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Social Network Analysis of Mental Models in Emergency Management Teams

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Social Network Analysis of Mental Models in Emergency Management Teams Social Network Analysis of Mental Models in Emergency Management Teams Bjørn Sætrevik1,2 & Euryph Line Solheim Kvamme 1,3 1: Operational Psychology Research Group, Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Christies gate 12, NO-5015 Bergen. 2: Email: [email protected], corresponding author 3: Email: [email protected] Abstract Field studies of team interaction patterns may be the preferred way to examine the impact of social processes and mechanisms on team’s performance, but limitations in data quality may require adapted approaches. Social network analysis may be used to explore a team’s interaction, and to test whether social dynamics is associated with team performance. We pre-registered a novel approach for measuring social networks of teams in an extant field dataset of eleven emergency management teams performing a scenario training exercise. Our aim was to test whether teams with more evenly distributed interaction patterns have a more accurate and shared understanding of the task at hand. Our findings support the pre-registered hypotheses that more distributed and denser team networks are associated with more accurate and more shared mental models, while there was no support for associations between mental models and the individual’s position in the network. Keywords Social network analysis; mental models; shared mental models; situation awareness; emergency management teams; teamwork; social interaction 1: Introduction dyadic relationships between relevant individuals, groups or institutions (Borgatti & Foster, 2003; Henttonen, 2010). 1.1: Theoretical background The approach assumes that individuals are embedded in 1.1.1: The role of social networks in team performance multi-level relational structures (Balkundi & Harrison, Most work is performed by some form of team (Cross, 2006; Monge & Contractor, 2003; Newman, 2010; Streeter Rebele, & Grant, 2016). Teamwork requires coordination & Gillespie, 1993) that can be described in terms of their between team-members, sharing of responsibilities, structure (nodes and ties) and their content (frequency and assigning team roles and using explicit communication importance of the ties, distribution of resources). Social (Salas, Sims, & Burke, 2005). Working in teams yields network structure may be described in terms of their advantages such as solving larger tasks, specialization, density, which indicates the extent to which a network’s mutual supervision, and collaboration across domains. But nodes are interconnected (Hanneman & Riddle, 2005), it also carries potential disadvantages, like coordination centrality, which indicates a node’s position relative to costs, conflicting goals, overlapping resource use, others (Sparrowe, Liden, & Kraimer, 2001), centralization, miscommunication and group-think. A team’s formal and which indicates the degree to which all nodes are equally informal organization may be considered its social central (Cummings & Cross, 2003), or popularity, which structure, while procedural, instrumental, and affective indicates the number and significance of ties a node interactions may be considered its social processes. Certain receives (Opsahl, Agneessens, & Skvoretz, 2010). team structures and social processes may promote the Previous research has indicated that teams with more advantages of teamwork while avoiding the disadvantages distributed social network profiles are more effective (see for instance, Bolstad & Endsley, 2005; Cummings & (Balkundi & Harrison, 2006), that highly coordinated Cross, 2003; De Jong, Dirks, Gillespie, & Chen, 2016). teams have increased effectiveness (Mohammadfam, Therefore, it may be beneficial to analyze a team’s social Bastani, Esaghi, Golmohamadi, & Saee, 2015). Further, dynamics to optimize its function. Emergency management more distributed teams have higher performance and teams (EMTs) operate in dynamic situations, where the efficiency on complex tasks (Cummings & Cross, 2003; stakes are high, and decisions are continuously made under Henttonen, 2010; Leavitt, 1951; Leenders, van Engelen, & time pressure. Information and feedback is often unreliable, Kratzer, 2003; Lin, Yang, Arya, Huang, & Li, 2005a; and there are limited opportunities for communication and Mehra, Dixon, Brass, & Robertson, 2006; Shaw, 1954, coordination. Such work environments require team 1964; Sparrowe et al., 2001). Network layout may also members to rely on each other and communicate well to influence a team’s performance by structuring the flow of attain optimal team functioning. It can thus be of value to information (Cross, Borgatti, & Parker, 2002; explore social processes and social structures in the EMTs, Haythornthwaite, 1996). For example, some networks may to determine whether this may influence their performance. allow most members to calibrate their beliefs with each Social network analysis (SNA) is an approach that other, while others have central members that function as explores the interaction between social actors by graphing bottlenecks for the information flow. SNA and MM 2 1.1.2: The role of mental models in team performance correspondence or development of connections in social Team performance may be difficult to assess in operative media (Borgatti, Mehra, Brass, & Labianca, 2009). settings, as the task tends to be complex, dynamic and SNA research is well suited for investigating complex oblique (Carayon, 2006; Osman, 2010), and even data where nodes and ties in a community have been structured training scenarios play out in unique ways that recorded over an extended period of time. However, it is makes it difficult to set normative criteria. The unclear how SNA should be applied in cases where a small understanding, or mental models (MM) that the team team works on a shared task for a limited period, and members have of their task and their work may be an ecological issues makes it difficult to measure the social indirect indicator of performance, as it may be expected to processes directly. Having to resort to retrospective self- determine the quality of decision being made (Bolstad & report in a busy setting may lead to missing or mis-recorded Endsley, 1999; Endsley, 1995). MM quality is in turn data, and few data-points from which to quantify the determined by limitations or biases in information access, network. Thus, there appears to be a need for suggesting a which in a team setting relies on the social structure and methodology and indices that can quantify social networks processes. in ecological field settings, that can be applied to settings Shared mental models (SMM; Cannon-Bowers, Salas, such as EMT work. & Converse, 1993) represent the extent to which team- 1.2.2: Exploring the relationship between social networks members have the same understanding of their collective and mental models work. SMM can be related to the team’s equipment, their As discussed above, network properties may be expected to task, their interaction, and team member capabilities. The predict team performance. It is reasonable to assume that extent to which a team has SMM has been found to properties of the social network in teams working under correlate with team performance (see for instance, Mathieu, challenging circumstances, such as an EMT, will have an Heffner, Goodwin, Salas, & Cannon-Bowers, 2000; Rouse, impact on the team’s ability to form accurate MMs. To our Cannon-Bowers, & Salas, 1992; Santos, Uitdewilligen, & knowledge, SNA has not been applied to explore social Passos, 2015; Stout, Cannon-Bowers, Salas, & Milanovich, dynamics in EMTs in operative settings, or potential 1999). SMM may be particularly important in high-stakes associations with teams’ MMs. This approach may uncover settings, where limitations in information, resources and associations between team processes’ and the degree of time, may be alleviated by having an updated and shared alignment in the team's mental models. However, it could understanding of the ongoing situation. be challenging to determine which network indices should While the degree to which mental models are shared be used for impoverished network measurements, such as may be an indicator for the team’s coordination, the quality when retrospective self-report of interactions is used. It is of the individual team-member's mental models may be also unclear which MM indices are most likely to be indicated by the accuracy of their situation awareness (SA) influenced by social network properties, and whether it is in representing relevant aspects of the task situation. reasonable to expect an effect on the individual or team Endsley (1988, p. 97) defined SA as “the perception of the level of MMs. Exploring the social networks of EMTs elements in the environment within a volume of time and might yield some insights about this relationship. space, the comprehension of their meaning and the projection of their status in the near future”. It is worth 1.3: Current study noting that there is some disagreement regarding the 1.3.1: Research setting conceptualization and measurement of SA (for discussions, The current research was conducted within an emergency see Sarter & Woods, 1991; Stanton, Salmon, Walker, Salas, management organization in a large offshore hydrocarbon & Hancock, 2017). For the current purpose, SMM may be energy company. Each second line EMT consisted of nine measured as the extent to which all team members have the roles with defined tasks and responsibilities. The team same understanding, while SA may be measured by the musters in
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