Team Cohesion and Performance

Question 1

What is team cohesion?

Answer 1

The total field of forces which act on members to remain in the group

Question 2

What characteristics does team cohesion have?

Answer 2

1. Multidimensional
2. Dynamic
3. Instrumental
4. Affective

Question 3

What is task cohesion?

Answer 3

The degree to which members of a group work together to achieve common goals

Question 4

What is social cohesion?

Answer 4

The degree to which members of a team like each other and enjoy one another company

Question 5

Why should we distinguish the two types of cohesion?

Answer 5

It can help explain why a team needs to succeed…

For example, teams low in social cohesion and high in task cohesion

Question 6

What is the conceptual model of cohesion? Carron 1998

Answer 6

Environmental factors
Leadership Factors
Personal Factors and Team factors affect cohesion which affects group outcomes and individual outcomes

Question 7

What are the environmental factors?

Answer 7

The normative forces holding a group together.

Sports contracts, social pressures against quitting

Question 8

What are personal factors?

Answer 8

The individual characteristics of group members.
Demographic attributes
Behaviour (social loafing)
Cognitions (anxiety, responsitbility)

Question 9

What are leadership factors?

Answer 9

Clear, unambiguous communication from coaches regarding team goals, tasks and member roles can influence cohesion

Question 10

What are team factors?

Answer 10

Group task characteristics, desire for group success.
Length of time together
Shared experience
Collective efficacy

Question 11

How do we measure cohesion?

Answer 11

Questionnaires

Question 12

What is the group environment questionnaire? Martens 1972

Answer 12

Group integration (task)... how group members work together to achieve goal
Group integration (social)...the beliefs about the teams closeness and bonding
Individual attraction to group (task)... personal motivation
Individual attraction to group (social)... interpersonal attractions

Question 13

Does a higher level of cohesion improve performance?

Answer 13

83% of studies reported a positive relationship between cohesion and performance (Widmeyer 1993)

Question 14

Is the impact of cohesion always positive?

Answer 14

Patterson 2005, task cohesion not related to performance

Question 15

How can we enhance cohesion?

Answer 15

Attendance rates (Paskevich 2001)
Exercise classes (Spink 1993)

Question 16

What happened in the walk Kansas case study?

Answer 16

8 week walking programme
Encourage families, co-workers, friends to come together

Showed increased in moderate PA
No significant decrease in team cohesion at 6 months still being implemented

Question 17

How does team building work?

Answer 17

group goal setting
interpersonal relationships
individual role development
managerial grid approach

Question 18

How can coaches build team cohesion?

Answer 18

communicate effectively
develop pride subunits
set challenging group goals
encourage group identity
avoid formation of social cliques