The Significance of Cohesiveness in Projects

Developed by Hildur Lara Jonsdottir, February 2022

Abstract

A group of people that stick together and work together to attain a similar goal is referred to as "cohesiveness." A team is said to be cohesive when all of its members have linkages that connect them to one another and to the team as a whole. One of the most important aspects of a team project's success is the team's cohesiveness. Making time for team members to appreciate one other's skills and managing emotional issues are some essential drivers to consider in order to increase team cohesiveness. It is critical for project managers to design tactics for their teams to become more cohesive in order to be successful. The team that solved the engima code, lead by Alan Turning, is an example of a team that succeeded after it became cohesive. This article will look at the importance of team cohesion and how it may be improved. The degree of intimacy that members feel inside a team is referred to as team cohesiveness. The factors that unite members of a group might be beneficial or bad. The closeness of members' interests, group size, shared successes, and the threat of external competition are the primary variables that determine team cohesiveness. Empowering group members, resolving conflicts, and respecting each contribution are all examples of strategies to improve team cohesiveness.

Definition

What is Cohesiveness?

"The quality of sticking together, or of causing things to stick together," is a common definition of cohesiveness. It's defined as "the property of being structured or formed in a coherent manner, having close or strong internal links between individuals, ideas, or other elements". Cohesion will incorporate and integrate a team's interpersonal abilities, negotiation skills, cooperation, team process commitment, communication skills, and shared leadership. Cohesiveness refers to the degree and intensity of interpersonal attraction among group members. Team members are drawn to one another and are motivated to stick together. Cohesion is more precisely described as a group's tendency to be together while working toward a common aim of meeting its team members' emotional needs. Cohesion will incorporate and integrate a team's interpersonal abilities, negotiation skills, cooperation, team process commitment, communication skills, and shared leadership.

Team Cohesiveness

Cohesion has been a recurring theme in studies of teams and team dynamics. It has been discovered to be one of the most critical factors influencing the performance of workgroups. When a group works together to attain a single purpose, they are said to be cohesive. In a broad range of groups, such as sports teams, work teams, exercise groups, therapy groups, task groups, and so on, team cohesion has been deemed a significant construct in terms of communication patterns and influencing behaviors.

Developing a Team

Figure 1: Stages of Team Development

Teams are the foundation of how projects, activities, and tasks are structured and handled in businesses all around the world. Everyone has been a part of a team at some point in their lives, whether at work, school, or in sports, etc. In 1965, psychologist Bruce Tuckman proposed a hypothesis regarding the steps new teams must go through in order to succeed and achieve healthy cohesiveness. Developing teams can take time, and the phases of building a team span from when team members are strangers to when they become a cohesive team with a common goal. The four common stages of team development are forming, storming, norming and performing. To effectively overcome the hurdles of the storming and forming stages, managers or leaders of a team must maintain the team's motivation. Forming is the beginnig stage where relationships among the team members are formed. When team members begin fighting for position, stumbling from confusion, and having disputes regarding leadership, strategy, and goals, the storming stage is triggered. This is when the importance of team leadership becomes apparent. The leader must succeed in motivating the team, resolving all issues, and articulating the team's purpose and objectives. Once the storming stage is completed a team will go into the norming stage. The team is then ready to develop open communications, stable positions, and norms after overcoming the storming stage. These are the initial steps toward a belonging to a group. Teams will go from norming to performing, and then to highly performing, after they have acquired cohesion. The team should celebrate a job well done while performing and organise events such as team lunches following a successful deployment to build camaraderie. This will serve as a motivation for the following cycle of work, reinforcing the already-established group togetherness. All work and no play might cause your team to become disjointed. Allowing your team to interact, celebrate, and unwind makes it simpler to develop genuine connections and maintain team cohesiveness when the going gets tough.

Aspects of Team Cohesion

The four main aspects of team cohesion are multidimensionality, instrumental foundation, dynamic, and emotional nature. Multidimensionality refers to the many variables that come together to make team members work as one. The team's aims and objectives change throughout time due to the team's dynamic character. Its instrumental basis is concerned with how members are committed to a common goal, while the emotional dimension is concerned with some of the advantages that members gain from being cohesive.

What influences Team Cohesion?

Shared Goals and Like-Mindedness:The fact that members of a team share similar beliefs and attitudes is one of the factors that keeps them together. People, on the whole, like to be in the company of those who share their values and perspectives. There fore one of the variables that contributes to team cohesiveness is similarity. A cohesive group is made up of people who have similar interests and aims but can come from different backgrounds.

Size of a Team: Smaller teams have a higher level of cohesion than larger teams. There is more engagement and communication in smaller groups, which helps members remain bonded. It is possible that interaction decreases in larger groups, making it more difficult to reach consensus on many problems. In bigger groupings, smaller cliques may form inside the group, resulting in disputes and dilution of the general aim.

Time: The more time a team spends together, the stronger the group becomes and the stronger the relationships within the group get, resulting in better teamwork.

Threats and Competition: When a team faces obstacles together, it gets stronger. Members will put their differences aside and work together to solve a problem at hand.

Communication: The importance of effective communication between the team and its members cannot be overstated. To reach a final conclusion, thoughts should be explicitly stated. Any misunderstanding of language among individuals and groups can result in several problems.

Trust: In order for a group to be cohesive, it must have a high level of trust and reliability. Individuals in a group must have faith in the team and its decisions in order to effect positive change. Trust unites the group and its members, allowing for unanimous decision-making.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Team Cohesiveness

Organizations devote a significant amount of time and attention to encouraging their workers to collaborate successfully with one another. Team cohesion has been linked to increased productivity and job satisfaction in studies. Team cohesion, on the other hand, has both benefits and drawbacks. It is critical for a team leader to understand the advantages and disadvantages of his or her team and to employ ways to increase team performance.

Benefits

• Increased Productivity: Productive and high-performing teams are more likely to be cohesive.
• Enhanced Team Motivation: Being a part of a cohesive team boosts team motivation. Various opinions are held by different members, which serves as motivation. This also gives team members the confidence to express their opinions, which increases the overall team effort.
• Improved Coordination: When the aims and preferences of group members are comparable, group cohesiveness improves in the delivery of better outputs and productivity. It comprises greater teamwork and collaboration among members.
• Saves effort and time: Working in a cohesive team can be time-saving because a team that is not cohesive may take a bit longer to resolve difficulties, but when it comes to a cohesive team, the answer may be better and faster.
• Better Job Satisfaction and Morale: Cohesive teams have higher job satisfaction and morale.
• Improved Communication: Because the entire team works together under the direction of the team leader, there is a general improvement in communication levels. The engaging sessions assist people in making positive adjustments in all areas of their lives while also increasing their self-esteem.

Drawbacks

• Lack of innovation: Because members of a cohesive team come from the same sector of employment, their ideas may be too similar, limiting creativity. As a result of the group's cohesive behavior, the organization's creative elements may suffer. Additionally, all aspects of team cohesion contribute to a lower level of creativity in their group or team.
• Lack of innovation: A lack of innovation is associated with a lack of creativity. Because of this, the final result in terms of innovation may be unsatisfactory.
• Domination: Because of the team leaders in each group, dominance might occur. Most of these sorts of group leader dominance are never beneficial to the firm, and they can even harm the group's cohesiveness. As a result, all team leaders must recognize that if they need and want their team members to follow their instructions, they must treat them as equals in the group.

Management and Cohesiveness

The importance of team cohesion for team effectiveness

Describing how important team cohesion is to solve projects andto be effective

How to Improve Team Cohesion

Describe the best techniques to improve team cohesion

Strategies to Develop Team Cohesion

Describe the best strategies to develop team cohesion