Cohesiveness is a characteristic of team that reflects no so much the unity of the group as it reflects the resistance to leave it.
The survival instinct, even suppressed by social norms, will still make you less efficient if you do not like your work environment and the people you work with (social loafing – next post).
A clue about the fact that a team member feels that he/she is part of the team is the fact that in conversation it is used “we” instead of “I”.
The forces that keep team members together are:
- Positive – rewards
- Negative – what you loose if you leave
Factors that influence cohesiveness are:
- Similarity of team members in gender, age, values, etc.
- Success and the professionalism of every employee – when tasks are accomplished things go better for the team
- External threats of competition – people as specie react well to danger of any kind and work better together in putting out the fire.
The visible results of a high cohesiveness in a team are an increase motivation for participating in the team activities but also the possibility to better impose on the “black sheep” the social norms agreed by the team. With conformity comes less individuality and more success as a team.
