Characteristics Impacting Teamwork and Performance for Space Operations

Abstract

Efficient teamwork and communication between and within teams in space flight is essential to successful task performance and avoidance of disastrous errors. Additionally, when crews go on missions beyond Low Earth Orbit, communication between remote team members becomes asynchronous due to transmission delays, which makes it even more difficult to communicate and collaborate effectively. Exploring the individual and group factors that affect how teams work together is essential to predict successful performance on missions. As part of a larger study, we investigated whether conflict management style and leadership style were significantly related to group performance, group cohesion and efficacy in a remote team collaborative task. Shared leadership style as well as accommodating and competing conflict handling modes were significantly related to performance and ratings of cohesion and efficacy. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Teamwork and collaboration in long-duration space missions: Going to extremes.

“…If teams in MTSs use the same shared leadership style, teamwork is improved, improving cohesion, improving the work environment, and allowing autonomy of teams while retaining support between teams (Gonzalez, Mosier, Lam, & Fischer, 2015). Training in similar models and protocols, and training with other teams across the MTS, may ultimately enhance overall performance of the MTS.…”