Moderating effects of team role on workload demands of teams

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, we present a way to measure workload demands on teams and second, we address how the effect of workload on teams differs from the effect on individuals within the team. Our research was conducted in the context of a simulated Uninhabited Air Vehicle (UAV) ground control station where 3-person teams were required to fly a simulated UAV for the purpose of taking reconnaissance photos. In two experiments, we have shown that workload demands differentially affect individual team member roles in our UAV team task. Consequently, measuring the effects of workload on teams by aggregating the effects of workload on individual roles may not be appropriate, particularly when teams are heterogeneous.