Team CTA Applications and Methodologies

In today's complex environments, teamwork is essential for mission success. The sheer bulk of near real time information that is available to the decision maker has made it necessary for multiple individuals to work in parallel to ensure proficient performance. A perfect example is the Landing Signal Officer (LSO) onboard Navy aircraft carriers. In the past, aircraft were waved onto the deck by an individual with a pair of paddles. In contrast, landing an aircraft on a carrier today involves a minimum of 8 to 10 individuals. The challenge now is to design new systems and/or interfaces not only for the individual tasks but also for a team of individuals who are trying to function together as a team. There are established Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) methodologies which have provided a set of methodologies for eliciting specific knowledge regarding the decision requirements of the individual. Now, Team CTA is a developing methodology for gathering information about the way a team makes decisions and the way it manages itself (Klein, 1997). Team CTA addresses the cognitive processes of team performance much the way individual CTA methodologies have studied the single operator. Because of its focus on the cognitive processes, Team CTA will be most useful where the performance depends on decision making and judgments, rather than carrying out routine tasks and procedures.