Examining the Impact of Emotion Regulation on Shared Mental Models and Mutual Trust in Challenging Team Settings

Background and Aim: In spite of the benefits of coordinated teamwork, successful coordination does not always occur. Teamwork can be fostered through positive emotions that help advance team interaction, engagement and the co-construction of knowledge (Baker, Andriessen, & Järvelä; ۲۰۱۳). Yet, teamwork can also evoke negative emotions and create motivational challenges for individuals when their characteristics, goals and demands conflict (Järvellä, Lehtinen, & Salonen, ۲۰۰۰). This study identifies teamwork challenges and examines the power of socially-shared emotion regulation to manage such challenges that can hinder the development of coordination mechanisms, specifically the development of shared mental models and mutual trust. Methods: ۴۸ international students voluntarily formed into ۱۷ teams of ۲-۵ participants (Average age= ۲۲ years; ۷۳% male). Students came from software engineering, mathematics and physics fields. The teams participated in a two-day physics hackathon held in a North American university. Teams were asked to build a novel computer program of their choice that could demonstrate a physics phenomenon artistically. Data collected included video transcripts, interviews, and four sets of questionnaires Results: This study aims to understand effective teamwork by identifying the types of challenges that occur in collaborative learning. Furthermore this study examines the role of SSER on coordination mechanisms (namely, shared mental models and mutual trust) during challenging teamwork. We hypothesize that teams who apply more SSER strategies, build stronger shared mental models, and have higher levels of mutual trust. Conclusion: A mixed methods analysis of multimodal data collected on hackathon teams revealed that these teams encountered ۱۶ types of challenges, classified into four themes of motivational, emotional, behavioral and cognitive challenges. We argue that the type of challenges can be generalizable to other contexts as well. Furthermore, there were significant correlations between Hackathon teams' use of SSER strategies during challenges, trust levels between members, and shared mental models. Thus, teams who applied more SSER strategies dealt with challenges more effectively, and had higher levels of mutual trust and stronger shared mental models between team members. This study has implications for assisting educational teams in challenging environments. Raising team awareness of the natural challenges of teamwork (occurring even in best teams) and the relative power and types of SSER strategies teams can apply in encountering such challenges, can help enhance team coordination.

کلیدواژه ها:

Emotion Regulation ، Shared Mental Models ، Mutual Trust ، Team Coordination