Bushfires and other emergencies: do incident management teams that have worked together make better decisions?

Submission note: A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Psychological Science, Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering, La Trobe University, Bundoora.

The challenges confronting teams within many organisations are often complex and dynamic so that no single decision maker can develop an adequate understanding of the issues. This has led to distributed decision making (DDM) in which each team member takes responsibility for a component of the decision making. Teams using DDM are found across a range of settings including health, military, emergency services and industry. Central to the composition of such teams is the extent to which members have previously worked with each other (i.e., member familiarity). This thesis investigates the influence of member familiarity on team processes and decision making. The research context was bushfire (wildfire) incident management teams (IMTs). These teams manage large bushfires that may be complex, dynamic, time-pressured and high-stakes events. Study 1 interviewed 15 experienced fire managers to identify the key competencies required for various IMT roles. Analysis of 30 bushfire incidents described by interviewees identified three central competencies: (a) interpersonal and communication skills, (b) leadership, and (c) IMT procedural knowledge. Behavioural indicators from Study 1 helped develop the Study 2 experimental simulation scenarios. Study 2 assessed teamwork and decision-making differences in 32 four-person IMTs. The teams managed simulated bushfire incidents in two team familiarity conditions: (1) members had previously worked together (n = 16), and (2) members had not previously worked together (n = 16). The familiar teams’ performance was clearly superior to that of unfamiliar teams. Familiar teams attended to more fireground events more effectively, produced higher quality reports, made timelier decisions, developed greater situation awareness, and showed greater intra-team trust, satisfaction, and teamwork.