Leading Autonomous Component Teams in Multiteam Systems: Insights From NASA

Multiteam systems (MTS) often appear in high-stakes environments like in the military and in space exploration. Although MTS research often assumes the leadership team has full authority over component teams, extreme contexts, such as a mission to Mars, challenge that assumption and highlight a need for dynamic allocation of authority among teams. We conducted 31 interviews with NASA subject matter experts who are preparing for future missions. Themes extracted from these SME interviews suggested key recommendations for supporting MTS coordination as component teams become more autonomous.