ABSTRACT
One of the most widely studied areas of human capability has been concerned with the performance effects of operator workload. The significance of the effects of workload on performance is reflected in the fact that recent design standards require the evaluation and limitation of operator workload (U.S. Dept. of Army, 1987). Today, few systems are designed and produced without indepth evaluations of operator workload. The critical importance of this factor has given rise to a vast literature related to the effects of workload on individuals. For example, it has been reported that more than 500 workload papers have been written since the early 1960s (Hancock, Mihaly, Rahimi, & Meshkati, 1988). The scope of this literature ranges from discussions of measurement techniques to workload modeling and computer simulation. A review of this literature indicates that workload assessment techniques have been applied to problem solving, flying, training, driving, and a host of other applied domains. However, although the importance of workload has been illustrated with respect to individuals, there has been virtually no research related to the effects of workload in teams.
