Evaluation of the Team Workload Questionnaire (TWLQ) in a Team-Choice Task.

OBJECTIVE: The present study was designed to evaluate the team workload questionnaire (TWLQ) in a task that was distinct from the task used to create it.

BACKGROUND: The TWLQ was created from workload ratings generated by members of athletic sports teams. Given that such teams represent only a portion of the diversity of operational teams, we aimed to assess the generalizability of the TWLQ.

METHOD: The present study applied the TWLQ in a collaborative choice task (hiring decision) to determine whether the factor structure reported in the initial publication of the scale would generalize from the execution tasks it was developed from to a disparate team task focused on consensus building.

RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the present data ( N = 144) were a poor fit for the three-factor structure of the TWLQ. Subsequent exploratory factor analysis revealed a much more interrelated model of team workload with no clear division between the three conceptual factors described in the original validation of the TWLQ.

CONCLUSION: The factor structure of the TWLQ did not generalize to the present team-choice task.

APPLICATION: Given that the duties of operational teams vary, it is critical that future research examine how the conceptual structure of team workload may be altered by task type.