A theoretical framework and quantitative architecture to assess team task complexity in dynamic environments

Abstract

The predominance of team decision-making and performance assessment literature has defined team measures as highly abstract concepts (e.g., team leadership, competence, innovation, empowerment). Likewise, a clear taxonomy for defining team tasks has remained elusive. Thus, this paper presents a framework by which to classify team tasks based on two basic premises: (1) a team task can be broken down into quantifiable components; and, (2) team performance can be used to evaluate a task's complexity relative to another task. This framework relies on the ability to objectively measure individual team member subtasks relative to a team objective that is composed of several windows of opportunity that must be achieved by individual members to achieve good team performance. This proposed theoretical framework takes a simulation-based approach by which to evaluate team tasks and performance. The approach is driven by the need to understand team tasks and their relative performance in military, government, and commercial applications.

Keywords:

• Team decision-making
• Task complexity
• Team performance