Self-help Articles

by James E. Driskell, Ph.D., Eduardo Salas, Ph.D.
& Joan Johnston, Ph.D.

In the business world, work teams are often called upon to accomplish complex tasks under crisis conditions. However, research shows that such groups function less effectively under stress and stress may lead to team members barely acknowledging one another.

The study involved 95 U.S. Navy technical school personnel who volunteered to take part in a study of decision making. Each participant was assigned to a three-person group, which was given a computer simulation of a naval decision-making task.

The task required that participants monitor a radar screen that contained their own ship at the center and numerous unidentified contacts positioned at concentric rings away from the ship. The objective was to identify and label each contact according to three classifications: type of craft, its status and intentions of the craft. Participants performed the task in either a normal stress or high-stress environment.

As expected, the results of the experiment showed that participants operating under high stress performed worse than those operating under normal stress conditions.
However, what was less expected was the way in which stress interfered with team performance. Results indicated that stress led to a narrowing of team perspective. Moreover, this loss of team perspective resulted in a breakdown in team performance.

The researchers say that one approach to maintaining effective team performance in a stressful situation is to simplify the task.

"For those settings in which effective teamwork is critical, it may be necessary to structure the task to make it less demanding, such as delegating subtasks so that attention can be maintained on essential task and teamwork cues," said the authors.

They concede, however, that for many real world tasks, reducing the complexity of the task environment is a difficult undertaking.

A second approach to counter the effect of stress on narrowing team perspective is to strengthen team perspective. As an example, in sports such as soccer, "when teams get behind, team members often ignore team play, and each person tries to win the game on his or her own, with predictable results."

Interventions that attempt to enhance team perspective, such as team building, may counter the effects of stress.

In the business world, work teams are often called upon to accomplish complex tasks under crisis conditions. However, research shows that such groups function less effectively under stress and stress may lead to team members barely acknowledging one another.

The study involved 95 U.S. Navy technical school personnel who volunteered to take part in a study of decision making. Each participant was assigned to a three-person group, which was given a computer simulation of a naval decision-making task.

The task required that participants monitor a radar screen that contained their own ship at the center and numerous unidentified contacts positioned at concentric rings away from the ship. The objective was to identify and label each contact according to three classifications: type of craft, its status and intentions of the craft. Participants performed the task in either a normal stress or high-stress environment.

As expected, the results of the experiment showed that participants operating under high stress performed worse than those operating under normal stress conditions.
However, what was less expected was the way in which stress interfered with team performance. Results indicated that stress led to a narrowing of team perspective. Moreover, this loss of team perspective resulted in a breakdown in team performance.

The researchers say that one approach to maintaining effective team performance in a stressful situation is to simplify the task.

"For those settings in which effective teamwork is critical, it may be necessary to structure the task to make it less demanding, such as delegating subtasks so that attention can be maintained on essential task and teamwork cues," said the authors.

They concede, however, that for many real world tasks, reducing the complexity of the task environment is a difficult undertaking.

A second approach to counter the effect of stress on narrowing team perspective is to strengthen team perspective. As an example, in sports such as soccer, "when teams get behind, team members often ignore team play, and each person tries to win the game on his or her own, with predictable results."

Interventions that attempt to enhance team perspective, such as team building, may counter the effects of stress.

Article:

"Does Stress Lead to a Loss of Team Perspective?," James E. Driskell, Ph.D., Florida Maxima Corporation; Eduardo Salas, Ph.D., University of Central Florida & Joan Johnston, Ph.D., Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division; Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, Vol. 3, No. 4.

This information received from the American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC.