Because living and working in space require precision performance, team building is a key component for successful space missions. Personalities of individual team members affect how a team functions, and since space allows little margin for error, great care must be taken to assemble a team with the right mix of individuals. In studying team dynamics, Soviet scientists found that combinations of people tend to fall into three groups: competitive, congruent, and complementary. The scientists then conducted experiments to determine which would be the most space-worthy team combination.
Tests for the effectiveness of competitive groups were conducted with two cosmonauts in a room at a console of instruments. Each cosmonaut was told to keep the instruments at a particular, all-important level, but the instruments were rigged so that the efforts of one man to carry out his orders would thwart the efforts of the other. Only the closest teamwork could find a solution. The competition got so intense that the two subjects had to be hauled out of the room before they strangled one another. In space, such behavior would seriously endanger a mission.
Congruent team members didn't fare much better. Tests found that people who shared similar values and approaches to problems did not always work best together. Congruent crew members might not get angry enough to snap the oxygen valve on a crew mate's space suit, but their common approaches to problem solving could cause tension and decrease the mission's effectiveness.
Complementary teams were shown to work the best. Crew members had little in common, but their differences made them more compatible. Teams would carve up duties naturally, according to their own likes and dislikes, and balance one another under difficult circumstances. Tests on these most space-worthy of teams sometimes showed they were in such harmony that their hearts would beat in sync!
