Chapter Overview

Cohesiveness is a sort of social "chemistry'' that groups have that transforms a set of individuals into a working team. It is the bond that links group members to the group, the degree to which members are attracted to one another and the group, and the unity a group has toward its members.

One of the determinants of cohesiveness is attraction. People are attracted to group membership by shared similar attitudes, a clear sense of how to achieve goals, the kinds of conflict and the way a group handles conflict, and the frequency and nature of feedback provided by the group.

Beyond attraction, however, three conditions are necessary for membership satisfaction in groups, without which cohesiveness simply cannot emerge. Group members must perceive freedom to participate; they must believe that they are making progress toward their goals; and they must agree that the status position they hold in the group, relative to the status positions of the other members, is at once right for them and right for their group.

Productivity refers to the quality and quantity of a group's output. These two variables display a curvilinear relationship in that the more cohesive a group, the more productive it is likely to be up to a point. Productivity drops off because of the effect of too much cohesiveness. Too much cohesiveness may move the group from its designated task to socializing, or cause a group to think less critically about its task.

Commitment to doing your best, commitment to the good of the group, commitment to straight thinking, commitment to cooperation rather than to competition, and commitment to careful listening are all relevant to the whole matter of group goals.

Group goals cannot exist outside individual members, who must subordinate some of their individual goals in order to achieve others. This idea sets up the potential for conflict between individual goals and group goals--so much so that it is easy for individuals to lose sight of group goals. Of course, should that happen, group cohesiveness will be at risk.

So the intelligent setting of group goals is an issue. This can best be accomplished by breaking long-range goals into a series of intermediate goals. Those intermediate goals ought to be stated in terms of behavior, specifically who should do what, when, and under what conditions. After assigning carefully defined intermediate goals, the achievement of those goals ought to be monitored by every member. Every time a goal is achieved, the achievement should be mentioned and reinforced.

Group identification is a factor that enhances valuing group members more as part of a group than as individuals working in a group. Members begin to see the group as having a personality of its own. Group identification brings out some unique communication behaviors. Collective pronouns become more prominent. Group members tell stories that exemplify their group experience. Ernest Bormann calls these fantasy themes, stories that make a point and illustrate the group's experience. Sometimes a fantasy theme turns into a fantasy chain. Stories are an important part of developing and sustaining the group's culture.

Storytelling, creating logos, telling inside jokes, and taking on rhetorical visions lead to shared perceptions and values among members. Bormann refers to this process as symbolic convergence. Convergence suggests that the private symbol using of two or more people comes together or overlaps. This adoption of a shared set of symbols allows the development of a common pool of meanings. The result is greater understanding, increased identification, greater cohesion, and a greater emotional commitment to the group and its product.

Groupthink happens when very cohesive groups become insulated from criticism, when they lack a tradition of impartial leadership, and when they have no rules about methods and procedures. Under these conditions groups sometimes come to believe that they are invincible and utterly moral. When that happens, they may develop closed mindedness, stereotyping anyone who does not agree with them as "the enemy" and discounting any disagreements on that basis. Typically, such symptoms keep individual members from speaking about their own reservations.

The consequences of groupthink can be summarized in these words: defective decision making. The victims of groupthink do not adequately survey their alternatives; they do not survey their objectives or examine the risks of what they are doing. They usually do not reappraise anything they have once rejected. They do not search for information very actively, since they believe that they know all they need to know. They slant their processing of the available information in the direction of what they want rather than what is sensible. Rarely do groups afflicted with the groupthink syndrome ever work out contingency plans. What can you do to overcome the groupthink syndrome? Janis suggested six prescriptions that will help. What they make clear is that all groups, but especially highly cohesive groups, need to set themselves up in advance to guard the quality of their thought.