OBJECTIVES:
Long-duration, exploration missions present a unique environment characterized by many stressors (e.g., social isolation, danger, confinement, interpersonal dynamics, periods of over/under stimulation), with little ability to escape. Research has found that within such environments interpersonal dynamics occupy a key role in effective functioning. While the last few years has witnessed an increase in research examining the composition requirements of high performance teams, little work has examined these issues in light of teams embedded in long-duration, exploration missions. The investigators sought to determine the following with regard to long-duration, exploration missions:
- Key social and team technical (task) roles which influence team function.
- Behavioral and communicative markers which can be used to assess the degree to which key identified social and team technical roles are being fulfilled.
- Contextual aspects that trigger a need for the dynamic shift of social roles.
- Optimal combinations (i.e., profiles, algorithms) of social roles for the maintenance and regulation of team functions.
- Markers that can be used to select for those most likely to fit social profiles and how these profiles change across the duration of the mission (i.e., the team’s life cycle)
In determining these factors, the investigators sought to provide a series of scientifically-grounded and experimentally validated taxonomies, guidelines, and measurement tools for team selection/composition. In exploring these questions, the investigators took a multi-pronged approach consisting of analysis of retrospective data (e.g., astronaut diaries, historical accounts of teams operating in isolated and confined environments, astronaut interviews), scientific literatures on group dynamics, personality, team roles, stress, and diversity, interviews, and experimentation in NASA analogs.
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APPROACH:
With respect to analog environments, data was collected within the Human Exploration Research Analog (Campaigns 2-4) and at two NSF research stations in the Antarctic during the Winter-Over 2018 season. Additional data was gained through interviews with subject matter experts and through the application of historiometry to archived information.
Participants were asked to complete several types of questionnaires: Prior to the start of the mission, participants were administered individual difference measures, such as a demographic survey, personality measures, and measures of collective orientation. During the mission, participants completed the following:
- Role questionnaire which assessed the task and social roles present during the prior mission segment.
- Measures which assessed teamwork quality, team satisfaction, and team effectiveness.
- Journal protocol which prompted them to recount key tasks, as well as describe interactions and situation so that key roles and triggers could be extracted.
- A single semi-structured interview conducted over the phone which was no longer than an hour.
In addition, investigators collected audio and video recordings in order to access communication logs from points where key triggers and role shifts occur (approximately 30 minutes prior to 30 minutes afterward). This allowed them to establish a situational baseline as well as information about what occurs after the role shift. At the end of the mission, participants completed a survey that examined the task and social roles that occurred throughout the mission. At the end of the mission, participants completed a survey that examined the task and social roles that occurred throughout the missions.
RESULTS:
Regarding the nature of team roles, evidence was found for the dynamic nature of team roles and the fact that within the context of spaceflight team roles are most often shared or distributed throughout the team. Results indicated not only a specific team role often shared amongst members of the crew, but correspondingly that crew members often engaged in multiple roles throughout the course of the mission.
With respect to the dynamic nature, results also indicated the way contextual factors may impact the appearance and functionality of task and social roles (as a set) as well as specific roles. Contextual factors that were found to differentially relate to the enactment of roles included temporal factors, workload variations, sleep deprivation, boredom and isolation.
Emerging evidence for the increased importance of social roles as mission duration increases and the potential that failures in social roles may remain hidden and take longer to notice than task roles. Results also began to speak to the notion of person-role fit within this context as is seen in the broader organizational literature on roles but has rarely been examined with relation to informal team roles nor within the context of long duration spaceflight.
The results also suggest that personality may predispose a crew member to occupy roles and that there is systematic variance between personality and team role dimensions and frequency of role enactment. However, results from the operational interviews and data collected within the analog that illustrates differential relationships between personality and role enactment over time also speak to moderators on the person-role fit relationship.
Two potential new measures were created, team role measure and TRIAD (Tracking Roles in and Across Domains). More specifically, based on all the evidence gathered throughout the project, a refined team role taxonomy was created which had behavioral markers expected to be indicative of each role. The TRIAD measure produces a different view on team roles as it does not examine roles in terms of the types of team-directed behaviors that occur but in terms of a set of underlying dimensions that have been argued to cut across all roles in varying degrees. As the measures were created towards the end of the project they still require further validation and research.
Crew health and performance is critical to successful human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
The Human Research Program (HRP) investigates and mitigates the highest risks to human health
and performance, providing essential countermeasures and technologies for human space exploration.
Risks include physiological and performance effects from hazards such as radiation, altered gravity,
and hostile environments, as well as unique challenges in medical support, human factors,
and behavioral health support. The HRP utilizes an Integrated Research Plan (IRP) to identify
the approach and research activities planned to address these risks, which are assigned to specific
Elements within the program. The Human Research Roadmap is the web-based tool for communicating the IRP content.
The Human Research Roadmap is located at:
https://humanresearchroadmap.nasa.gov/
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