Groups—such as teams in the workplace, juries deciding a case, climbers summiting a mountain, and clients gathered together seeking therapeutic gains—are a primary means for individuals to achieve a variety of social and instrumental goals. But what is that one factor—that one critical ingredient—that will transform an ordinary, everyday group into one that yields superlative and long-lasting outcomes for its members? Empirical investigations of this question published in the journal Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice over the past 25 years offer an answer: cohesion. Work groups that are unified outperform those that are less closely knit. Cohesion enhances the therapeutic impact of group treatments and may even be a necessary condition for their success. Individuals’ very sense of self—their answer to the question “Who am I?”—depends on their identification with cohesive collectives. The empirical evidence, reviewed by Donelson R. Forsyth in the article “Recent Advances in the Study of Group Cohesionopens in new window,” consistently indicates that cohesive groups are more satisfying, productive, and engaging for their members.
These studies further suggest that no one condition or process is a necessary or sufficient condition for a group to become cohesive; what unifies one group may cause another group to splinter. Some groups are cohesive because members like one another and the group itself. Some cohesive groups are emotionally vibrant ones, marked by esprit de corps and enviable levels of morale. When in a cohesive group, people often (but do not always) identify strongly with the group: They recognize that they are members of the group and they accept in their self-definition those qualities—such as attitudes, values, actions, and appearances—that typify the group. Yet even when friendships and camaraderie are rare in a group, it may nonetheless be cohesive because of members’ shared commitment to the group and its goals. An emotionally staid group may also derive its cohesiveness from its structural integrity: Groups that are predictable and durable are more cohesive than those that are than quixotic and unstable. Some groups just look cohesive—they seem to be unified entities in the eyes of both their members and outsiders—so the groups’ members live up to that perception.
Given the multiple causes of cohesion, individuals can choose from a range of methods when working to turn a lackluster group into a dynamic, highly cohesive one. Whereas team-building activities and retreats may provide temporary morale boosts, an evidence-based approach recommends strategies like the following:
- Identify the group’s goals and maximize members’ commitment to the earnest pursuit of those goals.
- Create successful experiences for the group. Cohesion enhances motivation, which improves performance, but improvements in performance also increase cohesion.
- Increase the cohesive density of the group by strengthening existing interpersonal bonds between members and increasing the number of such bonds.
- Elevate the group’s esprit de corps through ritualized social interactions and model the expression of positive emotions.
- Seek consensus on the unique qualities and characteristics that define the group’s core (and potentially unique) identity.
- Use group-level ascriptions in descriptions and communications, such as “we,” “us,” and “our.”
Note: This article is in the Social Psychology and Social Processes topic area. View more articles in the Social Psychology and Social Processes topic area.