The influence of shared mental models on team process and performance.

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. Increased technology has contributed to the complexity of many tasks performed in the workplace, making it difficult for employ- ees to complete their work independently. In response to the technological advances, many organizations have adopted a team approach to work. Teams are viewed as being more suitable for complex tasks because they allow members to share the workload, monitor the work behaviors of other members, and develop and contribute expertise on subtasks. An abundance of research has been conducted on the factors that contribute to high team perfor- mance (for reviews, see Gist, Locke, & Taylor, 1987; Salas, Dickinson, Converse, & Tannenbaum, 1992). One variable that has recently received much theoretical attention concerns the in- fluence of team members' mental models on team-related pro- cesses and behaviors (Klimoski & Mohammed, 1994; Kraiger & Wenzel, 1997; Rentsch, Heffner, & Duffy, 1994; Stout, Salas, &