Effects of crew composition on crew performance: Does the whole equal the sum of its parts?

Abstract

Varied the composition of Israeli 3-person military crews (mean age 19 yrs) by assigning the male members according to all possible combinations of levels of ability and motivation. Crews performed real military tasks in a military field setting, and unit commanders ranked the effectiveness of their performance at the end of 2 mo of military activity. There were 208 crews, or 624 Ss, in all. Findings show that both ability and motivation had an additive effect on crew performance. Crew composition effects were found for ability but not for motivation. The performance of uniformly high-ability crew members far exceeded the levels expected on the basis of individual crew members' ability, whereas the performance of uniformly low-ability crews fell considerably below the expected level. It is concluded that when crews perform highly interdependent tasks, performance is likely to be affected in a nonadditive manner by crew composition. (35 ref) (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)