Team Cohesion Essay

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Team Cohesion Introduction/Question/Thesis Statement A lot of companies use teams to tackle lots of different projects and tasks that an individual employee cannot do on their own. More often than not teams are not successful in their goals. There are a lot of different factors that go into the success or failure of a team. The company may not be able to provide all the resources needed or the team is not given a clear understanding of what is expected of them. The team may have poor leadership or be so micro-managed that they have no room to operate. There may not have the adequate knowledge to perform the task assigned to them, or there might be significant internal controversy. A group may be successful without unity for a short time, but to have a sustainable and long term team that can really make a difference there must be cohesion. Our text states that cohesion is the second major criterion on team performance (Thompson 36). Why is cohesion so important to the team setting? Cohesion refers to the processes that keep members of a team united. A team with good cohesion will be able to work together to reach common goals and work with each other in the future as a result of their experience together. Cohesion is a strong feeling of trust and respect of the fellow teammates that allows the team to communicate and be honest with each other to be able to keep focus on what’s best for the company. Group cohesion represents the strength of bonding of group members and has been found to be strongly related to group efficacy (Marcos 320). Literature Review/Competing Claims and Theories Cohesion is the ability of the team to function with unity and make the best decisions based on the tasks at hand. Team Cohesion allows the team to function as a “we” with goals to best achieve what is best for the company. This may sound simple but is not always easy to
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