Name: David Grimm

Dissertation Defense Meeting

Date: May 22, 2025

Time:  4:00 PM 

Location: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/98176022511

Advisor & Co-Chair: 

Jamie Gorman, Ph.D. (Arizona State University)

Dissertation Committee Members:

Co-Chair: Richard Catrambone, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Mengyao Li, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Rick Thomas, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Christopher Wiese, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Title: Measuring Dynamic Team Reorganization and Interdependency in Response to Uncertainty

Abstract: Teams working in complex and dynamic environments often encounter uncertainty, and in many cases must adapt to overcome it to maintain team effectiveness. One fundamental component of adaptation is reorganization. Specifically, it hypothesized that teams adapt by changing their coordination patterns. One way teams can reorganize is by increasing or decreasing team member role interdependency, by tightening or loosening coordination constraints depending on the situation. Dynamic interdependency is hypothesized to be necessary for proper team coordination and functioning, especially during times of high uncertainty to avoid potentially dangerous and disastrous consequences. This research focused on the development of measures of team-level reorganization in response to uncertainty and dynamic interdependency in teams. It was hypothesized that teams who display greater reorganization and properly modulated levels of dynamic interdependency during times of increased uncertainty will maintain high team performance during uncertain situations. To investigate different types of uncertainty, this dissertation utilized sources of uncertainty from a taxonomy of team uncertainty based in the team science literature (Grimm, 2022). This taxonomy informed the design and implementation of different types of uncertainty in a controlled experiment. Two studies are included in this dissertation.

           The first study was a pilot study (Study 1) and was an analysis of archival data of teams working in an air battle management scenario (Grimm et al., 2024). The purpose of Study 1 was to formulate and initially validate measures of team reorganization and dynamic interdependency in response to uncertainty. Both measures were correlated with team performance, establishing their validity for detecting dynamic changes in team coordination in response to uncertainty. Results from Study 1 provided support for the measures of reorganization and dynamic interdependency across technological and communication-based components of the task, as they were positively related to performance. These findings helped inform the hypotheses for Study 2.

           In the second study, a controlled laboratory experiment was carried out that involved 10 teams of 3 people (one trained confederate, two human participants) completing one seven-hour experimental session. Teams completed the experiment in a simulated remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) system simulation testbed and encountered various types of uncertainty-inducing perturbations. The experiment built on Study 1 by implementing perturbations specifically informed by the team uncertainty taxonomy. The goal of Study 2 was to examine how different types of uncertainty are related to different patterns of team reorganization and interdependency across different layers of system coordination (verbal communication, RPA behavior). The uncertainty perturbations were used to test the hypothesized relationships between team reorganization and dynamic interdependency in response to uncertainty by predicting team effectiveness (outcome and process performance). It was found that the communication layer (Gorman et al., 2019) primarily reflected different patterns of reorganization and interdependency, supporting the study hypotheses. Increased interdependency was also shown to occur in the technological layer in response to uncertainty, though in ways not in exact accordance with the study hypotheses. Finally, it was found that rapid and timely communications, as well as specific descriptions of technological or teammate-related uncertainties, significantly predicted the team-level ability to overcome perturbations.  

            The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of real-time reorganization and interdependency measurement for teaming operations in complex, degraded, and uncertain task environments. The results of this research have implications for teams working in task environments where uncertainty is inevitable and team competencies, such as reorganization and interdependency, are vital. Areas of application may include military, healthcare, energy, and transportation.