Is your organisation cohesive?

Today’s world demands unity at the workplace in order to excel. We find many companies going in for team building exercises and the like only to create a bonding among the members of the organisation. Unity increases productivity and a productive team is an effective team. A term which is an offshoot of bonding is group cohesiveness. 

Group cohesiveness can be defined in lay man terms as the degree to which group members are attracted to one another and share group goals. As a result groups which rank high on cohesiveness can be said to have the following characteristics:

A cohesive group will usually have a small number of members. The smaller the group the more cohesive it will be as compared to a larger group. In larger groups communication between members is reduced and there is a chance of subgroups forming thereby defeating the purpose for which the group has been formed. Secondly, members of the group have similar interests and come from similar backgrounds. Thirdly, a cohesive group will also command a high status in the organization. This stems from the fact that the group has been able to achieve its goals in the past. A group with no past history of achieving its goals will not command the same respect and status as a group which can achieve its goals. In other words success of the group leads to cohesiveness.  Further the leader of the group is charismatic and favours cooperative behavior from his members. His personality and appeal is what makes his followers desire to work for and with him.

Cohesiveness also comes from where the members work. If all the members work in the same place there is a greater chance of cohesiveness, as interaction and exchange of ideas within the group is possible. As compared if the group is geographically separated then the cohesiveness is lost. As such members must have easy access to one another and communication within the group must be quick and fast.

Then there is the factor of outside forces which can create unity among the members. In fact the group is strengthened by some rivalry caused by an outside force. The team members may be loggerheads with one another, but when it comes to dealing with an outside force, then the members will unite and be at arms with the outside force. At this point the group members will put aside their personal differences and join hands for a common cause. Many a time the management of an organization will usually try to create some rift among departments in order to bring out this unity and thereby strengthen the group.

At times one will wonder if group members working for an organization have other goals. Well, individual goals are always present and if they are compatible with the organizational goals then the result is very good.

Cohesiveness is also good if norms are followed. Norms are usually a set of rules or behaviors which the group members fell important. Norms develop gradually. Not all people will follow norms. High status and highly intelligent individuals usually are averse to following norms. However, if the group goals and individual goals are similar then people are ready to follow norms.

If a matrix is to be drawn with cohesiveness on one axis and adherence to norms on the other, then the following will be observed. A group which scores high on cohesiveness and sticks to its norms will be high on productivity. In comparison a group which is low on cohesiveness and does not follow norms will have low productivity.  Groups which have low cohesiveness and follow norms and groups which have high cohesiveness and do not follow norms have medium productivity.  This shows the importance of following norms in the workplace as well as being cohesive as a group.

The question arising then is how to make people follow norms. Education is one of the tools used in getting people to follow norms. The individuals will have to be made known that once the norms are followed the achievement of goals too will follow. Another way to get individuals to follow norms is to keep a watch over the group members and seeing to it that they follow the same. This may not be always so easy and as a result one may have to give warnings in a friendly manner. If the individual still does not pay heed to the warnings, then the last resort will be punishments. If this too has no effect then the member will have to be removed from the group. Such cases are rare but not unheard off. The member has to be made known that it is the group cohesiveness that can make the group gain collective power and thereby fight for their rights.