Group cohesiveness refers to the ability of group members to think and act as one, even when not physically together. It involves supporting the group's decisions, even if a member personally disagrees. Key dimensions that contribute to cohesiveness include group unity, attraction between members, and commitment to teamwork. Factors that increase cohesiveness are threats to the group, difficulty entering the group, time spent together, smaller group size, past successes, and similarity of attitudes/values. Ways to increase cohesion include agreeing on goals, homogeneous membership, interactions among members, smaller size, and competition with other groups. Benefits include increased morale, productivity, communication, and conformity.

1. 
GROUP COHESSIVENESS
PRESENTED BY,
JENY THOMAS
MAYURI S J

2. What is group cohesiveness?
 Group cohesiveness is the ability to think and act 'as one' if the
group is physically together or not.
 It means supporting the group in whatever decision or action
it takes even if a group member personally is not in favor of the
act or thought.

3. Dimensions of group cohesiveness
 Group Unity
 Attraction
 Team work

4. Group unity
 Many theorists believe that group cohesion results from
a deep sense of “we-ness” or belonging to a group as a
whole.
 By becoming enthusiastically involved in the efforts of
their group and by recognizing the similarities that exist
among group members, individuals tend to develop a
close connection with their group and its members.

5. Attraction
 According to Hogg (1992), group cohesiveness
typically develops from a depersonalized attraction
to group members based on their status as group
members, rather than a personal attraction based
on specific relationships.

6. Team work
 Some theorists stress that cohesion comes from
group members’ commitment to work together to
complete their shared tasks and accomplish their
collective goals.
 Members of task-oriented groups typically exhibit
great interdependence and often possess feelings
of responsibility for the group’s outcomes.

7. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO GROUP COHESIVENESS
Threat & Difficulty in
Competition Entry
Time Together Group Size
COHESION
Previous Similarities of
Successes attitudes and
values

8. 1. Threat & Competition
 Whenever the common group goal is
threatened, cohesiveness increases.
 Also, such cohesiveness increases the importance of the
goals.
 When we fight for a goal, the goal gets the highest priority.
 Thus the threatening party will have less chance of success
when faced with a unified force.

9. 2. Difficulty in Entry
 Some groups are not easy to join. The members are
very carefully selected and the selected members feels a
sense of pride and accomplishment.
 The more difficult it is to get into a group, the more
cohesive that group becomes.
 The reason being that in exclusive and elite groups the
members are selected on the basis of certain
characteristics and these characteristics being common
to all add to the degree of liking and attraction towards
each other.

10. 3. Time Together
 It is quite natural that the more time people spend
together, the more they will get to know each other and
more tendency there will be to get closer to each other,
thus strengthening the degree of cohesiveness.
 In an organizational setting, people who work near each
other are more likely to spend more time together.

11. 4. Group Size
 Since continuous and close interaction among
members is a fundamental necessity for
cohesiveness, it would be natural to assume that
large groups restrict the extent of communication
and interaction with each other, thus resulting in
reduction of degree of cohesiveness.

12. 5. Previous Success
 When a group achieves a meaningful goal, the
cohesiveness of the group increases because the success
is shared by all the members and each one feels
responsible for the achievement.
 For example, when a sports team wins an important
game, every one in the team congratulates every other
member of the team for this success.

13. 6. Similarity of Attitudes & Values
 One of the strongest source of group cohesiveness
is the similarity in values, morals, beliefs and code
of conduct.
 We enjoy the company of others who hold similar
opinions and characteristics as ourselves.

14. HOW TO INCREASE COHESSION?
 Induce agreement on group goals.
 Increase membership homogeneity.
 Increase interactions among members.
 Decrease group size.

15. Contd…
 Introduce competition with other groups.
 Allocate rewards to the group rather than
individuals.
 Provide physical isolation from other groups

16. HOW TO DECREASE COHESSION?
 Induce disagreement in group goals.
 Increase membership heterogeneity.
 Restrict interaction among members.
 Increase group size.

17. Contd…
 Allocate reward to individuals rather than to a
group as a whole.
 Remove physical isolation.
 Introduce a dominating member

18. BENEFITS
 Increased morale
 Increased productivity
 Improved communication
 Conformity and influences

19. Conclusion
 Group cohesion has been linked to a range of
positive and negative consequences.
 People in cohesive groups are confronted with
powerful pressures to conform to the group’s
goals, norms, and decisions.