# Managing Groups and Teams/Creating and Maintaining Team Cohesion

## Team Cohesion Defined

One definition of cohesion is "a group property with individual
manifestations of feelings of belongingness or attraction to the group"
(Lieberman et al., 1973: 337). It is generally accepted that group
cohesion and performance are associated. "However, the issue of a
cause/effect relationship between group cohesion and performance is not
completely resolved. Generally, there tend to be more studies supporting
a positive relationship between group cohesion and performance."
 With that in
mind the following article is an effort to enhance group/team cohesion
and as a result help improve group/team performance.

## The Question

What is team cohesiveness and why does it matter to an organization to
have cohesiveness within its teams?

## Team Composition

### How to promote team cohesion when selecting and identifying diversity within teams

In their journal article Beyond Relational Demography: Time and the
Effects of Surface- and Deep-Level Diversity on Work Group Cohesion,
David A. Harrison, Kenneth H. Price, and Myrtle P. Bell discuss the
composition of teams and its effect on cohesiveness. They describe two
different categories of diversity, namely surface level and deeper
level.

### Surface-Level Diversity:

Surface level attributes are "immutable \[and\] almost immediately
observable."  Such
attributes include age, sex, and race/ethnicity. In general, the
findings have been fairly inconsistent within and across studies as to
how diversity in these areas affect team cohesion.

### Deep-Level Diversity:

Deep-level diversity includes differences among members' attitudes,
beliefs, and values. These attributes are less apparent than
surface-level differences and are "learned through extended,
individualized interaction and information gathering."
 They are communicated
differences which are shared through both verbal and nonverbal behavior.
There has been less research done in this area with regards to teams in
workplace settings, though a number of social psychological studies have
been conducted. The findings consistently suggest that "attitudinal
similarity \[is\] associated with higher group cohesiveness."
 Diversity also
improves communication, reduces personal conflict, attracts friendships,
and gives more satisfaction to group members.

### Summary

Overall, the school of thought that is most widely accepted, in regards
to team cohesion, is that "surface-level differences are less important
and deep-level differences are more important for groups that had
interacted more often"
. Harrison, Price, and
Bell's study concluded that while homogeneous groups interacted and
performed more effectively than heterogeneous groups in the beginning,
with time and information, the diverse groups' performance and processes
improved more rapidly and "had grown more effective in identifying
problems and generating solutions"
. Overall cohesiveness
was strengthened in such cases. Hence, for optimum results, teams ought
to include deep-level diversity as part of the process for achieving
cohesiveness.

## Internal Environment Factors Needed in Team Cohesion

Internally there are several factors that must be present for cohesion
to exist within a team. First good and appropriate communication is
essential to creating and maintaining cohesion. Communication leads to
the second factor, unity of purpose. For a team to work as a cohesive
team they must share a common goal and to collectively work towards that
goal. And finally, the team must have a high level of commitment
understanding that what they do together as a team is better than what
they do on their own.

### Communication

In the article "Building Team Cohesion: Becoming "We" Instead of "Me"
the authors stress the importance of not losing the "human moment" which
they define as "not to lose the powerful impact of face-to-face,
immediate interaction in real time and space." Furthermore, the authors
add the following:

:   "It is communication in the "human moment" that most powerfully
    creates team synergy -- the energy that truly makes "the whole
    greater than the sum of its parts." It is communication in the
    "human moment" that also most powerfully creates team cohesion -- a
    strong sense of loyalty and commitment to the team vision as one's
    own."
:   "Providing communication opportunities in real time and space for
    forensics team members is necessary to build team cohesion. Whether
    a room or lounge where team members can congregate between classes
    and the end of the day, practice space for formal and informal
    coaching sessions, travel time in cars and vans, or social time to
    enjoy pizza and a movie, both quantity and quality of communication
    are necessary to build a cohesive team climate of openness and
    trust...According to Bormann(1990), highly cohesive groups interact
    in an open climate where individuals are free to ask questions and
    disagree with one another; even the ability to work through
    inevitable team conflict in such a constructive climate will only
    serve to strengthen team cohesion."

In order to build cohesion within any team whether it be a sports team
or work team communication is an essential ingredient. Providing
opportunities for the team members to interact socially is necessary to
help build trust. In addition, a safe environment in which the team can
deal with conflict is critical to team cohesion.

### Unity of Purpose or a Common Goal

A critical factor that must be present for groups or teams to experience
cohesion is to have a common goal. In SELF-MANAGING WORK TEAMS:An
Empirical Study of Group Cohesiveness in "Natural Work Groups" at a
Harley-Davidson Motor Company Plant, the authors state: "that highly
cohesive groups tend to perform better because they have high commitment
to attaining group goals (e.g., Stogdill, 1972), and because the members
are more sensitive to others in the group, they are more willing to
assist each other (e.g., Schachter, Ellertson, McBride,&Gregory, 1951)."

Additional support to the importance of a common goal in building and
maintaining a common goal is found in "Building Team Cohesion: Becoming
"We" Instead of "Me" where the author relates the following:

:   "Since cohesion is believed to be one of the distinguishing
    characteristics of a high-performance team, what is this powerful
    team quality and how is it cre-ated? According to Bollen and Hoyle
    (1979), cohesion is the degree of attraction members feel toward one
    another and the team; \"it is a feeling of deep loyalty, of esprit
    de corps, the degree to which each individual has made the team\'s
    goal his or her own, a sense of belonging, and a feeling of morale\"
    (as cited in Beebe & Masterson, 2000, p. 122). Though cohesion is
    rooted in the feelings team mem-bers have for one another as well as
    a common goal, creating, shaping, and strengthening those feelings
    relies on the use of effective communication. Communication scholars
    have long agreed that group or team cohesion is as much about the
    relationships created as the task at hand, and success in both
    fos-ters the development of team cohesion. (Bormann, 1990).

Without a purpose or a common goal a team will eventually splinter into
separate individuals working towards their own personal agendas and not
together toward a team goal. It is important for team members to see
themselves as a part of the group working towards a goal for
cohesiveness to exist.

### Commitment

Teams that are not committed to each other or a common goal do not
experience cohesion and are much more likely to leave the team or even
the organization. In the article \"Commitment and the Control of
Organizational Behavior and Belief\" the author states the following:

:   \"Commitment also derives from the relation of an employee\'s job to
    those of other in the organization. Some jobs are rather isolated
    and can be done independently of other jobs in the organization. It
    has been found that jobs which are not integrated with the work
    activities of others tend to be associated with less favorable
    attitudes. (Sheperd, 1973). Gow, Clarkand dossett (1974), for
    instance find that telephone operators who quit tend to be those who
    are not integrated into the work group. Work integration can affect
    commitment by the fact that integrated jobs are likely to be
    associated with salient demands from others in the organization. If
    a person has a job which affects the work of others in the
    organization, it is likely that those other will communicate their
    expectations for performance of that job. Such expectations can be
    committing in that the other people implicitly or explicitly hold
    the person accountable for what he does. Earlier we mentioned that
    when individuals did not know what was expected of them they tended
    to be less committed to the organization. One reason an individual
    will not know what is expected is because no one is telling him. In
    general, we would expect that anything which contributes to creating
    definite expectations for a person\'s behavior would enhance his
    felt responsibility, and hence commitment.\"

We learn from the above author that for commitment to exist we employees
need to know what is expected of them and then to know they will be held
accountable either by a manager or other co-workers. Once commitment is
present team members are more likely to stay and work towards the team
goal.

## Role of Management in Team Cohesion

The roles that management has in a team that they oversee are extremely
important. But it is also important for the management to understand the
boundaries of what their roles and responsibilities are and what the
roles and responsibilities of the team itself are. The manager is often
placed in the management position because of their people and technical
skills and experience. A team often benefits from the manager's
abilities, skills, attitudes, insights and ideas. But neither the
management nor the team should ever forget that it is the team's
responsibility to perform the actual work. So what role should
management play in a team that they oversee? How best can they serve the
team to ensure they are successful? A critical role that management can
and should have is to facilitate and encourage team cohesion.

### Establish the Team Vision/Goal

The first step in creating team cohesion and where management should be
involved is in the establishment of the team vision and/or goal.
Management must set a clear vision to which the team can jointly work
towards together. As Tommy Lasorda, former manager of the LA Dodgers,
stated, "My responsibility is to get my 25 guys playing for the name on
the front of their shirt and not the one on the
back." Management must "establish a common
goal for \[the\] team -- an underlying target that will bind \[them\]
together..." The goal must be as clear as
possible for each member of the team. "Goal clarity is critical for team
members to have confidence in their direction and to be committed to
make it happen." A clearly defined goal
articulated to the team in such a way that they all understand will
inspire the team and commit them to the cause.

Once the goal has been clearly defined and clearly articulated,
management must keep the vision and goal alive. Obstacles, tension, and
crises may arise that can distract or discourage away from the common
goal. The management must "continually reinforce and renew the team
goal."

Being that managements "primary responsibility is to ensure that the
team reaches its goal," management must
also facilitate a working environment, set clear expectations and
responsibilities, and lastly, let the team do their job.

### Facilitate a Working Environment

Once the team vision and goal has been established, the most important
contribution management can make "is to ensure a climate that enables
team members to speak up and address the real issues preventing the goal
from being achieved." Such a climate
includes creating an environment of trust, communication and openness
with each other. As Frank Lafasto describes in his book, openness and
supportiveness are "the ability to raise and resolve the real issues
standing the way of a team accomplishing its goal. And to do so in a way
that brings out the best thinking and attitude of everyone involved.
It's too hard for team members to contribute, much less explore the
possibilities, when it is not safe for them to say what's on their
minds. They must be able to speak honestly. They must be able to deal
openly with real obstacles, problems, and opportunities in a way that
promotes listening, understanding of differing perspectives, and
constructively working towards a solution."
The environment and climate in which the team works and operates must be
facilitated by the management to ensure that trust is established,
collective collaboration is demanded, and openness is welcome.

### Set Clear Expectations and Responsibilities

Management responsibility is also to set clear expectations and
responsibilities of the team and individual team members. Patrick
Lencioni describes in his book "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" that a
team where there is ambiguity about the direction and priorities fails
to commit. Whereas when the expectations, direction and priorities are
clear the team is more likely to commit to the cause and each
other. Management must establish clear
expectations so there is no ambiguity or question of what is expected of
the team, whether it is the timeline, product, requirements, etc.

Also, management must set clear responsibilities. "There are few
behaviors that build confidence as well as personalized expression of
belief in an individual. One of the most direct signals of such belief
is trusting someone with important and meaningful
responsibility." Clear and meaningful
responsibility that allows the team members to stretch enhances their
trust and confidence. And, as Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric,
put it, "giving people self-confidence is by far the most important
thing I can do. Because then they will
act."

### Training and Staffing

According to Chansler, Swamidass, & Cammann to get a task completed, "a
work team must have the resources to do the job. Specifically, the team
needs trained, competent team members. Training is a planned effort by a
firm to help employees learn job-related competencies (Noe, 1999).
Training is used by companies to gain a competitive advantage over
rivals in their respective industries. A company must provide adequate
resources to an empowered team to staff and train its members
adequately." It is the responsibility of Management to provide such
training. Chansler, Swamidass, & Cammann also suggest management should
provide its workers with both "hard" and "soft" skills. "Hard-skills
training helps them do their jobs properly so that the plant can produce
a quality product cost-effectively. Soft-skills training, on the other
hand, teaches the workers to get along better as part of a functioning
team; this type of skills training improves interpersonal dynamics and
relationships. To effectively and efficiently manufacture quality
product, both types of training are needed."
 It is
therefore the responsibility of management to make sure that group/ team
members have the hard and soft skills to perform tasks and maintain
cohesion.

### Get Out of Their Way

And lastly, the manager's role is to get out of the team's way. Once the
team knows what they are working towards, tasks have been clearly
defined and delegated, expectations are clearly set and they have the
means to build relationships of trust and have open communication, the
manager needs to step back and let the team work. The last thing the
team needs, not only to reach their goal, but also to build strong
cohesion is, as Dr. Travis Bradberry described, a seagull manager; one
that swoops in when problems arise "squawking and dumpling advice, only
to take off and let others clean up the
mess." Management needs to let the
members in the team be smart and informed about key issues and facts
related to their tasks and goal. Then management must trust team members
by providing sufficient autonomy, which will in turn build confidence.

### Summary

Ultimately, the goal and role of management should be to add value to
the team's effort. This can be done by defining a clear vision and goal,
facilitate a working environment, set clear expectations and
responsibilities, and provide the team enough autonomy where they can
work and do their jobs with full commitment and confidence.

## Examples of Team Cohesion: The Good

A good example of team Cohesion is that of the Harley Davidson Motor
Company (HDMC) and its group structure. The well known turnaround of
HDMC occurred in the 1980s when it changed from a "command-and-control"
culture to that of self-managing work teams (SMWT). This change allowed
assembly employees to make important decisions in their work teams
. With group work as
the foundation of HDMC's manufacturing cohesion among group members was
essential.

At its Kansas City Plant HDMC natural work groups (NWG) were organized
to make decisions (and build motorcycles). The plant's employees are
made up of local union members. "This partnership allows the shifting of
the decision-making and financial responsibilities for the operation of
the plant to the assembly floor employees"
.

The structure of the plant divides workers into NWGs. Each NWG is either
assigned to one of four process operations groups (POG) (the Assembly
POG, the Fabrication POG, the Paint POG, or a POG dedicated to future
programs) or provides "computer, human resources, materials, and so
forth, support for the operations NWGs (denoted as RG or Resource
Groups). Each of the NWGs is represented by NWG-elected (on a rotating
basis) members. The highest level of the circular organization is the
lone plant leadership group (PLG), which is co-chaired by the plant
manager and two local union presidents"
.

Within this group structure HDMC provides for widespread access to
information. "All financial and operations information is available to
all team members, which allows them to monitor budgets and production
quotas" . This
access to information facilitates open communication which in turn leads
to greater team cohesion. Cohesion is also furthered by the autonomy of
workers within the group. "Each NWG is empowered to make decisions with
regard to any aspect of the assembly process as long as it does not
cross over its boundary and impede another NWG"
. With freedom to
make any necessary decisions and freedom from continuous managerial
intervention NWGs are free to bend and move as needed in response to any
given situation.

Interestingly in this structure there are no formal team leaders. "NWGs
are collectively led by the members of the group. Traditional leadership
duties such as scheduling, safety monitoring, budget balancing, and so
forth, are rotated among the NWG members on a regular basis (usually
monthly). The NWG controls its own budget, sick pay, overtime, and
consumable production materials. Individual performance measures are not
maintained. The NWG performance is measured on achievement of plant
goals and on the goals that they set for themselves"
. This sharing of
responsibilities fosters cohesion by aligning the goals of the group,
goals each member is included in creating.

## Examples of Team Cohesion: The Bad

The 2010 film "The Social Network" is based on the events and
circumstances that lead to the creation and founding of the social
networking website "Facebook." Founder Mark Zuckerberg and his friend,
co-founder Eduardo Saverin agree to launch the site and split up
ownership of the new company equitably. In the process of developing the
company, other individuals and interests come into play that are
detrimental to the team cohesion developed by Mark and Eduardo
eventually leading to multi-million dollar lawsuits and the end of the
original founding team.

Several factors that lead to the failure of team cohesion:

:\* Team members were unable to work together cooperatively

:\* Team goals were not shared by everyone on the team

:\* Team members felt that they were not recognized for individual
contributions to accomplish team goals

:\* Selfish interests were able to infiltrate the team cohesion

The fact that team members were unable to work cooperatively together is
likely the single biggest factor in the failure of the original
"Facebook" leadership team. In the movie, to help advance the growth of
the company, Mark brought in a third partner, Sean Parker, the
co-founder of the famous music sharing sight "Napster." Mark was
instantly drawn to Sean's charismatic personality and vision for
"Facebook." At the same time, Eduardo was highly skeptical of Sean and
his business history. Immediately Mark began to lean toward the ideas
that Sean had developed for "Facebook" and eventually gave Sean a small
ownership stake in the company as well as a management position. Upon
learning this, Eduardo was very upset that Mark would go ahead and make
the decision to include Sean without consulting him first.

Mark and Eduardo both had visions of keeping this site exclusive for the
elite college institutions around the country and gradually introducing
it to other colleges. When Sean was brought into the company he
presented Mark with a business plan to expand "Facebook" beyond the
college scene and introduce it to the general public. At the same time
he was trying to convince Mark that he needed to relocate the business
to Palo Alto, CA from Boston, MA. Eduardo was never consulted on these
propositions that were made to Mark. Eduardo felt like Sean was trying
to push him out of the company and influence many of the decisions made
by Mark. As the company grew and others were able to influence decision
making, the team goals had clearly changed and not everyone shared the
same vision.

When "Facebook" was originally started Eduardo was designated as the CFO
of the company. In this responsibility he put up the initial seed money
to get it off the ground. He was in charge of all finances and bank
accounts for the company. While Mark was moving the company headquarters
to Palo Alto, Eduardo was spending time in New York working on securing
advertising contracts with prominent advertising firms. When Eduardo
goes to visit the team in Palo Alto he begins to tell Mark all about the
progress he has made with the advertisers but instead he is told all
about the work that Sean and Mark had accomplished and is essentially
told that his time and work in New York will not be needed. Eduardo felt
like his contributions to the company and goals were not being
recognized. This drives Eduardo further and further from the team.

Throughout the life of the original leadership team there were many
occasions where selfish interests were able to infiltrate team cohesion.
Sean was the worst offender of this. Sean was one of the founders of
"Napster." "Napster" was eventually forced to shut down and was facing
many lawsuits from the record industry. Sean saw an opportunity to work
with Mark and Eduardo on "Facebook." Sean could see the potential that
this venture had and also that he could influence the socially
introverted Mark by filling him with visions of big pay days and a life
style full of privilege. At times he appeared to try and relive his days
of "Napster" and treated "Facebook" like it was his own company and he
was trying to accomplish the goals there that weren't achievable at
"Napster." After a party to celebrate the 1 millionth member of
"Facebook," Sean was arrested with several other "Facebook" interns for
possession of cocaine and was eventually dismissed from the company.
Through these actions, Sean clearly was acting in his own self interest
and did not take into account what the effects would be on the group or
company. In many ways the selfish actions of Sean drove a wedge between
Mark and Eduardo that eventually lead to lawsuits and the end of the
original leadership team. 

## Conclusion

### Ways to Increase Team Cohesion

Each group environment is different and will present different
challenges. In order to create a cohesive team unit it is important for
team members to be aware of this and work towards it. In Joseph Powell
Stokes's research, he found that "risk taking that occurs in a group,
attraction to individual members of the group, and the instrumental
value of a group are all related to the cohesion of the group". He
proposes that "increasing risk taking, intermember attraction, and the
instrumental value of a personal change group might lead to increased
cohesion, which in turn might lead to increase benefits for group
participants." 

As such, groups should attempt to foster an "atmosphere of tolerance and
acceptance" so they can assure openness and honesty and hence, increase
their risk taking and intermember attraction. They can "\[reward\]
members who make risky self-disclosures or give honest feedback to other
group members". They should make sure group members know that they are
expected to "like each other" and can help members "differentiate
between not liking other members' behaviors and not liking the other
members themselves". Group leaders ought to act as examples and make
sure that the group composition and expectations of the group members
are in line with risk-taking and intermember attraction. "Leaders can
maximize the instrumental value of a group for its members by having the
group focus explicitly on its goals and by helping redirect the group
when members' needs are not being met". 

### Potential problems

One possible caveat of cohesion is that when there is too much cohesion,
groups are prone to groupthink. "Groupthink is a tendency by groups to
engage in a concurrence seeking manner. Groupthink occurs when group
members give priority to sustaining concordance and internal harmony
above critical examination of the issues under consideration".
 It is important for all group members
to be conscious of this pitfall and to take precautions to prevent such
behavior. See Ways to Prevent
Groupthink.

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<http://sgr.sagepub.com/content/34/1/101>

Harrison, David A.; Price, Kenneth H.; Bell, Myrtle P. "Beyond
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