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OCR for page 390
DISOJSSI~: ~IICr AND STRESS IN THE SPACE SqWIlON
Oscar Grubby
The primacy question bow Mi~hener arm pokes pape=; are concerned with
is the impact of social factors on the performance of hen Grasps in
marked vehicles In Space missions of lord duration.
-
across saw issues raiser] by Michener.
My cc~mnents first
linen I turn to sell
portions of Cooks paper. Finally, I make scam general Ovations
are] corrode bar arming that a need exists for a systematic data base
on social system pro;, bash on pant long *oration space flights.
~5 ON M:CC~R'S PAPER
The theme of Mi~er's paper is the fact of social ~;~ factors on
the management of system conflict. He asserts that as crew size
increase;, crew cc~osition beelines more varied, system goals beeline
more cc~nplex ark diverse ark orb artificial ~nt=1lig~ce ark]
Cauterization Canvases, the likelihood of control and conflict
prdblens will b ~ me greater03attsP of social system failures. Such
failures come about in part because of the greater complexity,
differentiation, and decentralization that is created by changes
crew size and composition, technology, and cats.
As Michener notes
~ ~ _
,, the space station crews confront a perilous
environment and one that they must d-~1 with largely on their own
(MichenPr does not mention but is no doubt cognizant of the fact that
under ache curing design there is no way Accra Over can red ~
~ ·a a e a ~ a ma 8 _ ~ ~
earth in an ~ency, sine-= there is no escape vehicle), relative
isolation, ark a long Orion of t~ In space, i.e. 90 days. me SSOC
system will have to c1~1 with very complex Provisory con~cro1
prcibl~s, the rise; of intergroup conflict, and the necessity of Tapirs
wish serials crises.
Cone ~n~cributing cake of conflict in the Space station, according
to Mi~hener's analyst, is Popularity. Modularity refers to a social
system ~ of multiple and ctist~nct su~r~. Mic~hener claims
Tic Polar systems may be particularly vulnerable to conflict,
m~s~ordination, lack Of Operation, arxt mistrust.
Because space station ~st function In such a perilous environ
it is vulnerable t: e risk of Loge- shock, that is, an
uncontrollable event. Mbre cc~rnplex social systems are passably less
capable than less carnplex social systems of coping wig such exogenous
~-
390
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391
Naturally, one of the first questions one asks when confronting a
theory such as this is how does it square with the available evidence,
real izing that most evidence is earth-bas~ arm therefore only
partially relevant or relevant to an ~~letermir~te degree. There is,
however, additional evidence, also of limits or of irxieterminate
value, that may be obtained from observations on group performance in
long duration space flights that have already been undertaken.
Unquestionably, there is a new for additional systemic research on
the problems of Coup conflict end performance in the space station.
Effects of Group Size arm C~lexi~r
Widener suggests Cat SSOC is ~ ikely to experience grew - r conflict
than earlier missions, in part, because the social system wil 1 be
larger end more cc - lex. Hawed, the evidence on the effects of group
size is not uniform. There is no doubt that as group size Nor ~ c
the potential number of ~ntrayroup relations multiplies. But the
effects of group size on factors such as member commitment,
cooperation, and group performance are unclear. For example, M~chener
suggests that larger-sized groups have weaker member commitment than
smaller-sized ones. However, Doll and Gundersen (1969) studied
Antarctic Groups and fours that ~:epkions of members of ~atibility
were more favorable In larger (size 20 to 30 meff~ers) In smaller
groups (size 8 to 11~. Mbre recently, Yamagishi (1986) stied
labor~tor~r~created grows of size 2, 6, 11, 51 ~ 501 in order to
sty social ctile~na or public good situations. Subjects were told
they would tee given $5 arxlwauldbe as}c~to give any number (0 to 5)
of one dollar bills to others In ache group (grow? condition) or to
matched participants (give-away condition). Yamagishi fauns that once
group size exuded ten, additional size irises had no effect on
er contribution leered. The point is that earth-based studies of
the effects of group size an both utilitarian and affiliative type
group goals have not produced uniform findings.
Conflict
Michener is not specific about the causes of conflict, but the close
~nteractional situation in the space station provides the potential for
seemingly minor events to stimulate interpersonal hostility. For
example, there is waiting to gain am-~.=s to the toilet. It takes
lordlier to use zero facilities and space Trains will mean a
limited number of toilets. Hence, long waits especially when waking up
may be On, and questions of priority may produce conflict.
As Mi~hener points out, since no large social system has been
established in space, there are no alternatives but to develop
generalizations based on earth-based groups. However, potentially
suggestive information may also come from extrapolating from
observations on smaller-sized Groups that have been in space, such as
Skylab. Pogue, (1985) a Skylab astronaut who spent 84 days in space,
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392
he written a book describing scene of his experiences. IVro others
a~anied Pogue on his lord mission, die demander (Carr) and the
Scientist Pilot (Gibson). Pogue report that overall the dew got
alert well together and that they had so many equipment problems that
they "had to help each over often. We had good team split. " ltery
little Apace in his book was devoted to the subject of mter~rsonal
conflict. ~ response to a question on fights and acts amoral the
crew, he conserved: "We didn't have any fights, and there was only one
arch ~ t that ~ can recall. It had to do with a change in pr ~ re,
and the instructions wed very vague. We resolved this by trying the
procedure to see if it worked. We never got truly angry at each other,
but we were frequently upset with or had disagreements with some people
in Fission control. We were all trying hard to get a job done, so
there was probably fault on both sides at one time or another" (Pogue,
1985:67~. m eve comments suggest first, that the crew was reasonably
we11-1ntegrated and supportive of one another, and second, that group
identification was to same extent strengthened as a product of
antagonism toward Mission Control.
Pogue recounts only one incident that took place between him and the
Scientist Pilot that could be characterized as a disagreement: "I
think ~ upset Ed Gibson one day by putting his ice cress in the food
warmer and leaving his steak in the freezer. ~ really felt badly abort
it. He couldn't "at the steak because it was still frozen hard, and
the ice cress had turned to mink. He had to dig out some contingency
food to eat. There wasn't too much conversation at dinner that night.
He sa1v aged the ice cream by refreezing it. In liquid form it had
turned into a big hollow h~l1. The next day, aft=' it refroze, he
stuffed it full of freeze-~ried strawberries and had the first
strawberry sundae ~ space" (Pogue, 1985:677. Attention to these
comments is called mainly to suggest the need for collecting and
analyzing systematically social system data on conflict already
collected flus long duration missions, such as Skylab and Salyut.
Analysis of these data may help in identifying potential social system
scurces of conflict on space station. The Russians have had a small
space station, Salyut 7, ~ orbit for almost five years and have manned
that station periodically s mace then. About a year ago they launched
the first element of a macular station which is designed to be
permanently manned. Bluth (1984) has reported on Soviet evidence of
stators internal hostilities among the char on the Salyut missions.
Mission I~h, Conflict, arid Expectations
As Mic~hener notes, the project I~h of Apace station missions is 90
days. Another reason for carefully hominid group factors in the
Cad—ibson-P~ue Sk~riab mission is that its berth was 84 days or
aft the same as the pry space station missions. As noted
above, the Russians also have coveted long duration missions that are
of interest. They criers with such missions exceeds ours.
Michener argues that the long Term h of the Apace station missions may
lower crew tolerance and encourage greater subgroup conflict. However,
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393
Pogue (1985) and the New Yorker report (Cooper, 1976)2 both note that
mission length did not constitute a problem on Skylab in the sense of
elevating interpersonal tension. The crew apparently did get very
disturbed when Mission Control proposed near the end of the mission the
idea of lengthening it. It appeared the' two factors contributed to
the crew's stators dissatisfaction with this idea. First, the crew was
traded al gearec3 from the start for an 84 day mission. They had
prepared themselves both mentor ly ark physical ly with this period of
time in mi ~ . Hence, a prc ~ ed Charge in the schedule greatly upset
their expectations and was dissonance-arousing. Second, and relatedly,
the very fact that it was raised as an issue by Mission Control at the
crucial point in the mission may have seriously undermined the crew's
sense of personal control over the ~ actions. m ese were very proud
and extremely capable individuals with a strong sense of personal
autonomy. m e tight daily scheming of their actions and the close
observation and monitoring of even minute aspects of their behavior
ever a long period of time may have been threatening and
stress-arousing to these competent and autonomous individuals. The
composition of these groups and their training was designed to mute
social system conflict, promote strong group integration, and
strengthen identification with the group goal or mission. However,
such strong identification with the group goal may inhibit
externally-in*uced changes in the mission. Presumably any such
changes, if grasp resistance is to be avoided, must involve a
participative process worked out in advance.
In addition to this issue of whether or not greater size and
differentiation actually contribute to greater group conflict, there is
the matter of the consequences of such conflict for group functioning,
and in particular, productivity. Michen~r assumes that conflict will
increase with greater differentiation and complexity, and furthermore,
that conflict in general is detrimental to group performance. There is
not a great deal of evidence on this, and what exists, is earth-based.
Michener, like most students of conflict, sees conflict as creating
disequilibrium ~ the system. Conflict may cause a "breakdown in
decision making" Smirch and Simon, 1958y, that is, it is a malfunction
and is negatively valued. However, other social scientists, such as
Coser (1966) look at certain kinds of conflict as a source of
equilibrium and stability. rear argues that a multiplicity of small
conflicts internal to a group may breed solidarity provided that the
conflicts do not divide the group along the same axis, because the
conflict coalitions provide a place for exchanging dissenting
c pinions. In essence, he claims that some conflict or disagreement is
inevitable and that it is better to foster minor conflicts of interest
and thereby gradually adjust the system, than to allow for the
accumulation of many latent deep antagonisms that could completely
disrupt it. racer not== teat frequent small conflicts keep antagonists
informed of each other's position an] strength and hence prevent a
serious miscalculation on the part of either party. In a similar vein,
Lipset et al. (1956) in a stay of the International Typographer's
Union showed how instibutionally-regulated conflict between the two
political parties An the union actually fostered a democratic climate
OCR for page 394
394
ark o~izational sJcabili=. Liaise conflict bean yes may
taXe the form of head thy Petition ark this may Lance overall
pr~ctivi=. Us, conflict and Petition are not inherently
dysfunctional as Mi~henPr suggests. Contrary to Michener's approach,
this perspective suggests that a key issue is not merely how much
conflict takes place, but the conditions under which conflict occurs,
for example, the extent to which it is normatively regulated and
controlled.
Crew Rotation
Michener mentions only briefly that rotating crews under extended
duration space flight may effect their function m g. The effects of
rotation, succession, or turnover, merits more detailed treatment.
There is a substantial literature on this topic concerning the effects
of rate of succession on group and managerial effectiveness (e.g. See
Grusky, 1963, 1964; Brown, 1982~. Practical research questions
include: optimal mission length, optimal method of crew rotation
(replace individuals, subgrcup6, or total crews), optimal method of
leads rotation, etc.
COMMENTS ON COOK'S PEER
Cook's paper is concerned first of all with stress and the relationship
between stress and productivity. In addition, she examines the issue
of mediated communication, particularly computer-m£diated communication
and its effects on productivity.
Stress
Cook pro poses that space be used as a site for basic research on
stress. She points out that reliable and valid non-physica~
h~a~th-related measures of stress are lack Meg. Space station is a good
site for stress research, she claims, because there are so many
stressors in space, such as crawling, noise, workload, and
life-threatening crises. She describes a model of stress produced by
interpersonal factors such as inequitable assignment of rewards, task
or role ambiguity, arbitrary exercise of authority, and others. Cook
wishes to complement physiological and psychological stress research by
investigating social system properties of stress, an approach that has
not been heavily utilized In the pant. She also wants to explore
adaptive group strategies for coping with stress. She prc poses the
intriguing idea of developing a ccmputer-aided system to rectify
cognitive processing deficiencies that appear under high stress
levels. However, one of the problems with stress measurement is that
so many factors can be stressful that objective quantitative
measurement is difficult.
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395
Gerxier art Stress
Alff~a~gh up to the present Space missions have been male—Arty—, it
is evident that future missions will involve more female astronauts and
mission specialists. Rearm in psychiatric epidemiology has
Insistently documented an association between Gender arm psychological
distress. Win are more than twice ~= likely as men to report
affective disorders arm ~reme levels of distress (Al-Issa, 1982;
Kessler arm ~Rae, 3981~. Although male prevalence of scam psychiatric
disorders ~ grader than females arm for some disorders there is rho
reports mediation with gentler, the best available evident indices==
that the psychological well-being of wan is different than bat of
An.
The major sociological interpretation of this evince is that
w~ren's roles expose =en to greater stress than men's (Gave, 19783.
acre (1972) has claim that female role stress is medially
prorwunc ~ in ~crac3itional role situations.
A number of investigators have shown that women he more vulnerable
than men to a range of what have been ~1 led network events, that is
life crises that are significant to the lives of persons important to
the respondent (Kessler, 1979; Radloff and Rae, 1981~. Kessler has
pro posed that women care more abo At people, and bemuse this ~ the
ca=P, they are Tare vulnerable to crises that take place "at the edges
of their Ring networks." (Kessler, 1985). Man are Rationally
affected for crises that mar within they r~ucl-=r funnily, lout women
are mare Reply affected by teeth crises amoral firs of they nuclear
fogy and among persons go may be clarified as fries arm
associates.
There are a Anabel of major limitations ~ the analysis presents
above:
l. `3 findings bring a relatianship between gender arm psychiatric
disks ark su~lini~1 distress can be explain by section
factors.
2. Mat of ff,e e~rider~ce an role~related str "s" has been he an
scales us Meg subjective evaluations.
3. Evidence on the differences suggester between men and women claiming
that the latter am more vulnerable to crises in their networks is
~-
Bespite these limitations of which Cook ~s well aware, this
information an] the speculations described above raise some potentially
important issues regarding long duration space missions. Specifically,
one issue is whether or not made and female crew members will take on
different roles and respand differently to crises that may take place
in the space station. Banter (1977) has studied the lone we men in
men e-dominated work organizations as part of her study of what she
calls "skewed sex ratios." She has distinguished between dominants and
tokens in these organizations and suggests that (~) tokens are more
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396
Risible than dominants (2) differ; between dc~ninants are tokens
terxi to be pol~'izec! are (3) tokens' att ributes tee to be "distorts
to fit resisting generalizations about their social type." At issue
is the effect (if any) of the gender distribution in the group on
Cc~la~r conl~vl' and ~l~icati~ p~s~i. It flay very well be the
am:= that -cleric factors that have up to now worked well In
identifying crew ~ capable of hauling stress will continue to
work effectively In the future. It is also reasonable to anticipate
that besides selection effects, situational effects; w;11 be
mrerpch~ring arm hence me Herder differences su=:ses~ above will be
masked. Alternatively,
_ __
it may be that the larger-sized grams in Apace
station 199Os combined with the exist of a "skewed sex ratio"
punter, 1977) in work grams will have problematic impacts on gram
f~;i~ing. R~ is newer to explore these arm related issues.
~iated fornication
As Cook has Served, the social Genes for ~E; of 1~
Gratis where the primary cG nications are ~ter~;ated are
simply Acne. As Cook no-==, the recent firxlir~ by Siegel et al.
(1986) that ~uter-~iated Fornication facili~cat~= the Gary flaw
of negative ~m~nications or information that dhaller~es those In high
status positions merits replication. Iris problem also phalli be
studied devel~men - lly to see if Ganges ~ as Grog exist cover
long petri - -= of tine. Another related problem that merits stutly ~ the
potential in pact of Cultural cliffen~es ~ Cuter mecliated
Fornication. People of different Natural ba~rwr~s Nay repporxi
radically different ways. Such tiffs; if few could be
c~tial to Fornication between the various Apace station
Gales, the Japanese, Eon, awl that of Be United States.
cook cites Connors (1985:32) r~ ~ justification for the
preposition that GOfer Sciatic may mitigate the irhibitir~
efficacy of face Reface Fornication In "su~rdinatest' have access
to critical information ark may rem ~ challenge author)=." Swearer,
Boors' groups beer little resemblance to the ~riromnent e~rien~
by past lc~ duration Apace flights or presumably will be faced by
future flint crews, such as weightlessness, contirmals peril arm
public eve, continuous high task-load, Fall aunts of space per
Arson. em. Mover. the idea of dhall~incr authority and attitudes
~ _ , _ _ , _ _ _ _ , _ , _ _ ,
· ~ . ~ . _ . ~ _ · .
Card work are ~I4ture-~urxl. Hence, earn if the fifties were
applicable to the United Statics space nodule, they wand not
warily be as applicable to the Japanese or Pan Jules.
CONCLUDE ant
Mbet of the ~ nts In the two paper'; focus on negative effects such
as conflict, Swiss and mis~ucation. Mithener stresses the
perilous e~rim~t, the ~=sibili~ of conflict between ~es,
Bean error possibilities, and ban ~sib;1ities that stem friary
OCR for page 397
397
the sophistication of the Ethnology. ~{i~hener neglects ache potential
positive contrib~i~s of small conflicts and cc~etition ~ gray
function pravidir~ that such conflict art competition is
institutionalized ares is espresso ~ legitimate ways. Cook focuses on
the problems of decisional and integral stress. Yet, in contrast,
Mat was highlights ~ Me narrative reports, }Roth by P=gue (1985) arm
m e New Yorker (her, 1976) accents, was the relatively highness
of interpersonal relations among the Skylab INS, their high
motivation, high productivity, high gay identification, art group
it=3nt. Haps these reports have ~ "sanitized". In any case,
it Is Clara' that the social system impacts with At to conflict and
stress are Am, although we do know Cat these factors can have
nse Ventral effects, and as Witherer suggests, increasing "nuptial
system complexity may enhance the likelihood of social system problems.
Both the Cook and the Michener papers stress the important of
social organizational factors on productivity or performance. ~ ok
culls attention to the work of Foushoe (1984) who has used flight
simulators to study group process. Fcushee cites a study by Ruffel1
Smith (1979) who had E-747 crews fly a simulated flight from New York
to London. A failed eng me, hydraulic system failure, poor weather,
and cipher problems created an emergency situation. Foushee observes
significantly that "Perhaps the most sea lent aspects of this flight
sibilation surly was the; firxti~ that the majority of problems were
plated ~ browns in crew coordination, ret to a lack of tedhni~1
repledge arx] skill." FILM on social factors affecting Grasp
conflict, success arxi other relate issues as both Mi~henez arm
have observed, is essential.
~ s=ary, fair major o~ati~s wag made cn Miss paper,
as folly:
1. Fit foxy earth laboratory art field ~s~ ~ the
effeccs of gasp size arm cc~lexi~ an tack perfonnar~e have
pro irxx~nsistent results.
2. Miss social System theory suggests considerable potential for
group conflict on the space station. ~ rer, narrative aax~unts
describing a Skylab Russian do not conform to this theory.
3. Micbener's theory assumes that conflict and competition (seen as a
form of conflict) has only deleterious consequences for Vial
systems and this may not be the ~c. when conflict
institutionally regulated.
4. Picbener omits extensive discussion of problems ~==r~iated with crew
rotation.
He following observations were made on Cooks paper:
1. m e development of new Teethe= of measuring stress and cup mg
techniques are needed. Exist mg data on Skylab crew behavior should
OCR for page 398
398
be ~i~ ~ order to identifier effective ~nter~rsonal cling
strategies, bat is, ties that crew Is have 1l~ that
riced, controlled, or made stress Ire tolerable.
2. ~ is rib - to' explore systematically the relationship
between her, Grabs structure, are stress.
3. ~ is needed on the social impacts of ~n~iated
nunication. We need to An ~ the positive arm negative
consequences of computer-mediat ~ communication for individual and
group decision processes. Cook has identified a set of hypotheses
that merit intensive study.
Some of these problems can best be studied by means of human
s.'mnlations where the space station situation is simulates m the
1~h~ratory by means of a mock-up and human crews of eight to ten or
men teeing volur~r subjects me Saudi" cont~m~sly ~ the
laboratory for long periodic of time. The crews would be given
carefully assigned tasks as similar as possible to those to be
performed by space station crews. The noise level ~ manipulated as
are living c~itio~s to a~r~nate as closely as possible the real
situation. Id—lly~ one wind develop a set of e~rinenta1 sties
using the striation method which wed table the cl~ sty of the
effects of key i~eperxlent variables such as authority sty en
crew producti~rity/ performance/ and satisfaction. the same technique
card be emptied to examine the effects of variants metes of crew and
leader ration.
A S~ent=1 research fiction Should be aced to them noted
hener and Cook/ Nancy the need for devel~nt of a systematic
data base in the area of group performance of cast (arx] future)
astronauts in long duration space missions. Such a data I is
especially needed because the space static n is a unique environment due
to the interaction of a very unusual set of characteristics such as
weightlessness, constant danger' restricted or computer-mediate~
c~nications, high stress due to raise, and Other er~riro2mlent=1
hazards. Valuable although limited information can be Stains few
studies of social is facing quite different but presumably
cc~rable situations such as polar e~nriromnents and long Gratis
submarine ~ions. Hen=, they is a greet 2~ for data on this
particular tape of social system that is unique to lord duration Apace
;~sions. ye By; of data that should be include In such a data
hey are de~ra~hic information on the astronauts' performance data)
and ~ chaps m ant important of all, audio ark videotapes of ~n;~sions,
such as the threerperson Skylab missions discussed above. Research
Argo-== to these tapes Could fact itate development of new measures of
stress and conflict and the Or relationship to decision processes and
would permit stay of m~crogroup processes such as initiation of
interaction, rates of interaction, and measures of power (such as
~nterr~ions, takeovers, and a~reriaps, Ed.. The hope is that NASA
might be cupric that a data base of this kin wed be a valuable
research resowed for them and that such a data base could be assembled
OCR for page 399
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
apace station
399
arm the
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400
Fa~#, C.
1984 dads art triads at 35,000 feet: factors affecting grad
process and aircrew performance. American Ps;y~hologist
39: 885-893.
Gave, W. R.
1972 The r~ati~hip beaten the sex Molest marital status, and
Into illness. Social Forass 51:34-44
1978 Sex differences in m~]t=1 fewness among adult men am W~1:
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Go, O.
1963 ~nage:ri~ suc~;sion arm organizational effectiveness. me
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