The experiments were designed to provide information about organizational learning and how teams improved their performance through practice.
The series was constructed from four different experiments (code named Casey, Cowboy, Cobra, and Cogwheel).
For each of the four experiments different structures and timespans were used: The purpose of the experiments was to examine how teams of men operated in an environment composed of complex information flows making decisions under conditions of high stress.
The first experiment (Casey) was conducted with college students from which it was determined that culture was a large factor in team as well as individual performance.
The structures and procedures that glued functional components together so changed that an organization was only nominally the same from day to day.Chapman, Robert L.; Kennedy, John L.; Newell, A.; Biel, William C. (April 1959).