the creative outcomes of 51 racio-ethnically diverse teams, comprised of both majority and minority racio-ethnic subgroups, this study shows wh...

Although it is consistently identified as a critical component of team performance, team communication is often conceptualized in a variety of manners. The present meta-analysis addresses this inconsistency by examining the moderating influence of communication characteristics, as well as other salient team and task characteristics, on the relation...

Recent estimates suggest that although a majority of funds in organizational training budgets tend to be allocated to leadership training (Ho, 2016; O'Leonard, 2014), only a small minority of organizations believe their leadership training programs are highly effective (Schwartz, Bersin, & Pelster, 2014), calling into question the effectiveness of...