Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USA.
Hum Factors. 2023 Sep;65(6):1199-1220. doi: 10.1177/00187208221129939. Epub 2022 Oct 18.
The aim of this study was to examine how task, social, and situational factors shape work patterns, information networks, and performance in spaceflight multiteam systems (MTSs).
Human factors research has explored the task and individual characteristics that affect decisions regarding when and in what order people complete tasks. We extend this work to understand how the social and situational factors that arise when working in MTSs affect individual work patterns.
We conducted a complex multi-site space analog simulation with NASA over the course of 3 years. The MTS task required participants from four teams (Geology, Robotics, Engineering, and Human Factors) to collaborate to design a well on Mars. We manipulated the one-way communication delay between the crew and mission support: no time lag, 60-second lag, and 180-second lag.
The study revealed that team and situational factors exert strong effects: members whose teams have less similar mental models, those whose teams prioritize their team goal over the MTS goal, and those working in social isolation and/or under communication delay engage longer on tasks. Time-on-task positively predicts MTS information networks, which in turn positively predict MTS performance when communication occurs with a delay, but not when it occurs in real-time.
Our findings contribute to research on task management in the context of working in teams and multiteam systems. Team and situational factors, along with task factors, shape task management behavior.
Social and situational factors are important predictors of task management in team contexts such as spaceflight MTSs.
本研究旨在考察任务、社会和情境因素如何塑造航天多团队系统（MTS）中的工作模式、信息网络和绩效。
人类因素研究已经探讨了影响人们何时以及按何种顺序完成任务的决策的任务和个体特征。我们将这项工作扩展到理解在 MTS 中工作时出现的社会和情境因素如何影响个人的工作模式。
我们与美国国家航空航天局（NASA）合作进行了为期 3 年的复杂的多地点太空模拟实验。MTS 任务要求来自四个团队（地质、机器人、工程和人类因素）的参与者合作设计火星上的一口井。我们操纵了机组人员和任务支持之间的单向通信延迟：无时间延迟、60 秒延迟和 180 秒延迟。
该研究表明，团队和情境因素具有很强的影响：团队心理模型相似度较低的成员、优先考虑团队目标而不是 MTS 目标的成员、以及在社会隔离和/或通信延迟下工作的成员，他们在任务上花费的时间更长。任务时间与 MTS 信息网络呈正相关，而当通信存在延迟时，信息网络又与 MTS 绩效呈正相关，而当通信实时进行时则不相关。
我们的研究结果为团队环境中的任务管理研究做出了贡献。团队和情境因素与任务因素一起，塑造了任务管理行为。
在航天 MTS 等团队环境中，社会和情境因素是任务管理的重要预测因素。
