Communication in expert teams: PILOT - a method of analysis
Publish date: 2003-01-01
Report number: FOI-R--0910--SE
Pages: 55
Written in: Swedish
Abstract
The purpose of this report is to shed some light on the communication within a military expert team, with focus on military fighter pilots and control officers. The purpose is also to find a way of analysing such communication. The theoretical background deals with central theories on communication and teamwork, as well as some basic aspects of simulation and transcription. Also, the fighter pilots communication situation is described. An empirical study was conducted in a simulated environment using an off-the-shelf computer network game to collect communication between participants. A communication analysis based on the collected data and theory showed that general features such as planning, role playing, performance and workload might influence communication. Even more concrete aspects of communication, such as use of ambigious words and feedback, pay an important role. With the communication analysis as a foundation, a new method of analysis, the PILOT-method, was created. This method consists of three parts: problem identification, localization and causality description. The method can be adapted to any other domain of interest. The use of the PILOT-method will give information on when problems in communication occur and the extent of these problems. This, in combination with knowledge about the domain at hand, gives understanding of how these problems can be avoided in the future, and the communication can be improved.