Training under Imposed Communication Delays Benefits Performance Effectiveness of Distributed Teams

A laboratory study was conducted to investigate whether introduction of auditory transmission delays during skill acquisition can benefit the performance effectiveness of distributed teams. Two-person university student teams (N = 40) performed a simulated firefighting task throughout which intra-team communications were systematically perturbed with closed-loop transmission delays ranging from 2 to 6 seconds. On average, team performance improved with practice, but significant differences in performance were observed depending on the length and manner delays were introduced: short (2s blocked) practice delay was associated with mediocre performance throughout, whereas longer (4s, 6s) practice delays were associated with improved performance during practice and also in the final transfer trial with a novel 4s delay, regardless of presentation schedule (blocked versus random). Results suggest introduction of relatively long or random communication delays can accelerate team skill acquisition and benefit team performance in a novel setting.