Task-Team-Process: Assessment and Analysis of the Development of Shared Representations in an Engineering Team

In this article, an analysis of the development of team mental models in two engineering meetings is described. The authors present a two-stage model of the development of sharedness in teams, which formed the basis for a communication analysis of both meetings. The transcripts of the meetings were categorised referring to underlying cognitive acts and design strategies.

The results are largely consistent with the assumptions of the model indicating a lack of sharedness. This was confirmed by changes of frequencies linked to task-, team-, and process-related cognitive acts within and between the two meetings. Implications of the findings and the model are discussed.