Distributed Decisionmaking with Constrained Decisionmakers: A Case Study

A specific distributed decisionmaking problem is considered that reflects essential aspects of tactical command and control teams, particularly communications and limitations to human information processing induced because of time pressure. A constrained optimization problem is fonnulated to maximize overall team performance subject to individual limitations. The results of a systematic investigation of possible solutions are described in terms of performance and workload interactions. In particular, optimal solutions arise where team members act randomly and/or introduce errors. Though results obtained are specific to the case study, a number of more generally applicable principles are evident.