Performance effects of team-coordination strategies: A temporal interaction analysis

Optimal team performance is achieved through a combination of planned and adaptive coordination strategies. There is, however, limited research on how such strategies evolve over time, as teams gain expertise in a task. Here, we study the relationship between coordination strategies and their effect on team performance, and how they evolve with expertise in a complex task. Longitudinal team performance data was collected across eight 1-hr sessions, from six 4-player teams, in a cooperative game-based task. Planned behavior in the task was associated with players acting according to pre-assigned roles (reduced behavioral variability), while adaptive actions were characterized by dynamic adaptations to changing task demands. To analyze the behavioral data, we performed cross-correlation analysis and multi-level modeling with temporal interactions. Results show that strategic reduction of behavioral variability (planned actions) was beneficial to game performance for all teams. However, temporal interactions revealed that this effect slowly diminished and ultimately switched direction with increasing team expertise. These findings provide insights into the complex nature of the relationship between coordination strategies and team performance in complex and dynamic tasks.