ABSTRACT
Teams, by definition, perform interdependent tasks that require team members to coordinate their decisions and actions in order to achieve their shared goals (Orasanu and Salas, 1993). To achieve the level of coordination that is required for successful interdependent performance, team members need a shared awareness of the situation and of the roles, tasks, and actions of the other team members. The existence of this “shared mental model” among team members has been suggested as an explanatory mechanism for effective teams and, as measured in various ways, has been shown to increase team performance (Cannon-Bowers et al, 1993; Stout et al, 1999).
