ABSTRACT
When tasks are complex, a team of individuals, rather than the individuals by themselves, may be more capable of achieving a successful outcome. However, the team’s performance may in part depend on whether the members are able to come together on a cognitive level by forming shared mental models (Klimoski & Mohammed, 1994; Kraiger & Wenzel, 1997). Mental models are repositories of knowledge held in the mind of individual team members that influence behaviors and enable the team to complete its task objectives (Mathieu, Heffner, Goodwin, Salas, & Cannon-Bowers, 2000). As information is shared among teammates, the mental models of team members may become similar, or converge, which brings the members together at the team level (McComb, 2007). The convergence of mental models has, through empirical research, been linked to team performance (e.g., Carley, Diesner, Reminga, & Tsvetovat, 2007; Cooke, Salas, Kiekel, & Bell, 2004). Understanding the dynamics of the convergence process, however, is still a limited but growing area and one that may be key to improving team outcomes.
