Can High Group Cohesion Be Harmful?

Abstract

High group cohesion is considered to be beneficial and lead to better performance. This qualitative case study describes a case in which high social cohesion led to a deterioration in a team's performance. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationships between performance in a team sport and social psychological group phenomena such as cohesion, conformity, groupthink, and group polarization. The participants were members of a junior-league ice-hockey team, consisting of three adult coaches and 22 players aged 15 to 16 years. The data were derived from an interview with the main coach, continuous observation by the principal researcher, and a diary based on observations during one ice-hockey season. The group environment Questionnaire was used to assess group cohesion quantitatively. The qualitative data were analyzed by identifying themes that illuminated the research problem. In this study, the team did not perform as expected, and their performance deteriorated during the autumn. Social cohesion was high. In addition, the need to evaluate performance declined because of increased pressure to conform. Pressure to conform, groupthink, and group polarization increased owing to the high level of social cohesion which in turn was associated with the deterioration in the group's performance. Based on the findings it appears that high group cohesion may not

Teamwork in sport: a theoretical and integrative review

“…Consequently, poor group decisions can be made, such as International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology 239 altering team strategies that ultimately end up decreasing team success (Wittenbaum et al, 2004). Teams need to be wary of these potential repercussions -particularly highly cohesive teams who are especially prone to groupthink (e.g., Rovio, Eskola, Kozub, Duda, & Lintunen, 2009) -and be resolute on finding solutions that will most benefit the team, even if this causes disagreements throughout the process (Janis, 1972;Wittenbaum et al, 2004).…”

“…However, merely targeting team cohesion in team building fails to account for a likely substantial amount of variance from the aforementioned teamwork variables that are involved in improving team effectiveness. Furthermore, highly cohesive teams are not inevitably effective teams; in some cases, high cohesion has even been associated with decreased team performance (e.g., Hardy, Eys, & Carron, 2005;Rovio et al, 2009). Finally, Martin et al (2009) found that International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology 243 while cohesion has been the most frequently targeted outcome variable in team building in sport, this was among the variables least influenced by team-building interventions.…”

Perceived value congruence and team innovation

“…It also suggests a moderating variable that may strengthen the link between cohesion and attitudes to performance, particularly in tasks requiring innovation. In particular, while cohesion has been found to potentially increase pressure to conform (Rovio, Eskola, Kozub, Duda, & Lintunen, ), professional salience may act to minimize this risk of conformity by drawing attention to job‐related differences.…”

Effects of Cohesion-Based Feedback on the Collaborations in Global Software Development Teams

“…Group cohesiveness in any type of team seems to increase over time, particularly when there is a leader in the group [16]. Other elements that affect group cohesiveness include team size, degree of democratic behavior within a group, participation, and satisfaction [17].…”

“…For example, [17] shows that high social cohesion within a group can sometimes lead to poor performance. One explanation for this negative relationship is that a team with high social cohesion may actually lead to high levels of group conformity and a reluctance to criticize a teammate's performance.…”