Shared Mental Models in Military Command and Control Organizations: Effect of Social Network Distance

This paper presents an investigation on the relationship between social network distances and shared mental models in military command and control organizations. Previous research has shown that physical distance is the gold standard for high performance (Olson & Olson, 2000). However, social network distance may be equally or more important, as social network graphs inherently take into account the group’s context and environment (Krackhart, 1994). We conducted this research on a new 56-member command and control organization using computer-based collaborative tools as they engaged in a five day simulation exercise. As military command and control organizations are difficult to evaluate based on outcome and performance, we chose shared mental models as a proxy. We hypothesized that in a command and control organization, social network distance and physical distance are independent of one another. Further we hypothesized that social network distance would be a predictor of mental model congruence. We found that there is a very weak positive correlation between social network distance and physical distance. Further, we found that, controlling for physical distance, social network distance is a predictor of mental model congruence. This research validates that high frequency of communication, mediated by computer based collaborative tools, can effectively generate shared mental models.