Cohesion and Sports Teams

Abstract

Cohesion has historically been considered one of the most important variables in the study of small group dynamics and has historically been one of the most frequently studied of group-level constructs. In this commentary we consider why and how group cohesion influences behavior in sports teams and why and how it operates differently in different types of teams. Specifically, we note that sports teams operate in extremely well-defined contexts, with much greater clarity in terms of goals, member roles, working procedures, available resources, and so forth, than most other types of teams. Consequently we suggest that while cohesion may be a valid construct for studying and analyzing sports teams, the relative lack of clear unambiguous context for most other types of teams reduces the explanatory power of cohesion for teams in other contexts.