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Fields of Practice and
Applied Solutions within
Distributed Team Cognition
Fields of Practice and
Applied Solutions within
Distributed Team Cognition

Edited by Michael D. McNeese, Eduardo Salas,


and Mica R. Endsley
First edition published 2021
by CRC Press
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487–2742
and by CRC Press
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
© 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and
publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of
their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material
reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this
form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and
let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint.
Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced,
transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying, microflming, and recording, or in any information
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
Names: McNeese, Michael, 1954– editor. | Salas, Eduardo, editor. | Endsley, Mica R., editor.
Title: Fields of practice and applied solutions within distributed team cognition / edited by
Michael McNeese, Eduardo Salas, and Mica R. Endsley.
Description: First edition. | Boca Raton, FL : CRC Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifers: LCCN 2020013347 (print) | LCCN 2020013348 (ebook) | ISBN
9781138626003 (hardback) | ISBN 9780429459542 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Teams in the workplace. | Organizational behavior.
Classifcation: LCC HD66 .F544 2020 (print) | LCC HD66 (ebook) | DDC 302.3/5—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013347
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013348
ISBN: 978-1-138-62600-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-45954-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Times
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Dedication

Just over four years ago I was sitting in an uncomfortable


chair listening to the infusion pump load chemicals into
Judy (my wife) to combat ovarian cancer. It was hard to
concentrate on the ideas I was putting together and my
mind wandered incessantly. I was on sabbatical for the fall
semester from Penn State. Little did I know that I would be
sitting in Mount Nittany Medical Center taking care of Judy
as she went through chemotherapy. Fortunately, I was able
to devote time as a caregiver simultaneous with focusing
on academic goals set for myself while on sabbatical. One
of those goals was to create an interdisciplinary handbook
that would examine a spectrum of contemporary topics
within the cross sections of distributed cognition and team
cognition as they applied within given contexts of use. The
result of that seed concept is this Handbook of Distributed
Team Cognition. I would like to dedicate this handbook
to Judy for the strength, courage, character, and positive
outlook she showed during her time of confronting cancer
and fghting to get healthy. By the grace of God, she is
now cancer‑free and healthy again. We just had our 40th
anniversary of marriage this May of 2020—we celebrate
our mutual love and continued commitment to support each
other in every way possible. We look at life as an adventure
that may present unexpected yet benefcial experiences that
make us better humans. I love you.

Michael D. McNeese
Contents
Prefaceix
Editors xi
Contributors  xiii
Primer (Introduction)  xv

Chapter 1 Wrapping Team Members’ Heads around Managing


Virtual Team-Related Paradoxes 1
John E. Mathieu, Jean Brittain Leslie, and
Margaret M. Luciano

Chapter 2 Stabilizing Digital Infrastructures in Distributed Social


Science Collaboration 21
Steve Sawyer, Jaime Snyder, Matt Willis, Sarika Sharma,
Carsten Østerlund, and Emma Allen

Chapter 3 Collaborative Board Games as Authentic Assessments


of Professional Practices, Including Team Cognition
and Other 21st-Century Soft Skills  37
Michael F. Young, Jonna M. Kulikowich,
and Beomkyu Choi

Chapter 4 Improving Situation Awareness in Social Unrest


Using Twitter: A Methodological Approach  69
Peter K. Forster and Samantha Weirman

Chapter 5 Situation Awareness in Medical Teamwork  89


Zhan Zhang and Diana Kusunoki

Chapter 6 Team Dynamics of Cybersecurity: Challenges and


Opportunities for Team Cognition  117
Vincent Mancuso and Sarah McGuire

Chapter 7 Distributed Cognition and Human-Co-Robot Manufacturing


Teams: Issues in Design and Implementation  155
Lora A. Cavuoto and Ann M. Bisantz

vii
viii Contents

Chapter 8 Subsidiary and Polycentric Control: Implications


for Interface Design  177
John M. Flach and Kevin B. Bennett

Chapter 9 The Cognitive Wingman: Considerations for Trust,


Humanness, and Ethics When Developing and Applying
AI Systems  191
Michael D. Coovert, Matthew S. Arbogast,
and Ewart J. de Visser

Index  219


Preface
Many different cognitive research approaches have been generated to explore what
is meaningful and resonant in felds of practice where mutual teamwork is present
and emergent Results have shown subtle yet signifcant fndings on how humans
actually work together and when they transition from their own individual roles
and niches into elements of teamwork and even “team-to-team” work Likewise,
studies employing felds of practice have revealed highly informative data as to
how humans (groups, teams) work with unique tools and technologies and adapt
them for specifc situations, and concomitantly how tools and technologies can
be designed to ft with individual differences and teamwork With many felds of
practice utilizing various computational functions—often situated within online
systems and data—experience, practice, and learning are highly distributed across
objects, tools, interfaces, environments, and people in dynamic and unique ways
This volume, as part of overall set comprising the Handbook of Distributed Team
Cognition, represents and offers an understanding of specifc felds of practice that
(1) are discovered using differing methodological approaches, (2) employ innovative
aspects of computing and technology within a situated environment, and (3) are highly
coupled with data/information science products about how cognition emerges and is
applied and practiced in the real world Study of real-world environments provides
continuously refned specifcities of “knowing” wherein experts can be delineated
from novices
Technology is absolutely changing the world we live in and how we come to
defne what we do and how we do it In some cases, it produces negative impacts,
but in other cases it amplifes the bandwidth of what is possible and increases value
and worth of our well-being This is certainly the case when one examines the role
cognition has in teamwork as it is distributed across dynamic contexts
The provision of computational support and technological innovation absolutely
changes specifc areas of cognition such as pattern recognition, attention, memory,
learning, situation awareness, decision making, problem solving, judgment, percep-
tion, calculation, creativity, language, and imagination as well as how these areas are
distributed across teams, ecologies, and social systems One can see this just in the
area of medical practice where new support technologies and medical informatics
improve the diagnostic capabilities of the medical team and enhance the quality and
length of life for people undergoing many types of illness and distress However, as
we have seen in the past, if technology is designed without human considerations in
mind—or if it is used in the wrong way without proper training—then errors, fail-
ures, or even loss of life may occur The contemporary study and comprehension of
distributed team cognition cannot be constrained and reconciled in an isolated vac-
uum Rather it must be considered in the broader context within which it occurs—
which in part is governed by the powers of technologies, information science, and
computation Cognition not only takes place in our minds, but it is distributed across
time, history, context, culture, and place, and with the realization that technologies
creates new experiences of use

ix
x Preface

Nothing is more obvious than the example of how the use of smartphones changes
the way we assimilate, process, and create information through new forms of interac-
tion with many people distributed across various situations Many types of collaborative
interactions are now highly interdependent with technological applications that exist in
our phones or with other kinds of computational devices that in turn impact how teams
and/or groups of people seek, exchange, share, adapt, store, process, publish, and com-
municate information repeatedly Social media use intricately crisscrosses cognition
and is distributed across many levels and layers of networks for consumption
Distributed team cognition today is interlaced with forms of technological substrates
that infuence and connote our interpretation of what cognition means within situated
contexts for given felds of practice Human-technological affordances produce inter-
actions that now can be distributed across many realms simultaneously (eg, remote
synchronous work) or that allow work to be interrupted but continued as appropri-
ate when needed (eg, online asynchronous command and control processes) These
new levels of affordances are changing societal notions of organization, intelligence,
access, privilege, privacy, security, warfare, emergency response, and entertainment,
to name a few Advancing computation to viable forms of discovery (eg, machine
learning) is enabling signifcant progress in systems design, collective consciousness,
and social awareness For example, recent work in human-autonomous systems is
redefning everyday experience Take the example of self-driving cars and what this
means for such elements of cognition as attention, safety, relaxation, and quality of
life Distributed team cognition now encompasses newer growth expansion in such
specialties as the internet of things, data science, crowd sourcing, citizen science,
intelligent agents and robotics, facial recognition, enterprise architectures, social net-
works, augmented reality, visualization, mobile wearable computing, and information
sense surrounds, to name a few, which are predicated through the advancement of
technologies, designed for humans, and enabled for felds of practice

Michael D. McNeese
February 2020

SPECIAL NOTIFICATION
This book was produced during the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis that caused
many people around the world by necessity to participate in distributed team cogni-
tion in their everyday lives Many of us were required to be separated by distance
to avoid the spread of the virus, hence collaborative work/meetings, joint entertain-
ment, church services, and other activities were conducted through the use of dis-
tributed tools, technologies, and apps As such, the topics within this book are highly
relevant for the times we live in and are experiencing Technologies such as Zoom
and Skype facilitated connectedness, teamwork, and social awareness that enabled
life to continue in the best possible way As we adapt to the circumstances of this
virus, perhaps many elements of distribute team cognition will be inculcated as part
of our permanent culture/society As we face the summer of 2020, the trajectory of
COVID-19 is uncertain and indeterminate We wish all those affected and impacted
by COVID-19 the best path forward
Editors
Michael D. McNeese is a Professor (Emeritus) and was the Director of the MINDS
Group (Multidisciplinary Initiatives in Naturalistic Decision Systems) at the College
of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), The Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, PA Dr McNeese has also been a Professor of Psychology (affli-
ated) in the Department of Psychology, and a Professor of Education (affliated) in the
Department of Learning Systems and Performance, at Penn State Previously, he was
the Senior Associate Dean for Research, Graduate Studies, and Academic Affairs at
the College of IST Dr McNeese also served as Department Head and Associate Dean
of Research and Graduate Programs in the College, and was part of the original ten
founding professors in the College of IST He has been the principal investigator and
managed numerous research projects involving cognitive systems engineering, human
factors, human-autonomous interaction, social-cognitive informatics, cognitive psy-
chology, team cognition, user experience, situation awareness, and interactive model-
ing and simulations for more than 35 years His research has been funded by diverse
sources (NSF, ONR, ARL, ARO, AFRL, NGIA, Lockheed Martin) through a wide
variety of program offces and initiatives Prior to moving to Penn State in 2000, he
was a Senior Scientist and Director of Collaborative Design Technology at the USAF
Research Laboratory (Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio) He was one of the prin-
cipal scientists in the USAF responsible for cognitive systems engineering and team
cognition as related to command and control and emergency operations Dr McNeese
received his PhD in Cognitive Science from Vanderbilt University and an MA in
Experimental-Cognitive Psychology from the University of Dayton, was a visiting pro-
fessor at The Ohio State University, Department of Integrated Systems Engineering, and
was a Research Associate at the Vanderbilt University Center for Learning Technology
He has over 250 publications in research/application domains including emergency cri-
sis management; fghter pilot performance; pilot-vehicle interaction; battle management
command, control, communication operations; cyber and information security; intelli-
gence and image analyst work; geographical intelligence gathering, information fusion,
police cognition, natural gas exploitation, emergency medicine; and aviation His most
recent work focuses on the cognitive science perspectives within cyber-security utilizing
the interdisciplinary Living Laboratory Framework as articulated in this book

Eduardo Salas is the Allyn R and Gladys M Cline Chair Professor and Chair of
the Department of Psychological Sciences at Rice University His expertise includes
assisting organizations, including oil and gas, aviation, law enforcement and health-
care industries, in how to foster teamwork, design and implement team training strat-
egies, create a safety culture and minimize errors, facilitate learning and training
effectiveness, optimize simulation-based training, manage decision making under
stress, and develop performance measurement tools
Dr Salas has co-authored over 480 journal articles and book chapters and
has co-edited 33 books and handbooks as well as authored one book on team

xi
xii Editors

training He is a Past President of the Society for Industrial and Organizational


Psychology (SIOP) and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES),
and a fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), Association for
Psychological Science, and HFES He is also the recipient of the 2012 Society
for Human Resource Management Losey Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2012
Joseph E McGrath Award for Lifetime Achievement for his work on teams and
team training, and the 2016 APA Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions
to Psychology He received his PhD (1984) in industrial/organizational psychology
from Old Dominion University

Mica R. Endsley is the President of SA Technologies, a cognitive engineering frm


specializing in the development of operator interfaces for advanced systems, includ-
ing the next generation of systems for military, aviation, air traffc control, medicine,
and power grid operations Previously she served as Chief Scientist of the US Air
Force in where she was the chief scientifc adviser to the Chief of Staff and Secretary
of the Air Force, providing assessments on a wide range of scientifc and techni-
cal issues affecting the Air Force mission She has also been a Visiting Associate
Professor at MIT in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Associate
Professor of Industrial Engineering at Texas Tech University Dr Endsley is widely
published on the topic of situation awareness and decision making in individuals
and teams across a wide variety of domains She received a PhD in industrial and
systems engineering from the University of Southern California She is a past presi-
dent and fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and a fellow of the
International Ergonomics Association
Contributors
Emma Allen* John M. Flach
Deloitte and School of Information Studies Mile Two, LLC
Syracuse University Dayton, Ohio
Syracuse, New York
Peter K. Forster
Matthew S. Arbogast College of Information Sciences and
United States Military Academy Technology
West Point, New York The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
Kevin B. Bennett
Department of Psychology Jonna M. Kulikowich
Wright State University Department of Educational Psychology,
Dayton, Ohio Counseling, and Special Education
The Pennsylvania State University
Ann M. Bisantz University Park, Pennsylvania
Department of Industrial and Systems
Engineering Diana Kusunoki
University at Buffalo User Experience and Research
Buffalo, New York White Ops, Inc.
New York, New York
Lora A. Cavuoto
Department of Industrial and Systems Jean Brittain Leslie
Engineering Center for Creative Leadership
University at Buffalo Greensborough, North Carolina
Buffalo, New York
Margaret M. Luciano
Beomkyu Choi Department of Management and
Department of Literacy and Technology Entrepreneurship
Grand Valley State University Arizona State University
Grand Rapids, Michigan Tempe, Arizona

Michael D. Coovert Vincent Mancuso


Department of Psychology Cyber Operations and Analysis
University of South Florida Technology Group
Tampa, Florida MIT Lincoln Laboratories
Lexington, Massachusetts
Ewart J. de Visser
Warfghter Effectiveness Research John E. Mathieu
Center Department of Management
United States Air Force Academy University of Connecticut
Colorado Springs, Colorado Storrs, Connecticut

* Current affliation. Work done while at Syracuse University.


xiii
xiv Contributors

Sarah McGuire Jaime Snyder


Cyber Operations and Analysis Information School
Technology Group University of Washington
MIT Lincoln Laboratories Seattle, Washington
Lexington, Massachusetts
Samantha Weirman
Michael D. McNeese College of Information Sciences and
College of Information Sciences and Technology
Technology The Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pennsylvania
University Park, Pennsylvania
Matt Willis
Carsten Østerlund Oxford Internet Institute
School of Information Studies Oxford University
Syracuse University Oxford, United Kingdom
Syracuse, New York
Michael F. Young
Steve Sawyer Department of Educational Psychology
School of Information Studies University of Connecticut
Syracuse University Storrs, Connecticut
Syracuse, New York
Zhan Zhang
Sarika Sharma School of Computer Science and
School of Information Studies Information Systems
Syracuse University Pace University
Syracuse, New York New York, New York
Primer (Introduction)
In volumes 1 and 2 we have seen the portrayal of distributed team cognition through
many angles that refect different spectrums and highlight creative ideas while uni-
fying shared knowledge on various subjects. People have worked together in teams
to address diffcult and challenging problems for a long time. In many cases, team-
work has resulted in positive gains and effective work whereas in other cases errors
have been encountered and performance has been limited. As work has become
more cognitive and distributed, and as information has become ubiquitous, the role
of technological innovation has changed the nature of team cognition dramatically.
Even the differentiation between groups, teams, and collectives has become blurred.
Within volumes 1 and 2, historical traces and pathways have been provided and
documented, actual experimental studies have revealed cogent fndings, modeling
techniques have been used to expand detailed levels of scientifc prediction, and
new forms of measurement and analysis have led researchers to distill new insights,
build and construct more in-depth knowledge, and suggest user interactions with
technologies and their relationships with distributed team cognition. Now volume 3
will examine some of the solutions that have been suggested within distributed team
cognition with specifc reference to the contexts they are designed to enhance. Fields
of practice are important laboratories where specifc activities and relationships can
foment and where distributed information has the possibility to amplify or confuse
dependent on how it is used. This last volume of the handbook looks at how specifc
applications of distributed team cognition is manifest in the real world, providing
successful benefts to people at work.
The frst chapter is presented by Mathieu, Leslie, and Luciano and looks at global
teamwork where teams interact and perform virtual work wherein communication
and collaboration tools facilitate operations. This research focuses on the develop-
ment of shared mental models in virtual work, identifying the challenges and par-
adoxes that need to be addressed. The chapter is axiomatic at integrating theory,
methods, measures, and outcomes associated with the study of 50 virtual teams from
a variety of industries and geographic areas. Results suggest that shared mental mod-
els can enhance team effectiveness. As part of their results they consider the impact
of cultural differences in global teamwork.
Chapter 2 by Sawyer, Snyder, Willis, Sharma, Østerlund, and Allen provides
an intriguing and interdisciplinary look at the cyberinfrastructure increasingly
being used by distributed social science collaborators. The chapter looks at digi-
tal resources as they are used by practicing social scientists who are working at
distance. Through interviews of these scientists the authors uncover how adaptive
design practices produce digital arrangements that lead to a stabilized sociotechni-
cal infrastructure. An underlying theme that is important is that current notions of
cyberinfrastructure underplay the importance and role of social negotiation in dis-
tributed collaborative scientifc work.
Chapter 3 by Young, Kulikowich, and Choi looks at the area of learning through
the use of collaborative board games and provides a situated cognition description

xv
xvi Primer (Introduction)

of learning from game play. The chapter is a great example of applying an ecologi-
cal framework to understand how distributed cognition and learning comes about
through interactive play. It provides a basis for considering individual and team play
and how interactions lead to distributed cognition. Specifc examples of collaborative
games are provided and utilized as a basis to measure the development of dynamic
distributed team cognition.
Chapter 4 by Forster and Weirman takes a unique view that technology in the
form of Twitter has led to situation awareness for specifc social events, in particular
social unrest and the resulting Twitter activity that precedes action. Their research
analyzes social tweets and how social situation awareness developed within the con-
ficts associated with the Unite the Right rally. The relationship between Twitter data
and mobilization of groups is assessed. This research is important as it assesses the
impact of a current technology (Twitter) on the emergence of social and individual
situation awareness across time, showing that an online technology can infuence
social actions. The chapter is also important from a methodological perspective as it
provides the means to understand and analyze a signifcantly large amount of Twitter
data in order to see how distributed team cognition arises over time.
Chapter 5 by Zhang and Kusunoki is a valuable look at how teams work within
in the medical domain and how team situation awareness comes about. The chapter
provides a nice review of situation awareness within teams with particular emphasis
on collocated, distributed, synchronous, and asynchronous work. It also delineates
the use of particular technologies that provide solutions to team situation aware-
ness problems and issues. Finally the chapter applies and utilizes activity theory as
a means to understand time-critical and interdisciplinary teamwork, wherein spe-
cifc technologies may address different kinds of awareness. The medical domain is
one of the most critical areas where distributed team cognition comes into play and
where much technological advancement can improve cooperative work.
Chapter 6 by Mancuso and McGuire addresses another critical practical area
of concern for distributed team cognition, cybersecurity, which is omnipresent in
many felds of practice, organizations, and businesses. This important area is one
that has not been viewed from a human or team-centered perspective in most cases.
Therein, this chapter is especially valuable in that it frst reviews the dynamic nature
of cybersecurity and the complex requirements that require teamwork perspectives.
The chapter gives a thorough review of how individuals, teams, and technologies
intersect to address the issues and challenges inherent within cybersecurity applica-
tions. The authors then go on to look at unique considerations of cybersecurity as a
sociotechnical system and what this means for design and technology development.
In particular, they look at human-machine teaming elements which will increasingly
be utilized within this domain.
Chapter 7 by Cavuoto and Bisantz explores the role of distributed team cogni-
tion within the feld of practice of human-robot manufacturing teams. Again, this
is a dynamic and unique domain to look at cooperation among humans and robots
and how coordination, cooperation, and shared information develops over time.
As is true for many domains where humans team with agents and/or robots there
is much opportunity for errors and even failure. How engineering and designers
create systems that can work reliably to accomplish outstanding goals is a critical
Primer (Introduction) xvii

consideration for this handbook. The work presented draws upon theories and meth-
odologies within human factors and specifcally addresses topics such as situation
awareness, trust, communication, reliable work, and function allocation. These top-
ics are essential to deal with in many domains that incorporate distributed team
cognition that requires integration of humans with technology team members. The
chapter additionally looks at safety considerations, effective operations, and operator
training.
Chapter 8 by Flach and Bennett provides a focus that investigates coordination
and control within distributed work settings with particular focus on the area of
interface design. The chapter addresses the need for resilience in terms of fexible
adaptation and provision of distributed authority to a number of autonomous agents.
The chapter looks into design of interfaces that can yield this kind of authority while
at the same time provide common ground to enable understanding of one’s own
actions in terms of the coordination with other agents who are working on dynamic
problems. The chapter touches on the ideas central to polycentric control principles.
Chapter 9 by Coovert, Arbogast, and de Visser concludes the handbook with an
appealing and pertinent area of research within distributed team cognition: devel-
oping artifcial intelligence systems to work with distributed team members. The
authors in particular address topics such as trust, humanness, morality, ethics, per-
ception, and societal acceptance as they look this area through the construct of the
“cognitive wingman.” The chapter is a nice overview for looking at how interdisci-
plinary and joint aspects of artifcial intelligence can be of beneft to distributed team
cognition; deriving issues, principles, and benefts that need to be considered and
come into play when systems are designed.
This concludes the three primers that outline the concept of each volume and
what to expect within in terms of topics, direction, and content. The goal of this
handbook is to take a broad, interdisciplinary perspective about distributed team
cognition by providing representative samples of research, reviews, and selections
that amplify our understanding in a comprehensive manner.

Michael D. McNeese
1 Wrapping Team
Members’ Heads around
Managing Virtual Team-
Related Paradoxes
John E. Mathieu, Jean Brittain Leslie,
and Margaret M. Luciano

CONTENTS
Shared Mental Models ...............................................................................................3
Virtual Team Paradoxes .............................................................................................4
Leadership—Task and Relationship...................................................................... 5
Communication—Formal and Informal................................................................6
Perspective—Unifed Team and Diverse Individuals............................................7
Synchronicity—Working Apart and Together.......................................................7
Method .......................................................................................................................8
Sample...................................................................................................................8
Measures ...............................................................................................................8
Team Virtuality .................................................................................................8
Team Paradox SMMs ....................................................................................... 9
Team Viability .................................................................................................. 9
Individual Reactions.........................................................................................9
Team Performance.......................................................................................... 10
Results......................................................................................................................11
Team Level ..........................................................................................................11
Cross Level..........................................................................................................12
Discussion ................................................................................................................14
Applied Implications...........................................................................................15
Conclusion...........................................................................................................16
Acknowledgment .....................................................................................................16
References................................................................................................................ 17

Modern-day organizations use teams to align their human capital with organiza-
tional goals. But today’s teams come in many different shapes and arrangements.
Teams are formed, execute their actions, and disband at an alarming rate. Employees
often work simultaneously in multiple teams with little cross-team coordination.
Team memberships are fuid as individuals come and go so rapidly that it is often
1
2 Fields of Practice and Applied Solutions

diffcult to know who is on the team. And team members typically communicate and
coordinate their efforts, at least in part, through virtual means. In short, the modern-
day team landscape is complex and chaotic, and team members face many paradoxes
as to how to work effectively in this context.
Our chapter considers how team members manage a number of paradoxes asso-
ciated with operating in virtual team arrangements. Our primary thesis is that to
the extent that members have a shared mental model of how they will handle such
paradoxes their teams will be more effective. For purposes of this chapter, we adopt
Kozlowski and Ilgen’s (2006, p. 79) defnition of work teams as:

(a) two or more individuals who (b) socially interact (face-to-face or, increasingly,
virtually); (c) possess one or more common goals; (d) are brought together to perform
organizationally relevant tasks; (e) exhibit interdependencies with respect to workfow,
goals, and outcomes; (f) have different roles and responsibilities; and (g) are together
embedded in an encompassing organizational system, with boundaries and linkages to
the broader system context and task environment.

The essence of this defnition is that team members are interdependent and must
plan and execute their actions to achieve common goals while operating within a
particular context. Notably, team effectiveness is a multidimensional construct and
can be gauged in terms of outcomes and by-products of team activity that are val-
ued by one or more constituencies (Mathieu, Heffner, Goodwin, Salas, & Cannon-
Bowers, 2000). Hackman (1990) identifed three primary types of outcomes as:
(a) performance, including quality and quantity, as evaluated by relevant others out-
side of the team; (b) meeting team member needs; and (c) viability, or the willingness
of members to continue to work together as a team.
Given current communication and collaboration tools, team operating contexts
are increasingly virtual these days. Maynard and Gilson (2014, p. 7) submitted that

virtual teams have been defned as “functioning teams that rely on technology-medi-
ated communication while crossing several different boundaries” (Martins, Gilson, &
Maynard, 2004, p. 807) and a team is considered more or less virtual based on “the
extent to which team members use virtual tools to coordinate and execute team pro-
cesses” (Kirkman & Mathieu, 2005, p. 702).

A recent survey suggests that over two-thirds of multinational organizations


utilize some form of virtual teaming (Society for Human Resource Management,
2012), which is only likely to grow in the future. Virtual teams (VTs) face many
additional challenges by virtue of the fact that their members are dispersed across
the globe in different time zones and often speak different languages. Therefore,
better understanding how teams can coordinate their efforts in VTs represents an
important challenge for organizational effectiveness.
Accordingly, this chapter explores how team members’ shared mental models
(SMMs) concerning work paradoxes relate to their effectiveness, especially when
working primarily through virtual technologies. SMMs refer to “team members’
shared understanding of team tasks, equipment, roles, goals, and abilities” (Lim &
Klein, 2006, p. 403). We provide a brief review of how the nature (i.e., contents) of
Managing Virtual Team-Related Paradoxes 3

different mental models have been shown to be related to team processes and out-
comes. We then submit that we should consider how members’ SMMs concerning
how to manage paradoxes relate to the effectiveness of virtual teams. In so doing
we defne paradoxes and highlight themes that are particularly salient for virtual
teams. We demonstrate empirical relationships using a sample of 50 VTs. We close
with recommendations concerning how various interventions could be leveraged to
enhance virtual teams’ SMMs concerning paradoxes.

SHARED MENTAL MODELS


Mental models are organized understandings or mental representations of knowl-
edge (Cannon-Bowers, Salas, & Converse, 1993; Klimoski & Mohammed, 1994;
Mohammed, Ferzandi, & Hamilton, 2010; Mohammed, Klimoski, & Rentsch,
2000). Sharedness of mental models is the extent to which team members’ mental
models are consistent with one another. SMMs represent an important team emer-
gent state that enables members to coordinate their actions toward goal achievement.
Marks, Mathieu, and Zaccaro (2001, p. 357) defned team emergent states as: “con-
structs that characterize properties of the team that are typically dynamic in nature
and vary as a function of team context, inputs, processes, and outcomes” and offered
SMMs as one prime example. Mathieu, Heffner, Goodwin, Cannon-Bowers, and
Salas (2005) noted that SMM is a confgural type of team construct and derives from
the consistency of individuals’ models—yet there is no “team model” per se. SMMs
represent the extent to which team members’ organize their knowledge structures in
consistent ways so as to facilitate collective behavior. Cannon-Bowers et al. (1993)
argued that teams can adapt quickly to changing task demands by drawing SMMs
that enable them to predict what their teammates are going to do, and what they are
going to need in order to do it. Thus, SMMs allow team members to determine and
select different courses of action that are consistent and coordinated with those of
their teammates.
Klimoski and Mohammed (1994, p. 432) suggested that “there can be (and prob-
ably would be) multiple mental models co-existing among team members at a given
point in time.” Mathieu et al. (2000) discussed numerous different types of mental
models that they abstracted to two general types: task and team. Specifcally, they
suggested that task‑related SMMs referred to members’ understanding concern-
ing the use of technology or equipment. Prior research has considered task‑related
technologies such as radar systems (air traffc controllers) or computer-aided design
and manufacturing (CADCAM) systems, whereas virtual team applications may
include the operation and use of collaborative tools (e.g., email, knowledge reposito-
ries, teleconferencing, document sharing). Alternatively, team‑related SMMs refer to
members’ understanding as to how team interactions are orchestrated. These models
describe members’ SMMs concerning individual’s roles and responsibilities, interac-
tion patterns, decision-making processes, norms of behavior, and so forth. In short,
how they will execute team processes (cf., Marks et al., 2001). The two forms of
SMMs tend to overlap in VTs, however, as the use of collaborative and communica-
tion technologies coincides with determining roles and responsibilities, how, and
when work will be accomplished.
4 Fields of Practice and Applied Solutions

Empirical fndings have suggested members’ SMMs relate signifcantly to their


team processes (e.g., Marks, Sabella, Burke, & Zaccaro, 2002; Mathieu et al.,
2000), other emergent states (e.g. Mathieu, Rapp, Maynard, & Mangos, 2009; Stout,
Cannon-Bowers, & Salas, 2017), and team effectiveness (e.g., Ensley & Pearce,
2001; Kellermanns, Floyd, Pearson, & Spencer, 2008; Lim & Klein, 2006; Smith-
Jentsch, Mathieu, & Kraiger, 2005). Indeed, based on meta-analytic fndings of the
SMM domain, DeChurch and Mesmer-Magnus (2010) concluded that when SMMs
are indexed in terms of the consistency of members’ knowledge structures, they are
predictive of team processes and performance.
Despite the wealth of evidence that SMMs are advantageous for team effective-
ness, Maynard and Gilson (2014, pp. 4–5) noted that

To date, this work has assumed that all team member interaction is face-to-face. As
such, there has been little attention given to how the use of information communication
technologies (ICT) to communicate may affect the development of SMMs. We contend
that not considering the effect of ICT usage on SMM development is an important
omission because SMM development may be altered by the inherent attributes of the
many ICT options currently available to teams.

Accordingly, we consider the particular challenges that teams who interact largely
using ICT encounter, and how they relate to SMMs.

VIRTUAL TEAM PARADOXES


VTs are groups of geographically, organizationally, and/or time dispersed, mutually
dependent workers brought together through technologies to work on the same objec-
tives (Bell & Kozlowski, 2002). Their popularity is attributed to advancements in
technology, globalization, and organizations’ desires to be fexible, agile, and reduce
operating costs. Effective virtual teams can beneft both employers and employees.
Employers may use VTs to better leverage their human capital across time and loca-
tions. They may also beneft from reduced absenteeism, greater employee retention,
and less overhead. Employees may beneft from fexibility, job satisfaction, and
reduction in commuting time. However, not all virtual teams function effectively.
Research shows managing virtual teams is more challenging than managing tra-
ditional face-to-face teams, and some experts suggest that more virtual teams fail
than succeed (Gilson, Maynard, Jones Young, Vartiainen, & Hakonen, 2015). For
instance, DeRosa (2010) lists six reasons that virtual teams fail: (1) ineffective lead-
ership; (2) lack of clear goals, directions, or priorities; (3) lack of clear roles among
team members; (4) lack of cooperation; (5) lack of engagement; and (6) inability to
replicate a “high touch” environment. Elsewhere, Turmel (2018) cites fve reason that
virtual teams fail including: (1) teams lacking a compelling vision; (2) team mem-
bers do not hold each other accountable for their work and deliverables; (3) the team
doesn’t have shared leadership; (4) team processes aren’t effective or at least adhered
to; and (5) problematic relationships with the manager.
The sources cited above, and scads of other commentaries, highlight the fact
that critical challenges for VT effectiveness include leadership, communication,
Managing Virtual Team-Related Paradoxes 5

integrating perspectives, and coordinating action. While often viewed as problems


to be resolved, choices to be made, or balances to be struck, these themes might be
better conceived of as paradoxes to manage. Paradoxes “denote persistent contradic-
tions between interdependent elements. While seemingly distinct and oppositional,
these elements actually inform and defne one another, tied in a web of eternal mutu-
ality” (Schad, Lewis, Raisch, & Smith, 2016, p. 6). The interdependence between
the elements or pairs creates both a tension and an opportunity. Virtual teams, for
example, need to both plan and execute, should be both diverse in their thinking
and unifed in their actions, and must focus both on short-term and long-term goals.
Paradoxes, as defned here, show up in all facets of organizational life. They are not
problems that can be easily solved with one-time solutions; rather, they are of cycli-
cal or reoccurring nature. The more strongly people become attached to one side of
a pair, the harder it is to “see” its negatives (Johnson, 2014).
Helping VTs deal with challenges may sometimes be as easy as helping them
decide which solution is most appropriate for their circumstances (e.g., which means
of collaboration is best suited for a given function—such as email or a threaded
discussion list). But many challenges require more sophisticated approaches. In his
acclaimed book Opposable Mind, Roger Martin (2009) points out a common theme
from his interviews with business leaders, which is that successful leaders “have the
predisposition and the capacity to hold two diametrically opposing ideas in their
heads” (p. 6) and they are “able to produce a synthesis that is superior to either
opposing idea” (p. 6). He goes on, “the ability to use the opposable mind is an advan-
tage at any time, in any era” (p. 8). A well-managed polarity or paradox occurs when
teams capitalize on the inherent tensions between the interdependent pairs while
avoiding the limits of either. In other words, when virtual teams can see a paradox as
two equally important points of view, they can begin to exploit the benefts inherent
in the pairs.
Based on the extant literature and qualitative grounding with VT leaders and
members, we identifed numerous challenges that are best conceived of as paradoxes.
For illustrative purposes we feature four of these in Table 1.1 and in the discussion
that follows. Each paradox consists of two interdependent poles or themes. Each
theme has the potential to beneft or hinder (if focused on to the neglect of its partner
theme) VT effectiveness.

LEADERSHIP—TASK AND RELATIONSHIP


Virtual teams require effective leadership to help establish high quality work-
ing relationships. The formation of effective working relationships often involves
numerous formal (e.g., team building events) and informal (e.g., having lunch or cof-
fee together, chatting by the water cooler) interactions, which are costly if not impos-
sible to duplicate in virtual teams. Interpersonal challenges may arise for a number
of reasons, including a lack of accountability, a lack of attendance or engagement in
team-building activities, and focusing on non-task issues. An underlying paradox to
this challenge is the team being attentive to both task and relationship leadership
behaviors. Task-oriented leadership behaviors include establishing shared norms,
negotiation, and holding the team accountable for its performance and outcomes.
6 Fields of Practice and Applied Solutions

TABLE 1.1
Virtual Team Paradoxes
Paradox Paradox Description Example
Leadership— Virtual teams must be task focused “We tend to probably be very task
task focused to be effective. At the same time, focused working to just get things done
and they must also focus on building on time and I think where we probably
relationship oriented relationships across time, culture, suffer a bit is to take advantage of each
and distance to succeed as a team. other.”
Communication— Virtual teams rely heavily on “We spend time daily chatting back
formal effective formal communication. and forth via telephone, via IM, and via
and At the same time, successful VTs face-to-face for folks who are in the
informal leverage the value of informal same site. We have weekly and
communication. biweekly staff meetings.”
Perspective— Virtual team members must act as “Work is primarily individual (‘we are
unifed team and one unifed team. At the same time, the masters of our own success’), they
diverse individuals they must maintain their distinct each do the same procedure and have
perspectives and identities. their own targets. Each person works in
a clearly defned geographical scope,
but there are certain topics on which
the team members work together.”
Synchronicity— Virtual teams work toward common “When we are together (in the same
working apart goals while being geographically room) it’s easier to brainstorm out
and dispersed. At the same time, they loud, our decision making is best made
together need face-to-face time to bond as a when we are all together, and that’s our
team and accomplish complex tasks. time to check in and make sure we are
all on the same page.”

Task-oriented behaviors are critical to assure the work of the team is delivered on
time and that there is a sense of progress and pride in the team’s work. Relationship-
oriented leadership behaviors include attending to members’ well-being, nurturing
team identity, maintaining a sense of inclusion, and promoting positive relationships.
Managing team social and interpersonal interactions is a critical team process that
lays the foundation for the effectiveness of other processes. Overemphasis on the
task to the neglect of relationships can result in team members failing to form a cohe-
sive team and reduction in helping behaviors, whereas overemphasis on relationships
to the neglect of the task can result in missed deadlines and losing sight of the team’s
objectives.

COMMUNICATION—FORMAL AND INFORMAL


Effective communication is an important aspect of virtual teamwork. Communication
issues may arise for a number of reasons, including the failure of members to com-
prehend that content the other members intend, questions not being answered
correctly and/or not being directed to the right person, the failure to distribute infor-
mation to all team members, problems using communication media, diffculty in
Another random document with
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wandering about the bazaar talking to the keepers of the shops and
to each other. It seemed to the púsári that he had been walking for
hours, yet the bazaar appeared to be as interminable as ever. He
walked on as in a dream, for, in spite of the apparent bustle and
excitement around him, he could hear nothing. Stupefied by his
fearful position, he walked on mechanically, having now lost the
sense of fear, and feeling only a sort of vague wonder.
And now a raging thirst seized on the púsári. He had been on foot all
day in the sun, and all the afternoon his mouth had been hot and
bitter with curses. He had drunk nothing for many hours. As he
walked along, the craving for water grew stronger and stronger, till
he could bear it no longer. He realised vaguely the peril he ran in
accepting anything from the hand of a pisási, nevertheless he
stopped and looked about, in the hope of finding something to drink.
Near at hand was a small shop presided over by a hideous old she-
pisási. Undeterred by the horrible aspect of the red-eyed, wrinkled,
old hag, the púsári approached her with the intention of asking for a
drink of water. As he did so, he felt conscious that all the pisásis had
suddenly stood still and were watching him. The she-pisási’s shop
contained some strange things. On one side lay a huge rock python
cut into lengths, each of which was wriggling about as if full of life.
On the other side lay a young crocodile apparently dead; but as the
púsári approached, it turned its head and looked slily at him with its
cold yellow eye. Over the old hag’s head hung a crate full of live
snakes, that writhed about and thrust their heads through the withes.
Strings of dead bats, and baskets full of loathsome reptiles and
creeping creatures, filled the shop. In front of her stood a hollow
gourd full of water.
‘Mother! I am thirsty,’ said the púsári as he pointed to the water. But
though he said the words, he did not hear his own voice. The old hag
looked fixedly at him for a moment, and then raising the gourd, gave
it to him. He raised it to his lips, and drank long and eagerly. As he
put the empty vessel down, he felt everything reel and swim about
him. Gazing wildly round, he grasped at the air two or three times for
some support, and then fell to the ground motionless and senseless.
AN EVERY-DAY OCCURRENCE.
There are in all our lives episodes which we should be glad to
forget; of which we are so much ashamed, that we scarcely dare to
think of them, and when we do, find ourselves hurriedly muttering the
words we imagine we ought to have said, or making audible
apologies for our conduct to the air; and yet these are not always
episodes which necessarily involve a tangible sense of wrong done
either to ourselves or to others. Some such episode in a
commonplace life, such as must have fallen to the lot of many men,
we would here reveal.
Once upon a time—to commence in an orthodox fashion—a man
and a maid lived and loved. On the woman’s part the affection was
as pure and generous as ever filled the breast of a maiden; on the
man’s, as warm as his nature permitted. His love did not absorb his
whole soul, it rather permeated his mind and coloured his being. Like
most men of his not uncommon stamp, his affection once given, was
given for ever. His was not a jubilant nature, nor did his feelings lie
near the surface, and his manner was undemonstrative. The girl was
clear-sighted enough to see that what love there was, was pure and
true, and she made up for its scarcity with the overflowings of her
sympathetic nature. She idealised rather than condoned. She gave
in such measure that she could not perceive how little she was
receiving in return; or if she noticed it, her consciousness of its worth
seemed to her a full equivalent. He was an artist; and circumstances
forced the lovers to wait, and at the same time kept them apart. A
couple of days once a month, and a week now and again, was the
limit of the time they could spend together. This, of course,
prevented them getting that intimate knowledge of each other’s
personality which both recognised as an essential adjunct to the
happiness of married life, though they did their best to obviate it by
long letters, giving full details of daily events and of the society in
which they moved. The remedy was an imperfect one. Strive as they
might, the sketches were crude, and the letters had a tendency to
become stereotyped. We only mention these details to show that
they tried to be perfectly honest with each other.
While the girl’s life, in her quiet country home, was one that held little
variety in it, it was a part of the man’s stock-in-trade to mix with
society and to observe closely. Whether he liked it or not, he was
compelled to make friends to such an extent as to afford him an
opportunity of gauging character. Unfortunately for the purposes of
my study, he had no sympathy with pessimism or pessimists. He
loved the good and the beautiful for their own sakes, and in his art
loved to dwell on the bright side of human nature, a side which the
writer has found so much easier to meet with than the more sombre
colouring we are constantly told is the predominating one in life. Like
most artists, he was somewhat susceptible, but his susceptibility was
on the surface; the inward depths of his soul had never been stirred
save by the gentle girl who held his heart, and she was such as to
inspire a constant and growing affection rather than a demonstrative
passion.
At one of the many houses at which he was a welcome guest, the
lover found a young girl bright, sensuous, beautiful. Unwittingly, he
compared her with the one whose heart he held, and the comparison
was unsatisfactory to him; do what he would, the honesty of his
nature compelled him to allow that this beautiful girl was the superior
in a number of ways to her to whom he had pledged his life. He was
caught in the Circe’s chains of golden hair, and fancied—almost
hoped—yet feared lest, like bonds of cobwebs in the fairy tale, the
toils were too strong for him to break. He could see, too, that the girl
regarded him with a feeling so warm, that a chance spark would
rouse it into a flame of love; and this gave her an interest as
dangerous as it was fascinating. His fancy swerved. Day after day he
strove with himself, and by efforts, too violent to be wise, he kept
away from the siren till his inflamed fancy forced him back to her
side.
To the maiden in the country he was partially honest. In his letters he
faithfully told her of his visits, and as far as he could, recorded his
opinions of the girl who had captivated his fancy. Too keen an artist
to be blind to her faults, he dwelt on them in his frequent letters at
unnecessary length. When the lovers met, the girl questioned him
closely about her rival, but only from the interest she felt in all his
friends known and unknown, for her love for him was too pure and
strong to admit of jealousy, and he, with what honesty he could,
answered her questions unreservedly.
Little by little he began to examine himself. Which girl did he really
love? Should he not be doing a wrong to both by not deciding? The
examination was dangerous, because it was not thorough. The
premises were true, but incomplete. Yet we should wrong him if we
implied that he for a moment thought seriously about breaking off his
engagement. Even had he wished, his almost mistaken feelings of
honour would have forbidden it. This constant surface introspection
—a kind of examination which, had not the subject been himself, he
would have despised and avoided—could have but one result—an
obliquity of mental vision. He had a horror of being untrue—untrue to
himself as untrue to his lass, and yet he dreaded causing pain to a
bosom so tender and innocent. When he sat down to write the
periodical letters to the girl to whom he was engaged, he found his
phrases becoming more and more general and guarded. He took
pains not to let her know what he felt must wound her, and the letters
grew as unnatural as they had been the reverse; they were
descriptive of the man rather than the reflex of his personality.
The country girl was quick of perception. The letters were more full
of endearing terms than ever; they were longer and told more of his
life; yet between the lines she could see that they were by one
whose heart was not at rest, and that a sense of duty and not of
pleasure prompted the ample details. Their very regularity was
painful: it seemed as if the writer was anxious to act up to the letter
of his understanding. She knew that the letters were often written
when he was tired out. Why did he not put off writing, and taking
advantage of her love, let her exercise her trust in him? Eagerly she
scanned the pages to find the name of her rival, and having found it,
would thoughtfully weigh every word of description, of blame or
praise.
When the lovers met, she questioned him more closely than she had
ever done before. He was seemingly as fond as ever; no endearing
name, no accustomed caress, was forgotten. He spoke of himself
and his friends as freely as usual, and all her questions were
answered without a shadow of reserve. Yet the answers were slower,
and his manner absent and thoughtful. For a time she put it down to
the absorbing nature of his pursuits; but little by little, a belief that
she was no longer dearest crept into her heart, and would not be
dislodged, try as she might. She thought she was jealous, and
struggled night and day against a fault she dreaded above all others;
then, in a paroxysm of despair, she allowed herself to be convinced
of what she feared, and, loving him deeply, prepared to make the
greatest sacrifice an unselfish woman can offer. He no longer loved
her; it was best he should be free.
When he had been with her last, he had told her that his ensuing
absence must perforce be longer than usual, and this she thought
would be the best time for her purpose.
‘Dear Frank,’ she wrote at the end of a pitiful little letter, ‘I am going
to ask you not to come here next week. This will surprise you, for in
all my other letters I have told you that what I most look forward to in
life is your visits. But I have been thinking, dear, that it will be best for
us to part for ever. I often ask myself if we love one another as much
as we did, and I am afraid we do not. A loveless married life would
be too dreadful to live through, and I dare not risk it. It is better that
the parting should come through me. Do not fancy that I am
reproaching you; I cannot, for to me you are above reproach, above
blame. All I feel is that our affection is colder, so we had better part.
God bless you, Frank; I can never tell you how deeply I have loved
you.—Elsie.’
Frank was almost stunned by the receipt of this letter. He read it and
re-read it till every word seemed burnt into his brain. That the girl’s
love for him was less, he did not believe; he could read undiminished
affection in the vague phraseology, in the studied carefulness to take
equal blame on herself. That she should be jealous, was out of the
question; long years of experience had taught him that this was
totally foreign to her trustful nature. There was but one conclusion to
come to. She had given him up because she thought his happiness
involved. Yet she wished him to be free; might it not be ungracious to
refuse to accept her gift?
Free! There was a terrible fascination in the sound. Be the bondage
ever so pleasant, be it even preferable to liberty itself, the idea of
freedom is irresistibly alluring. If the same bondage will be chosen
again, there is a delight in the consciousness that it will be your own
untrammelled choice. Frank was aware of a wild exultation when he
realised the fact that he was once more a free agent. In the first flush
of liberty, poor Elsie’s image faded out of sight, and that of the siren
took its place. Now, without wrong, he might follow his inclinations.
He determined to write to Elsie, but knew not what to say, and put it
off till the morrow.
There could be no harm in going to the house of his fascinator; it
was pleasant to think that he might now speak, think, look, without
any mental reservations; there would be no longer any need to
watch his actions, or to force back the words which would tell her
that she exercised a deadly power over him. The girl received him
with a winning smile, yet, when he touched her hand, he did not feel
his brain throb or his blood rush madly through his veins as he had
expected. He bore his part through the evening quietly, and owned
that it was a pleasant one; still, the flavour was not what he had
expected. He called to mind that when he was abroad for the first
time, he had been served with a peculiar dish, which he
remembered, and often longed for when unattainable. After several
years, he had visited the same café and ordered the same dish. The
same cook prepared it, and the same waiter served it, but the taste
was not the same; expectation had heightened the flavour, and the
real was inferior to the ideal.
So it was with Frank. Before, when the siren had seemed
unattainable, he had luxuriated in her beauty, admired her grace and
genius, and revelled in her wit; now, when he felt he might call these
his own, his eye began to detect deficiencies. The girl noted his
critical attitude, and chafed at the calmness of his keen, watchful
glance. Where was the open admiration she used to read in his
eyes? Piqued at his indifference, she grew silent and irritable; and
when he bade her farewell, both were conscious that an ideal had
been shattered.
He buttoned his overcoat, and prepared for a long walk to the lonely
chambers where he lived the usual careless, comfortless life of a
bachelor whose purse is limited. All the way home he submitted
himself to a deep and critical examination. He felt as if he was sitting
by the ashes of a failing fire which he had no means of replenishing;
the night was coming, and he must sit in the cold. If passion died out,
where was he to look for the sympathy, the respect, the true
friendliness which alone can supply its place in married life? Then he
thought of Elsie. He had made a mistake, but a very common
mistake. He had thought that the excitement of his interest, the
enchaining of his fancy, and the enthralment of his senses, was love,
and lo! it was only passion. He analysed his feelings more deeply
yet, and getting below the surface-currents which are stirred by the
winds, saw that the quiet waters beneath had kept unswervingly on
their course.
When he reached his chambers, he sat down by his table and drew
paper and ink towards him. ‘I shall not accept your dismissal, Elsie,’
he wrote hurriedly in answer to her piteous letter: ‘I should be very
shallow if I could not read the motive which prompted your letter. I
shall come down as usual, and we will talk over it till we understand
each other fully. Till then, you must believe me when I tell you that I
love you all the more for your act of sacrifice, and that I love you
more now than I have ever done before.’
Frank and Elsie have been long married, and are content. There is
no fear of his swerving again; but the event described left its mark on
Frank. He knows now that he was on the verge of committing a
grievous mistake, and one which might have darkened all his future
life. For it is not great events, involving tragedies and tears, that
impress themselves most deeply upon the body of our habits and
thoughts; but the tendency of our life, as in the case before us, is
often most deeply affected by what is no more than ‘an every-day
occurrence.’
A NIGHT IN A WELL.
The station of Rawal Pindi, in which the following incident took place,
is a large military cantonment in the Punjab, about a hundred miles
from the Indus at Attock, where the magnificent bridge across the
rapid river now completes the connection by rail between the
presidency towns of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay with Peshawur
our frontier outpost, which, like a watchful sentinel, stands looking
straight into the gloomy portal of the far-famed Khyber Pass. It was
at Rawal Pindi that the meeting took place between the Viceroy of
India, Lord Dufferin, and the present Ameer of Afghanistan, before
whom were then paraded not only the garrison of Rawal Pindi, or, as
it is more generally known in those parts, by the familiar abbreviation
of Pindi—a Punjabi word signifying a village—but a goodly array of
the three arms, artillery, cavalry, and infantry, drawn from the
garrisons of the Punjab and North-west Provinces of India. In
ordinary times, the troops in garrison at Pindi consist of four or five
batteries of royal artillery, both horse and field; a regiment of British,
and one of Indian cavalry; and one regiment of British, and two of
Bengal infantry, with a company of sappers and miners. The
barracks—or, as they are called in India, the lines—occupied by
these troops extend across the Grand Trunk Road leading to
Peshawur, those of the royal artillery being almost, if not quite on the
extreme right, and it is here that the occurrence which gives the
heading to this article took place.
In front of the lines of each regiment is the quarter-guard belonging
to it, at a distance of two or three hundred yards from the centre
barrack. The men of this guard are turned out and inspected once by
day and once by night by the officer on duty, technically known as
the orderly officer. In rear of the quarter-guard, as has been already
said, are the men’s barracks; and in rear of them the cook-houses
and horse-lines, amongst and behind which are large wells—‘pucka
wells,’ as they are called, from being lined for a long way down and
about the surface with brick-work and cement, in distinction from the
ordinary ‘cutcha wells,’ which are merely circular holes dug until
water is reached.
The pucka wells in the Pindi cantonments are from twelve to
fourteen feet in diameter, and from thirty to forty feet from the surface
to the water. They are surrounded by low parapets; and from each
well extend long troughs of brick and cement, into which the water
drawn from the well is conducted by channels, for the use of the
horses and other cattle belonging to the artillery or cavalry. The low
parapets round the wells are sufficient protection, at all events in the
daytime; though instances are not unfrequent when accidents have
occurred on a dark night to goats, sheep, and even bullocks straying
from their tethers, especially when a dust-storm has been adding by
its turmoil to the bewilderment of all so unfortunate as to be caught
abroad in it, as the writer has on more than one occasion, when
compelled to stand or sit for hours behind some protecting wall or
tree; the darkness in noonday has been so great that his hand,
though held close to his eyes, was with difficulty discernible. When to
such a state of things are added the roar of the wind and the beating
of broken branches of trees, wisps of straw, and other articles caught
up and hurtled along, it may be easily imagined how dazed and
perplexed is the condition of every creature so exposed. A dust-
storm, however, had nothing to say to the accident with which we
have to do.
In rear of the cook-houses, wells, &c., come the mess-house and the
bungalows in which the officers reside, each in its own compound or
inclosure, about eighty or a hundred yards square, and about a
quarter of a mile from the men’s lines.
One night in the cold season of 1866-67, as well as I can remember,
the subaltern on duty at Pindi was Lieutenant Black—as we will call
him—of the Royal Horse Artillery. He was well known in the arm of
the service to which he belonged as a bold and fearless horseman,
who had distinguished himself on many occasions as a race-rider
both at home and abroad. On the evening in question he remained
playing billiards in the mess-house until it was time to visit the
quarter-guard in front of the lines. A little before midnight he mounted
his horse at the door of the mess, and started. It was very dark; but
he knew the road well, and had perfect faith in his horse, a favourite
charger; so, immediately on passing the gate of the mess
compound, he set off, as was his custom, at a smart canter along the
straight road leading to the barracks. He passed through these, and
soon reached the guard, which he turned out, and finding all present
and correct, proceeded to return to his own bungalow, having
completed his duty for the day. He rode through the lines by the way
he had come; but then, being in a hurry to get to bed, he left the
main road and took a short-cut across an open space.
Notwithstanding the darkness, the horse was cantering freely on, no
doubt as anxious as his master to reach his comfortable stall, when
all at once Black felt him jump over some obstacle, which he cleared,
and the next moment horse and rider were falling through the air;
and a great splash and crash were the last things of which Black had
any consciousness. After an interval—how long he couldn’t tell—
sensation slowly returned, and he became aware that he was still
sitting in his saddle, but bestriding a dead horse. His legs were in
water; and the hollow reverberation of his voice when he shouted for
help, as he did until he could do so no longer, informed him that he
had fallen into one of the huge wells somewhere in the lines. It was
intensely dark; but he soon became aware that there were other
living creatures in the well, for from its sides came occasional weird
rustlings and hissings, which added considerably to the horror of his
situation, by creating a vague feeling of dread of some unknown
danger close at hand.
Slowly the long night passed, and he could plainly hear the gongs of
the different regiments as the hours were struck on them, and the
sentries, as if in mockery, crying the usual ‘All’s well.’ Gradually day
began to dawn, and light to show up above at the mouth of the well.
By degrees, his prison became less dim, and he could see his
surroundings. He was bestriding his dead charger, which lay
crumpled up with a broken neck at the bottom of the well, in which
was not more than three feet of water. Black himself, except for the
shock, was uninjured. His legs were pretty well numbed, from being
so long in the water, but there were no bones broken; and barring
the terrible jar to his system, he was sound in every respect. As the
sun arose, he began to peer about, and again tried to make himself
heard above ground. This caused a renewal of the peculiar rustlings
and hissings we have referred to; and he was now enabled to verify
what he had dreaded and suspected when he first heard them in the
dark. All round the sides of the well were holes, tenanted by snakes,
most of them of the deadly cobra tribe, and many, seemingly, of an
extraordinary size. Presently, like muffled thunder, the morning gun
roused the sleepers in the various barracks, and the loud reveille
quickly following it, brought hope of speedy release to the worn-out
watcher.
The bheesties coming to draw water were the first to discover him,
and their loud cries soon surrounded the mouth of the well with
stalwart artillerymen. Drag-ropes were brought from the nearest
battery; and Black, barely able to attach them to his body, was at
length drawn, to all appearance more dead than alive, to upper air,
unable to reply to the eager questionings of those by whom he was
surrounded. He was placed on a hospital litter, and hurried off to his
own bungalow. Under careful treatment, and thanks to a splendid
constitution, he was in a short time again fit for duty.
When recounting the events of the night, Black didn’t forget to
mention his sensations at hearing the hissings all round him, and
which the darkness at first made him think to be closer even than
they were. This at once caused a proposal to be made for a raid
upon the inhabitants of the holes; but he begged that they should not
be disturbed, saying that they could do no harm where they were,
and that he couldn’t but feel deeply grateful for their forbearance in
confining themselves to hissing his first and, he sincerely hoped, his
last appearance in a well.
PERSEPHONÉ.
A LAY OF SPRING.[1]
Through the dusky halls of Hadës
Thrills the echo of a voice,
Full of love, and full of longing:
‘Come, and bid my heart rejoice!
Daughter, all the world is barren,
While I mourn thy long delay!’
It is fond Demeter calling
On her lost Persephoné.

Sad she leans, the queen of Hadës,


On the gloomy monarch’s breast,
When upon her fettered senses
Falls that wail of Earth distrest;
And it woos her latent fancy
With a dream of days gone by—
And her heart responds in rapture
To that eager parent-cry!

Gently from the shadowy circle


Of his arms she lifts her head,
And its youthful beauty lightens
Even the Kingdom of the Dead.
Half a-dreaming, yet resistless
To the voice that bids her come,
Soft she murmurs: ‘Mother calls me;
Hermes waits to lead me home.’

‘Wilt thou leave me? I have loved thee,


Held thee dear as queenly wife;
It was Zeus who gave thee to me—
Life to Death, and Death to Life!’
Still a-dreaming and bewildered,
‘Ah!’ she says, complaining low,
‘Hear ye not Demeter calling?
King and husband, let me go!’

Lingeringly he yields his darling,


But she leaves the Shadow-land
With his spell upon her spirit,
With his chain upon her hand.
‘She will come again,’ he whispers,
‘And our union earth must own;
Young Life drawn from Death’s embraces
Will return to share his throne!’

. . . . .

Pure and queenly, all immortal,


Stands she ’neath her native skies:
Cloud and sunbeam, dew and rainbow,
Mingle in her lucid eyes:
Fitful smiles and vivid blushes
Blend to banish every tear,
And, like lute, her tender accents
Fall upon Demeter’s ear:

‘Mother, from the heart of Hadës


I have come again to thee!’—
Desert wide and boundless welkin,
Grove and valley, hill and sea,
All the animate creation,
All the haunts of listening day,
Echo with Demeter’s answer:
‘Hail, my child Persephoné!’

Lo! the world awakes to rapture;


Love rejoices, gods are glad,
Flowers unfold around her footfalls,
Youth in virgin garb is clad;
All the Muses chant a welcome;
Nymph and Naïad swell the strain;
Dancing sunbeams, laughing waters,
Aid the triumph of her train.

Where she moves, a magic whisper


Stirs the world to wanton mirth;
Winter flies before her presence;
Forms of beauty find new birth;
Nature’s languid pulses flutter
With the fervid breath of Spring,
Zephyrs tell to opening blossoms:
‘Eros comes to reign as king!’

Ah! while life breaks forth in music,


Emerald hues, and heavenly light,
Warmth, and love, and fairest promise,
Still a vision of the night
Glides athwart the happy Present,
Vague as harvest hopes in May;
’Tis a dream of gloomy Hadës
Haunts the young Persephoné!

So, to Mother Earth she falters:


‘Though thy daughter, still his wife.
Zeus decrees in kingly fashion,
Death shall hold the hand of Life:
Zeus decrees, and in one circle
Life and Death doth still combine.
Though I crown thee with my beauty,
Though my soul is part of thine,
Yet the mighty Hadës holds me
By a power that is divine.

‘But, sweet mother, Life can only


Be withdrawn. It never dies.
From the heart of sombre Hadës,
At thy call I will arise.
Year by year thy eager summons
Shall have power to break the chain,
And in all her youthful glory,
Will thy daughter come again.

‘Yet, because his spell must ever


Lie upon my charmèd soul,
He, the gloomy Lord of Shadows,
Shall my wayward will control.
As I heard thee call, my mother,
So his call I must obey;
Even here shall come his mandate,
And I may not answer nay.
Ah! when harvest fruits are garnered,
Mourn thy child Persephoné.’

Jessie M. E. Saxby.

[1] Persephoné, according to the Greek mythology, was the


daughter of Zeus (the Heavens) and Demeter (the Earth). Various
legends are related of her, one of the later and most beautiful
being that, when young, she was carried off by Pluto (ruler of the
spirits of the dead), and by him made Queen of Hadës (the nether
world). Her mother, in agony at her loss, searched for her all over
the earth with torches, until at last she discovered her abode. The
gods, moved by the mother’s distress, sent a messenger to bring
Persephoné back, and Pluto consented to let her go on condition
that she returned and spent a portion of every year with him. From
this, Persephoné became among the ancients the symbol of
Spring, her disappearance to the lower world coinciding with
winter, and her reappearance in the upper world bringing back
vegetable life and beauty.

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