Linking adaptation processes to team performance in high-tempo, high-stakes teamwork: a large-scale gaming perspective

Abstract

This study surveys and synthesises prior research on the processes by which teams adapt when collaborating on high-tempo, high-stakes work. Of principal concern are adaptation processes within teams operating in extreme environments, whether precipitated by changes within the team itself (such as loss or gain of new members) or within the team’s operational environment (such as unplanned-for contingencies). Propositions concerning three aspects of adaptation are developed: changes in the distribution of workflow across team members, improvisation of team members’ individual roles, and emergent behaviours intended to compensate for fluctuations in team member performance. Issues and opportunities for addressing these propositions in highly instrumented environments are then identified, taking as a test case the multiplayer online battle arena combat game, League of Legends. This article concludes with a discussion of opportunities and challenges in using detailed and voluminous naturally occurring data from highly instrumented environments – whether real or virtual – to address the propositions presented here.

Keywords:

• Adaptation
• team performance
• critical team member
• role improvisation
• compensatory behaviour
• big data
• Multi-player Online Battle Arena (MOBA)
• League of Legends

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joshua A. Eaton

Joshua Eaton is a career Special Forces officer who has served in a variety of assignments and conducted multiple combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Prior to beginning his PhD in Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Josh commanded the Special Forces Underwater Operations Dive School in Key West, FL. Josh has instructed a number of courses while serving as an Assistant Professor at the United States Military Academy (USMA). He has a BS in International Relations and Systems Engineering from USMA and a MS in Engineering and Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

David J. Mendonça

David Mendonça is an Associate Professor in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY, where he also holds an appointment in RPI’s Cognitive Science Department. He has also served as a Program Officer at the US National Science Foundation. He has published extensively in the fields of Industrial Engineering and Applied Computing, with a focus on computer-based support for human cognition in high stakes decision making.