How long is the coastline of teamwork? A neurodynamic model for group and team operation and evolution

Abstract

A five-state Markov model is proposed for group and team operation and evolution that has a stronger basis in neurodynamics, greater descriptive accuracy and higher predictive value than many existing models. The derivation of this model from the symbolic analysis of normalized EEG activity during assigned team and group tasks is discussed, as are observations on team and group dynamics which emerge from the model. The predictive value of the model is shown when applied to independent data from submarine crew evolutions. Observations are offered on team dynamics which show the five-state model and its accompanying state transitions to be necessary and sufficient to describe both linear and non-linear team dynamics, and to begin unifying these traditional and new approaches in a straightforward way. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.