This proposal describes a program of research to examine some of the factors likely to affect the diagnostic problem-solving performance of work teams that run multi-operator systems, It is concerned most specifically with those situations in which teams are confronted with sudden, critical system malfunctions. The proposed research is founded on a conceptual framework that delineates the informational bases of coordinated team problem- solving. That framework emphasizes the importance of --- and structural barriers to --- discussing diagnostic information that initially may be available to only some team members. Five controlled laboratories experiments are proposed to examine the impact of several situational factors likely to affect the way in which teams use the information at their disposal when diagnosing critical system malfunctions.
