Consequences of Team Cohesion
- Focus: How team cohesion → improves team/individual performance 🏅
- Research shows significant positive relationship between cohesion & performance (Carron & Dennis, 1998; Mullen & Cooper, 1994; Widmeyer et al., 1993) ✅
- Stronger effect: task cohesion > social cohesion 🎯
- Stronger in interactive sports (volleyball, basketball, soccer) 🏐🏀⚽
- Weaker in coactive sports (bowling, archery, riflery) 🎯🏹
Other Consequences
1. Direction of Causality
- Team cohesion ↔ Team performance 🏆
- Winning → feel united 💪, losing → lower cohesion 😔
2. Improving Group Self-Efficacy
- Cohesive teams → high belief in success 🌟
- High cohesion = high group confidence 👍
3. Predicting Future Participation
- High social cohesion → athletes likely to continue next season ⏳
- Low state anxiety → continued participation 😊
4. Homogeneity of Team Cohesion
- Agreement between starters & non-starters → successful teams 🏐🏀
- Lack of agreement → less successful teams ❌
5. Moderator of Self-Handicapping
- Self-handicapping: athletes make excuses (injury, sleep, distractions) 🛌🎉📚
- Cohesion reduces disruptive effect of self-handicapping ✋
6. Team Cohesion & Psychological Momentum
- High task cohesion → stronger perceived momentum 🏐
- Cohesive teams → more benefits from momentum 🔥
Developing Team Cohesion
1. Team Cohesion as a Process
Tuckman (1965): 4 stages
- Forming: excitement of new relationships 🎉
- Storming: struggles/frustrations ⚡
- Norming: agreeing on common goals 🤝
- Performing: cohesive unit ready to perform 🏆
2. Team Building
- Goal: unity & effective functioning ⚡
- Direct approach: sport psychologist works with athletes directly 👨🏫🏃♀️
- Indirect approach: sport psychologist teaches coaches/managers to build teams 👩🏫📋
3. Specific Interventions to Enhance Cohesion
- Acquaint players with each other's responsibilities 👥
- Learn something personal about each athlete 💬
- Develop pride within sub-units of large teams 🏅
- Foster a feeling of "ownership" among players 🏠
- Set team goals & celebrate accomplishments 🎯🎉
- Ensure each player understands & values their role 🔑
- Do not demand complete social tranquility ⚖️
- Avoid formation of cliques 🚫
- Team drills & lead-up games encourage cooperation 🤝🏀
- Highlight areas of success, even in losses 🌟
Summary
This chapter examined the consequences of team cohesion and how to develop it, explaining that research shows a significant positive relationship between cohesion and performance (Carron & Dennis 1998, Mullen & Cooper 1994, Widmeyer et al. 1993) with task cohesion having stronger effects than social cohesion, stronger effects in interactive sports (volleyball, basketball, soccer) than coactive sports (bowling, archery, riflery), covering six other consequences (direction of causality where team cohesion and performance interact bidirectionally with winning increasing unity and losing decreasing cohesion, improving group self-efficacy where cohesive teams have high belief in success and confidence, predicting future participation where high social cohesion and low state anxiety lead to continued participation, homogeneity of team cohesion where agreement between starters and non-starters leads to successful teams while lack of agreement leads to less successful teams, moderator of self-handicapping where cohesion reduces the disruptive effect of athletes making excuses about injury/sleep/distractions, team cohesion and psychological momentum where high task cohesion leads to stronger perceived momentum with cohesive teams gaining more benefits), and explaining developing team cohesion through Tuckman 1965's four stages (forming with excitement of new relationships, storming with struggles and frustrations, norming with agreeing on common goals, performing as cohesive unit ready to perform), team building approaches (direct approach where sport psychologist works with athletes directly, indirect approach where sport psychologist teaches coaches and managers to build teams), and ten specific interventions to enhance cohesion (acquaint players with each other's responsibilities, learn something personal about each athlete, develop pride within sub-units of large teams, foster feeling of ownership among players, set team goals and celebrate accomplishments, ensure each player understands and values their role, do not demand complete social tranquility, avoid formation of cliques, team drills and lead-up games encourage cooperation, highlight areas of success even in losses).