Converging Mental Models about Mental Model Convergence

The three preceding articles highlight the ongoing research designed to better understand shared mental models and their role in team functioning. In some respects, research scholars have achieved an integrated view (a.k.a. shared mental models) about the field (e.g., the growing body of empirical research results underscores the important role of the shared mental model construct in effective team functioning). In other respects, our mental models have not converged. Thus, we still need additional conceptual and empirical research to advance the field (e.g., many dimensions of mental models have been identified, but no agreement exists about their validity or the completeness of the list). In this response, I use the similar, divergent, and complementary views presented in the trio of articles by myself, Cannon-Bowers (this volume), and Rentsch and Small (this volume) to demonstrate how the process of scholarship is analogous to the mental model convergence process.