Experimental Evaluation of the New Automated Team Composition System (ATCS) by Formation of Optimal Teams for an Engineering Research Task

reportActive / Technical Report | Accession Number: ADA578705 | Open PDF

Abstract:

This paper describes an experimental study conducted in partnership with the UCLA School of Engineering and Applied Science and designed to demonstrate and evaluate in a real-world situation the use of the new Automated Team Composition System ATCS being developed by Perceptronics Solutions under a US Army Research Institute ARI Small Business Innovative Research SBIR project. The ATCS is an innovative PC-based tool that supports rapid team formation in critical incident preparedness and response as well as in other applications. The ATCS uses advanced multiagent system software technology to help command andor decision making groups solve the daunting organizational problem of optimally assigning personnel to mission-oriented teams. The team performance criteria used by the Multiagent System derive from the analysis of specific mission features as well as from the psychological literature. The present study used archival data from a UCLA University of California Los Angeles engineering course in which nominally student teams prepare a research report on a societal problem involving both technical and ethical issues. Data on approximately 700 students and 130 teams were first examined to determine the relationships among student characteristics including major, gender, ethnicity and essay and test scores and team performance as defined by scores on several components of the research report. Analysis of the data revealed a number of significant, marginally significant and trend relationships between team member characteristics and team performance. These results, in combination with other information about course goals, were used to program the ATCS to form optimal 5-person teams with specific role assignments. The ATCS was able within 1 minute to recommend teams from the candidate population that met all the programmed criteria and had strong face validity as well -- a task well beyond human capabilities.

Author(s):
Weltman, Gershon ; Cohen Raj, Marvin ; Salas, Eduardo ; Freedy, Amos
Author Organization(s):
PERCEPTRONICS SOLUTIONS INC SHERMAN OAKS CA
Supplementary Note:
DOI: 10.21236/ADA578705
Pagination:
0018

Security Markings

DOCUMENT & CONTEXTUAL SUMMARY

Distribution:
Approved For Public Release
Distribution Statement:
Approved For Public Release; Distribution Is Unlimited.

RECORD

Collection: TR
Identifying Numbers
Contract/Grant Number(s):
W91WAW-09-C-0151, W31P4Q-08-C-0104
Monitor Series:
ARI
 Subject Terms
Joint Capability Areas:
JCA_5_Command and Control; JCA_1_Force Support; JCA_5.3_Planning; JCA_4.6_Engineering; JCA_6_Net Centric; JCA_5.6.3_Assess Achievement of Objectives; JCA_5.6_Monitor; JCA_6.1_Information Transport; JCA_1.3_Human Capital Management; JCA_1.2_Force Preparation; JCA_1.3.1_Personnel and Family Support; JCA_5.5.2_Task; JCA_5.5_Direct; JCA_8_Building Partnerships; JCA_1.2.3_Educating; JCA_5.4_Decide; JCA_1.2.5_Lessons Learned; JCA_5.4.5_Intuit; JCA_6.4.1_Secure Information Exchange; JCA_8.1.1_Inform Domestic and Foreign Audiences; JCA_8.1_Communicate
Communities of Interest:
Human Systems
Descriptor(s):
*COMPUTER PROGRAMS, ARMY RESEARCH, AUTOMATION, DECISION MAKING, MISSIONS, OPERATIONAL READINESS, OPTIMIZATION, PERFORMANCE TESTS, PERFORMANCE(HUMAN), PERSONNEL, POPULATION, RESPONSE
Field(s)/Group(s):
Computer Programming and Software
Keyword(s):
ATCS(AUTOMATED TEAM COMPOSITION SYSTEM), SBIR(SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH), SBIR PHASE 2, SBIR REPORTS, STTR(SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER), STTR PHASE 2
Report Date:
2010 Dec 24
Creation Date:
2013 Jun 26