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The Influence of Shared Mental Models on Team Process and Performance

DOI:10.1037/0021-9010.85.2.273
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John E Mathieu at University of Connecticut
John E Mathieu
Tonia S. Heffner
Tonia S. Heffner
Tonia S. Heffner
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Gerald F Goodwin at United States Army
Gerald F Goodwin
Eduardo Salas at University of Central Florida
Eduardo Salas
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Abstract

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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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John Mathieu
Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor
Friar Chair in Leadership & Teams
Management Department, University of Connecticut
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... Some research indicates that shared mental models foster the strong team cohesion necessary for the innovation process. Mental models enable individuals to interact in an environment (Mathieu, Heffner, Goodwin, Sala, & Cannon-Bowers, 2000). The benefit of teams sharing common mental models is that if a team must adapt quickly, there is a basis of knowledge on what teammates might do in the situation that enables everyone to know how to react in a way that would complement the rest of the team (Mathieu et al., 2000). ...
... Mental models enable individuals to interact in an environment (Mathieu, Heffner, Goodwin, Sala, & Cannon-Bowers, 2000). The benefit of teams sharing common mental models is that if a team must adapt quickly, there is a basis of knowledge on what teammates might do in the situation that enables everyone to know how to react in a way that would complement the rest of the team (Mathieu et al., 2000). As a result of employing shared mental models, teams can adapt and achieve high productivity levels (Santos, Uitdewilligen, & Passos, 2015). ...
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... While shared mental models may not lead to performance improvements when teams complete independent tasks, they can lead to improved performance when individuals work on interdependent subtasks (Minionis et al., 1995). Therefore, research has shown that shared mental models are important for team effectiveness as well as performance (see Mathieu et al., 2000Mathieu et al., , 2005. When solving the task used in this present study, prior research showed that individuals shared a mental model concerning the optimal survival strategy during winter survival (Blickensderfer et al., 1997). ...
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