Exploring the Relationship Between Team Workload and Communication in Action Teams

This study examines the relationship between action team communication characteristics and task demand levels, with the goal of informing communication-based measures of team workload. Forty teams of three participated in an experiment emulating key teaming aspects of action teams in a simulated task based on wildland firefighting command and control. Task demand levels and team interdependence were systematically manipulated. Team communication characteristics and subjective workload were measured. Results revealed several trends in team communication characteristics under high demand conditions, including more time spent communicating, longer utterance durations, reduced rates of speech, reductions in communication pattern complexity, and greater centralization in high-interdependence teams. Additionally, content-free communication measures improved statistical models of team performance in high demand missions beyond traditional workload questionnaires. Overall, this study provides evidence for the value of communication-based measures of team workload, highlights the important role of team interdependence in the team workload, and offers direction for further development and validation.