FInalThesis

COHESIVE WORK TEAMS 1
Running Head: COHESIVE WORK TEAMS 1
How to Structure a Cohesive Team in the Workplace
Alyssa L. Acquaviva
Wells College

Abstract
Work team cohesion is undeniably a positive solution to creating successful work teams. Work
teams can be described as a group of people strategically picked to work towards specific goals.
These teams are being used more frequently in the workforce to work towards creative and
innovative solutions. This research examines the necessary components involved in creating the
best possible cohesion in a work team to provide successful results. I concluded through research
of previous studies that there are three main components involved in work team cohesion:
personality composition, group diversity, and leadership roles. By using these three components,
the most effective and successful work team is created to produce creative and innovative ideas,
and solutions in the workplace.
Keywords: organizational psychology, work team, group cohesion, personality
composition, leadership, group diversity

How to Structure a Cohesive Team in the Workplace
Studies have shown there are many factors that work together in order to create a
cohesive team. Leadership within groups is a major contributor to the progress that the groups
make. Previously, studies have looked at individuals in the workplace. As teams in the
workplace are becoming more common it is becoming increasingly important to perform
research on group cohesion and assembling successful teams for work situations.
The business world aims to succeed in all ways possible. Psychology is used in
businesses to help conduct research to produce the best possible outcomes for the company. In
order to produce successful outcomes for certain solutions, specific work teams are created. It is
important to first define exactly what a work team is. A work team can be described as a group of
people in which members are selected to work on one common and specific goal. These
members use each others personalities, work-ethic, and attributes to brainstorm and innovate
creative solutions to the set goals.Teams are being used in the workforce more than ever (Kline
& O'Grady, 2009). Work teams allow individuals the opportunity to work creatively with a group
on a regular basis to produce solutions for problems or to innovate new ideas. Teams are an
effective way to increase employee motivation and accomplish organizational goals
(Christiansen, Neuman, & Wagner, 1999).
Businesses have moved away from individual work and have started creating various
work teams for specific situations. Businesses may be interested in innovating a product and thus
a group of individuals would be selected specifically based on their attributes in order to create
the best possible team. Various researchers have found that work groups are effective in

increasing productivity and successfulness when problem solving. Work teams allow for
individuals to put their specific talents together to move towards one common goal. Teams are
not just randomly selected. Selections are based on specific tasks in order to create successful
outcomes.
Creating a goal specific work team is a task that involves having a full understanding of
the employees, as well as the situation in which the team would be working for. There are
various methods that are used in order to create work teams and components that are necessary to
have success. Group cohesion is the most important component that work teams must have in
order to be successful. Extensive research in this area has been conducted to reach this decision.
Work team cohesion is defined by individual characteristics of the specific members (Allen &
O'Neill, 2010). However, what is it that creates group cohesion? I plan to explore the work team
environment and make a conclusion on possibilities that could potentially create solid group
cohesion that will result in success.
Considering the scarcity of research that specifically deals with work team staffing, my
research is important for further understanding of what it involves to create successful, cohesive
work teams. Work teams can be used in many other aspects outside of the workforce. For
example, on campus there are various groups with common goals such as Peer Leaders. Forming
a cohesive group of people can be difficult to do when there is little research on the topic on how
to create successful work teams. My aim is to provide insight into creating successful, cohesive
work teams that generate positive results. I want to better understand what aspects are necessary
for work teams to be successful and how these aspects can be used to make the team produce the
best possible results.
I have determined that there are three key components necessary to form a cohesive work

team. The first is personality composition. This can be identified as the compatibility of the
personalities of the work team members. The second is group diversity. This covers both
cognitive diversity of group members as well as various norms and beliefs shared by team
members. The final component pertains to leadership roles. This concept includes how
leadership works within the teams and what leadership strategies are the most effective for
success. With these three components put together, a cohesive work team can be created that will
produce successful results.
Personality Composition
It is important to evaluate potential team members' specific personality attributes that
could result in positive or negative effects on the group. Group cohesion can first be
distinguished through simple personality tests such as Myer's Briggs Type Indicator and the Five
Factor Model. The characteristics of team members can affect the way a team operates and the
overall performance (Allen & O'Neill, 2010). Often times there are certain personality traits that
work well within groups and others that do not. Depending on the certain task the group is being
designed for can make a difference on individual personalities used to create a group. Similarity
of individual trait differences should be considered when making work team candidate selections
(Christiansen et al., 1999). Personality attributes are a consistent and important predictor of
individual job performance and group success (Allen & O'Neill, 2010). Specific personality traits
can either help or hinder a team. The personalities of all of the team members must work
together in order to have a successful work process. Understanding not only the personalities of
group members but the effects those personality traits have on the group as a whole is important
in predicting performance and cohesion in a group. Research has found that job performance
improves when team members personalities are similar to one another in certain traits

(Christiansen et al., 1999). Christiansen, Neuman, and Wagner (1999) found that the use of team
personality elevation and team personality diversity predict about forty eight percent of the
variance in work teams.
There are various basic personality traits that can be linked to being a team player. These
personality traits are often referred to through the Big Five-Factor Model. The Five Factor Model
covers five broad domains of personality that are used to describe people. The personality traits
used in this model are Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness to experience,
and Neuroticism (Kline & O'Grady, 2009). These five traits can pre determine a specific persons
job performance individually and as a team. There needs to be a balance found in all Big Five
Personality traits in order to create the best possible group with optimal cohesion that will lead to
success. Understanding the personality effects on team composition and problems that may
emerge is beneficial in creating the best possible team.
Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness is the most reliable predictor of personal and team performance out of
the Big Five Factor personality traits. A person who would hold this trait would have high levels
of thoughtfulness. A person would be goal-directed and have good impulse control, which
usually results in good organization. The more team members that can be identified as
conscientious, the more successful the team will be (Allen & O'Neill, 2010). When members of a
team are goal-directed and organized, they are able to work more effectively towards one
common goal and perform successfully. Allen and O'Neill (2010) concluded that high levels of
conscientiousness in team members is strongly related to high team performance levels. This
information helps to conclude the importance of conscientiousness in team members when
forming a work team that will be highly effective. The trait of conscientiousness is important

within a work team setting because it encompasses several important attributes that together, are
valuable resources within a team (Allen & O'Neill, 2010). From this I can conclude that having
conscientiousness within a work team is one of the most important personality traits that leads to
success.
Openness to Experience
Original and innovative ideas are commonly expected to come from team members who
rate high in openness. The creative and innovative process in the work team setting is important
for producing various ideas during brainstorming. Openness is a beneficial attribute to have
among team members. Research conducted by Bradley, Brown, Klotz, and Postlewaite (2013)
found that when a task conflict arose, teams composed of open minded or emotionally stable
members were best able to resolve conflict to increase team performance. When team conflicts
arise, it is important to diffuse them quickly to return toward the common goal of the team.
Understanding which personality traits can resolve conflict the best is crucial when assembling
the best possible work team. Open people also tend to be more flexible and promote open
discussions in teams (Bradley, Brown, Klotz, & Postlewaite, 2013). This can lead to creative
decision making.
Openness to experience can have a negative relationship with team performance in
certain situations. Openness is presumed to have characteristics such as imagination and insight
(Allen & O'Neill, 2011). If a person is not open enough or too open to experiences, that can have
a negative impact on the team as a whole. A person who is extremely open to experiences can
sometimes persuade members to take unnecessary risks or take members in the wrong direction
which appear as being overambitious. On the other hand, a person in a group who is not open to
experience could hinder the group in the creative and innovative process. This person could

potentially hold back the process by not being on board with slight potential risks or new creative
ideas. This information shows how specific personality traits can create group cohesion and
could also destroy it. One person can make a major difference in creating a work team.
Agreeableness and Extraversion
Agreeableness and Extraversion are also reliable predictors of individual performance.
Agreeableness includes prosocial behaviors such as trust, altruism, kindness, and affection.
Extraversion includes behaviors such as excitability, sociability, verbosity, and excessive
emotional expressiveness. These two traits are considered personal helping and other oriented
values, which are positively related to mean helping norms within a group which promote
proactive performance (Chadwick, Ehrhart, & Raver, 2010). Personal helping beliefs and other
oriented values can be extremely beneficial to groups and positive aspects to bring to a group.
Just one person on a work team will increase the levels of cooperation and assistance within a
team. Specifically, Chadwick, Ehrhart, and Raver (2010) found that having at least one highly
agreeable person is associated with higher average levels of help When selecting candidates for
the work group, those who differ in extraversion and emotional stability will be the best fit for a
team (Christiansen et al.,1999). Having various levels of extraversion and emotional stability
within a group will be the most beneficial to the team job performance. These two personality
traits often work together to create the best possible outcomes. Those who score high in both of
these other-oriented traits will be more likely to help others on the team as well as increase
overall work performance.
As stated above, positive individual personality traits can effect a work team's
performance in many positive ways. However, negative individual personality traits can also
negatively effect a team's performance. “Bad apples” as described by Chadwick et al (2011) are

counter-role models that can cause detrimental damage on a team's performance. These are
people who may have bad attitudes or are not team players. Research found that having only one
“bad apple” in a group can greatly decrease team cohesion which relates to poor team
performance. A high rate of agreeableness within the group aside from the one “bad apple” will
not counteract this person (Chadwick et al., 2011). In this case, having one person with a
negative attitude and not being proactive in a team environment can negatively effect the overall
work performance of the team. This explains the necessity of giving personality tests prior to
creating a group to be sure there are no “bad apples” on a work team.
Examining individual personality traits to form one cohesive group is extremely
important. Understanding the specific personality traits of each individual can help predict the
overall team performance and success rate of the group. It is necessary to be knowledgeable
about each individual's personality traits on a team to ensure the most successful team
performance.
Diversity Within A Work Team
Most importantly, diversity can be defined as the variation of differences among work
team members with respect to a common attribute (Gebert, Kearney, & Voelpel, 2009). The
effects of diversity on overall group cohesion can be difficult to determine because they are
dependent on so many different factors. Because there are so many factors involved in team
member diversity, the differences need to be managed in order to create a cohesive and
successful team. Diversity itself is not enough to ensure an innovative and cohesive team, but
understanding the nature of the team's individual diversity is critical. Different dimensions of
diversity can have very different effects on a work team. Levels of demographic and cognitive
diversity are two factors that act as important determinants on team performance. Considering

the rising levels of diversity in organizations and globalization occurring, understanding how
diversity can affect the cohesiveness and overall performance of a work team is important. The
many components of diversity can be difficult to grasp a full understanding of, which is why I
chose to focus on two main areas: cognitive and demographic diversity. In these two areas, there
are both positive and negative effects that need to be evaluated in order to assemble the best
possible work team.
Cognitive Diversity
Cognitive diversity is conceptualized as the means whereby team members work to
utilize their individual resources and emergent states as a team (Gebert et al., 2009). The need for
cognitive diversity within teams is important because it allows members to thoroughly process a
wide range of information in various ways. Gebert, Kearney, and Voelpel (2009) found that in
cognitively diverse teams, a high need for cognition indicates a higher performance potential.
This states that those teams who vary in cognitive diversity and have a high need for cognition
show a higher performance potential than those teams who do not portray a high need for
cognition. A high need for cognition reflects the tendency to thoroughly process a variety of
information (Gebert et al., 2009). The need for cognition in cognitively diverse teams is
important because it will foster team performance. Teams who are diverse cognitively but show a
lack of need for cognition will show lower overall performance. Also, the high need for
cognition promotes all the beneficial effects of diversity (Gebert et al., 2009). Without the high
need for cognition within cognitively diverse groups, there are minimal benefits that can be
produced for the team. In order for work teams to receive the benefits of their cognitive
diversities they need to be able to recognize the potential that their differences hold.
Diverse views of team members must be successfully managed to create cohesion and

high rates of performance within teams. Simple social interactions among diverse perspectives
can potentially lead to the emergence of new insights (Jehn, Neale, & Northcraft, 1999). In such
cases, cognitive diversity can cultivate even more diversity cognitively within a group just by
interacting with diverse perspectives and thinking critically. The creation of insight depends on
diverse viewpoints and perspectives about certain tasks (Jehn et al., 1999). With that being said,
cognitive diversity is crucial in making successful insights which can lead to innovation and
problem solving.
Diverse viewpoints and perspectives can sometimes create cognitive conflicts within the
group. Cognitive conflict concerning ideas pertaining to the team increase decision making by
allowing members to refine solutions and reject them (Barasade, Sonnenfeld, Turner, & Ward,
2000). Conflicts allow the group to analyze the situation and look at the various viewpoints that
the members put forward. Along with looking through various perspectives, disagreements
helped members better identify issues within the group (Jehn et al., 1999). Identifying issues
within the group is helpful because then the group can adapt to the issues and potentially change
to create a more positive atmosphere with higher performance and success. This process will
actually increase the decision making process and make it a more productive experience.
When team members experience tasks that are non routine or different than what they
usually experience, the positive effects of cognitive diversity are more likely to ensue (Gebert,
Kearney, & Voelpel, 2009). These non routine or complex tasks allow for members to engage in
different perspectives and explore various solutions that are outside of their initial comfort zones.
In diverse teams with high need for cognition, there tends to be a high level of collective team
identity which then offers cognitive challenging tasks that the group can enjoy as well as learning
new ways to think (Gebert et al., 2009). In learning new ways to think, members gain new

insights and perspectives that they can utilize in the group to increase successfulness.
The need for cognition is an important variable in creating and managing diverse teams.
It provides depth to the group and allows for various perspectives to be utilized. Group
heterogeneity in terms of cognition enhances variety of perspective, viewpoints, cognitive
resources, experiences and problem solving solutions (Barsade et al., 2000). This shows that in
general, cognitive diversity can enhance group performance.
Demographic Diversity
Demographic diversity can be conceptualized as differences of surface factors such as age
and race. It is sometimes referred to as social category diversity. It is important to recognize the
differences of people within the group and understand how diverse social categories will work
together. The ultimate goal is making a cohesive and successful work team, therefore all aspects
of the members need to be identified and understood. There are various theories regarding
demographic diversity within groups. Jehn, Neale, and Northcraft (1999) found that social
category diversity enhances team performance. They concluded that various social categories
had a positive influence on the overall performance because of the different cultural experiences
people could bring the to the table. If a group is made up of all people of the same social
category it can lead to an inability for group members to criticize and challenge ideas presented
(Barsade et al.,2000). However, they also found that extreme social category diversity can cause
relationship conflicts that can negatively influence performance (Jehn et al., 1999). There needs
to be a balance in demographic diversity because it can cause negative or positive effects
depending on the similarities or differences of members.
The most positive effect that will cultivate from social category diversity is on team
member morale (Jehn et al., 1999). Team member morale is important in the overall team

performance. If morale is low there is a higher chance of productivity being low and therefore
decreased overall performance. Barsade, Sonnenfield, Turner, and Ward (2000) found that
demographic diversity is associated with greater satisfaction, commitment, trust, more supportive
relationships, and greater empathy towards people. All of these factors must be balanced in order
to create team cohesion that will eventually produce successful results. Similar to cognitive
diversity, members of the group must recognize the potential of being demographically diverse in
order to produce the most beneficial effects (Gebert et al., 2009).
Value Diversity
I conceptualized value diversity as the differences of members in regards to things that
are useful, important and worthy. This type of diversity within groups can be difficult to decipher
as people may not want to disclose such important information to strangers. However, with a
basic understanding of member's values, a cohesiveness can be formed to create a high
performance team. Jehn et al, (1999) found that similarity in member values enhances
interpersonal relations of group members which ultimately will decrease relationship conflicts.
As previously stated, relationship conflicts can cause low team performance which is necessary
to avoid. Since values held by people are important to them it would be difficult to have vast
differences in values of team members. This could potentially results in conflicts within the
group which could lead to low team performance. Similarity of values is likely to be the most
effective trait (Jehn et al., 1999).
A basic principle of social psychology claims that people are more likely to gravitate
towards people who are most like themselves. Barsade et al (2000) found similar results in work
teams. People consciously and unconsciously prefer to interact with others who have similar
attitudes and values to their own. People will work more effectively when they are pleased with

the people they are working with. Thus, making sure people's values are generally similar within
a work team will solidify group cohesion and high performance rates.Teams whose members are
socially integrated are more likely to coordinate efforts and integrate their perspectives to create
a high team performance rate (Milton, Polzer, & Swann, 2002). Social integration comes from
members who feel comfortable with and connected to one another. This results in low value
diversity.
Leadership Roles
Work teams are defined by their members, thus it is important to distinguish a successful
leader within the group that will lead the team to the highest level of success. A fundamental task
for leaders is to motivate their team and accomplish great success. A leader can be defined as
engaging in inspiration behaviors, such as articulating compelling visions, emphasizing
collective identities, expressing confidence and optimism, and appreciating values and ideas of
the team (Grant, 2012). It is important to understand various types of leadership roles people can
take on in order to determine the best possible solutions. There has been extensive research done
to conclude that transformational leadership is a highly effective style of leadership. There is also
emotion roles of leadership that can have an effect on the work team's performance and cohesion.
Transformational Leadership
The basis surrounding transformational leadership is that it is a collection of four
dimensions of leader behavior that include: inspirational motivation, idealized influence,
intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (Parker, Turner, & Williams 2010).
Transformational leaders aim to motivate teams by transforming their values and priorities and
inspiring them to perform beyond their expectations (Parker et al., 2010). The intention of this
type of leadership is to take the members and push them to look outside and beyond the box.

Leaders want to collectively inspire the followers to achieve more than they thought possible.
Proactive transformational leaders will encourage followers to question assumptions and
critically think about current solutions to formulate different ways to evaluate tasks (Parker et al.,
2010). This leadership approach tends to promote positive organizational outcomes. Some
organizational outcomes that could potentially come from this type of leadership are team
empowerment and heightened team performance (Parker et al., 2010).
Transformational leadership has also been found to correlate positively with followers
motivation and job performance (Grant, 2012). Transformational leadership has been seen as
such an effective form of leadership because it directly motivates the followers and makes them
want to work towards their goals. It allows creativity within the group because it encourages
looking beyond average performance. It involves motivating followers to transcend their own
self interests for the sake of the team as a whole (Grant, 2012). With this philosophy, the team
members can see the tangible and meaningful consequences of their contributions as a group and
at the individual level. By team member motivation being enhanced by transformational
leadership, team goals are able to be met at an efficient rate (Chi, Chung, & Tsai, 2011).
Another organizational goal that is met by transformational leadership is team
performance. Transformational leaders increase team performance by shaping members' positive
attitudes toward the team (Chi et al., 2011). If all the team members focus their positive attitudes
towards the team they will be able to work more efficiently together to achieve a high level of
team performance. This will then lead members to achieve higher levels of team satisfaction and
again will lead to higher team performance (Chi et al., 2011). Parker, Turner, and Williams
(2010) concluded that transformational leadership results in favorable interpersonal norms within
the team. Having favorable interpersonal norms correlates to having solid team satisfaction

which leads to high team performance rates. Team satisfaction is extremely important when
distinguishing team cohesion. The members of the group must be satisfied with the leader as well
as each other in order to keep the cohesiveness.
Emotional Aspects of Leadership
A leader's emotions have the potential to influence the way their followers feel, think, and
behave (Beersma, Damen, Homan, Knippenberg, Knippenberg, & Kleef, 2009). It is important to
understand this concept when forming a team and picking a leader because their emotions could
cause positive or negative emotional effects on the members. Emotional contagion refers to
emotional displays that often evoke affective reactions into others (Beersma et al., 2009).
Affective reactions include mutual emotions and increase and/or decrease in liking of members.
It is important to monitor the emotional contagion when assembling the most cohesive and
effective group.
Emotions exert influence at the interpersonal levels. According to the social-functional
approach of leadership, emotions have important social functions and consequences that
influence the behavior of those experiencing the emotions as well as the behavior of others
(Beersma et al., 2009). Emotional displays influence observers' emotions and interpersonal
liking. Leader emotional display has a direct effect on the relationships, attitudes, and behaviors
of their followers and needs to be monitored in order to achieve the most cohesive work team.
People generally like others who display positive rather than negative emotions (Beersma et al.,
2009). If leaders display positive emotions their followers will be more likely to like them which
will potentially result in a better leader-follower relationship. Happiness elicits positive affective
reactions and signals progress (Beersma et al., 2009). The positive affective reactions are a good
indicator of progress towards high team performance as well as good interpersonal relations with

the leader and follower. Some ways in which the leader can show positive emotions and
behaviors is through a reward system. Rewarding team success and promoting cooperation can
be highly beneficial. Incentives to the group as a whole rather than the individual are more
effective (Rothenberg, 2011).
Humble Leadership Behavior
An interesting concept that is currently being researched pertains to humble leading
behaviors as a leader. Humility has been identified as one of the core organizational factors that
provides the foundation for moral action and fosters positive work atmospheres (Herkman &
Owens, 2012). Defining humble leadership can literally mean “leading from the ground”
(Herkman & Owens, 2012). The basic principle of this type of leadership is to work equally with
the team at the same level. This approach to leadership is a “we” effort instead of an “I” effort.
Humble leaders acknowledge personal limits, faults and mistakes, spotlighting individual and
team strengths and contributions, and modeling teaching strategies (Herkman & Owens, 2012).
These leaders examine all areas of the team that need to be fixed as well as need to be praised.
This forms cohesion within the group because they are all effectively working together. Humble
leading behaviors not only increase relationships within the group but also increase loyalty and
trust of one another and the leader (Herkman & Owens, 2012). When members trust each other
and have a loyalty to the team, there can potentially be a decrease in anxiety. This would be
highly beneficial to the team's effectiveness and efficiency.
In terms of organizational performance, there is seen to be an increase in job engagement
and motivation to complete tasks as a team. Humble leader behavior has a strong impact on the
interpersonal relationships within groups, which has a direct effect on the team performance.
Herkman and Owens (2012) found that there is an increased perceived meaningfulness and

importance of task to followers which fosters heightened job engagement. In order to make
humble leadership even more effective, it should work in tandem with traditional leadership
characteristics such as, intelligence, resolve, and persuasiveness (Herman & Owens, 2012). This
type of leadership should definitely be implemented along with a transformational leadership
approach to have a highly effective result. The virtue of humility is seen as critical for leader
effectiveness and important for the organization's growth and survival (Herman & Owens, 2012).
It is also important to understand that different situations can determine which leadership styles
will be more effective. Various leadership approaches can be either effective or ineffective
depending on the situation. This is why it is important to understand the various leadership styles
and behaviors and how they interact in a team environment. Forming a cohesive team is key to
high team performance, which requires that all aspects of the team are specifically monitored.
Discussion
Through my research of previous studies I can determine that there are several aspects
that are involved in creating a cohesive team. In addition, the more cohesive the team is the more
successful a team's performance rate will be. Specific personality traits, diversity, and leadership
roles are major factors that predict team cohesion. These specific factors need to be highly
monitored when forming a cohesive work team in order to be successful.
The goal of this research was to examine the various aspects of a work team and how
they worked together in order to form cohesion. It was also intended to prove that good team
cohesion equaled high productivity and success rates for work teams. I can make several
conclusions from the research I examined. Monitoring personality traits, specifically traits from
the Big Five Factor Model, Conscientiousness is the best predictor of job and team performance
and should be implemented into the team. When creating a team, there needs to be

conscientiousness in as many members as possible. Openness to experience allows for a creative
and innovative work environment. This allows for a more productive work team and for
members to work together to think creatively. Lastly in regards to personality traits, personal
helping beliefs such as agreeableness and extraversion are beneficial to proactive team
performance. These traits allow members to work together and form stronger interpersonal
bonds.
In terms of forming a conclusion about diversity within groups, the effects of diversity
are difficult to predict. However, I believe there are a few predictors of general team
performance that can be used in creating cohesive work teams. Cognitively diverse teams need to
show a high need for cognition. This allows critical thinking within the group to be utilized with
more efficient and effective task solutions to be formed. I found that when it comes to
demographic diversity, there is not a major impact on overall team cohesion and performance.
When the members of the team acknowledge their demographic diversities, it becomes more
effective on the team's interpersonal relations which leads to overall team performance. Finally,
value diversity needs to be low within the group members to form a solid bond and create
success. High levels of value diversity takes away from the cohesiveness of the group and result
in low performance rates.
Leadership roles and behaviors are important within work teams in setting a pace and
motivating the followers to work together towards the common goal. Finding successful work
team leadership styles is important for creative optimal team cohesion. I found transformational
leadership to be the most effective leadership strategy for teams. This strategy allows the team to
work effectively together towards their common goal and achieve high rates of success. Paired
with transformational leadership, a leader should exude positive leader emotional behaviors. I

found that positive emotional behaviors in leaders work more effectively than negative emotional
behaviors in work teams. Along with positive emotional leadership behaviors, I found that
showing humility as a leader is beneficial to the team's interpersonal relations and overall team
performance. The most successful leadership role would be one who uses transformational
leadership with positive emotional leadership behaviors and humility.
For an effective and cohesive work team to be formed I believe that utilizing these factors
will result in a cohesive and productive work team. I expect there to be a positive work
environment that allows for members to be creative and open minded when developing ideas for
given tasks. Because of the general aspect of this research, I believe this idea can be applied to
work teams in various workforce areas. This research is not limited to work teams in specific
areas of the workforce and thus becomes more beneficial to the overall society. Personality traits,
diversity, leadership roles and behaviors are important for human resource departments to
understand when creating work teams. These factors produce the best possible results. My
research can aid human resource departments in forming cohesive and high performance teams
for any organization as well as, give them a general understanding of how certain factors work
together to form cohesive teams.
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