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Group cohesion
Group cohesiveness refers to the ability of group members to think and act as one, whether physically together or not. It develops from a sense of belonging, attraction to other members, and commitment to working together to achieve shared goals. Factors that contribute to cohesiveness include threats to the group, difficulty entering the group, time spent together, smaller group size, past successes, and similarity of attitudes and values among members. Higher cohesiveness is generally associated with higher performance and productivity up to a moderate level, beyond which it can decrease performance. Ways to increase cohesiveness include agreeing on goals, increasing homogeneity, interactions, competition, and rewarding the group, while decreasing it involves disagreeing on goals,
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Group cohesion
- 1. GROUP COHESSIVENESS PRESENTED BY, JENY THOMAS MAYURI S J
- 2. What is groupcohesiveness? Group cohesiveness is the ability to think and act 'as one' if the group is physically together or not. According to Stephen P Robbins, “Group cohesiveness is the degree to which members are attracted to each other and are motivated to stay in the group.”
- 3. Dimensions of groupcohesiveness Group Unity Attraction Team work
- 4. Group unity Manytheorists 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 toHogg (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 TOGROUP 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 inEntry 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 ofAttitudes & 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. Relationship b/w Group Cohesiveness, Performance norms and Productivity Moderate HIGH High productivity productivity PERFORMANCE NORMS LOW Moderate to low Low productivity productivity low high Cohesiveness
- 15. HOW TO INCREASECOHESSION? Induce agreement on group goals. Increase membership homogeneity. Increase interactions among members. Decrease group size.
- 16. Contd… Introduce competitionwith other groups. Allocate rewards to the group rather than individuals. Provide physical isolation from other groups
- 17. HOW TO DECREASECOHESSION? Induce disagreement in group goals. Increase membership heterogeneity. Restrict interaction among members. Increase group size.
- 18. Contd… Allocate rewardto individuals rather than to a group as a whole. Remove physical isolation. Introduce a dominating member
- 19. BENEFITS Increased morale Increased productivity Improved communication Conformity and influences
- 20. Conclusion Group cohesionhas 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.