Group and Team Cohesion

1. Group and Team Cohesion

2. What Is a Group? Group: A collection of interacting individuals who share a collective identity, a sense of shared purpose or objectives, structured ways of communication, personal or task interdependence (or both) All teams are groups, but not all groups are teams.

3. How a Group Becomes a Team: Linear Model Forming Familiarization; interpersonal relationships formed; team structure developed. Storming Rebellion; resistance to the leader and control by the group; interpersonal conflict.

4. How a Group Becomes a Team Norming Solidarity and cooperation develop. Performing Energies channeled for team success.

5. Group Structure Group roles Behaviors required or expected of a person occupying a certain position.

6. Group Structure Formal roles (e.g., coach, captain) are dictated by the nature and structure of the organization. Informal roles (e.g., enforcer, mediator) evolve from the interactions among group members. **Role clarity and role acceptance are critical for team success.**

7. Group Structure Group norms A level of performance, pattern of behavior, or belief. Leaders need to establish positive group norms or standards (especially standards of productivity).

8. Creating an Effective Team Climate Social support: Mutual respect and support enhances team climate. Proximity: Closer contact promotes team interaction. Distinctiveness: The more distinctive the group feels, the better the climate. Fairness: Fairness—or a lack of it—can bring a group closer together. Similarity: Greater similarity = closer climate.

9. T.O. • Status was just upgraded from Suicidal to Questionable… • Would you, or would you not, want him on your TEAM?

10. Defining Cohesion Taskcohesion The degree to which group members work together to achieve common goals and objectives. Social cohesion The interpersonal attractions among group members.

11. Task Demands and the Cohesion–Performance Relationship

12. Guidelines for Building Team Cohesion Leader-Coach Strategies Communicate effectively. Explain individual roles in team success. Develop pride within subunits. Set challenging team goals. (continued)

13. Guidelines for Building Team Cohesion Leader-Coach Strategies Encourage team identity. Discourage formation of social cliques. Avoid excessive turnover. (continued)

14. Guidelines for Building Team Cohesion Leader-Coach Strategies Conduct periodic team meetings. Know the team climate. Know relevant, personal things about each team member. Treat as individuals; know how far each can be pushed...

15. Individual and Team Performance in Sport Basic principle While individual ability is important, the individual abilities of team members alone are not good predictors of how a team will perform.

16. Individual and Team Performance in Sport Steiner’smodel Actual productivity = potential productivity – losses due to faulty group processes Losses: (1) motivation (2) coordination

17. How Individual Skills Relate to Group Performance The more that cooperation and interaction are necessary in a task, the more that the importance of individual ability decreases and the importance of group productivity increases. Teams of equal ability tend to play best.

18. Ringlemanneffect The phenomenon where individual performance decreases as the number of people in the group increases. Socialloafing Individuals within a group or team giving less than 100% effort due to motivational losses.

19. EliminatingSocial Loafing Emphasize the importance of individual pride and unique contributions. Increase identifiability of individual performances. Determine specific situations where social loafing occurs. (continued)

20. EliminatingSocial Loafing Conduct individual meetings to discuss social loafing. Walk a mile in a teammate’s shoes; switch off assignments. Break down the team into smaller units.