Task Cohesion Research Articles

The Association between Endogenous Hair Steroid Hormones and Social Environmental Factors in a Group of Conscripts during Basic Military Training.

This study aimed to analyse the association between endogenous hair steroid hormones as reliable biological indicators of an individual’s stress level and the social environmental factors experienced during military training that are manifested at the beginning of compulsory military service. Hair steroid hormone concentrations—cortisol, cortisone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and testosterone—in a group of 185 conscripts were measured using the ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method. Six subjective social environmental factors in the military—attitude towards the military and military service, adaptation to the military environment, team, task, and norm cohesion, as well as psychological (un)safety in the group—were evaluated using military-specific research questionnaires. Weak but significant negative correlations were identified between cortisol and adaptation (r = −0.176, p < 0.05), attitude (r = −0.147, p < 0.05) as well as between testosterone and task cohesion (r = −0.230, p < 0.01) levels. Additionally, a multiple forward stepwise regression analysis highlighted that cortisone variation might be partially explained by task cohesion; the DHEA—determined by psychological (un)safety in the group, attitude towards the military and military service, and norm cohesion; and the testosterone—determined by task cohesion and adaptation to the new military environment. The results of this study suggest that subjective measures of social factors can be used to predict hair steroid hormone levels as objective measures of the chronic stress perceived by conscripts during their basic military training.

A Study on the Sustainable Structural Relations between Social Exchange Relationship Characteristics and Social Contagion Effect in Beauty-Related One-Person Media

This study examined how members of beauty-related one-person media networks build sustainable ties with other members through various exchange activities and diffuse information based on the social contagion effect. Accordingly, social exchange relationship characteristics of beauty-related one-person media were specified and structural relations through which these characteristics affect group cohesiveness, conformity-based collective intelligence, and fad-like behavior were identified. A sample of 529 users with experience of consuming information on beauty-related one-person media was selected, and research hypotheses were tested via reliability testing, validity testing, measurement model analysis, and path analysis using SPSS ver. 23.0 and AMOS ver. 23.0. First, the path analysis between social exchange relationship characteristics of beauty-related one-person media and group cohesiveness revealed that relational characteristics significantly affected social cohesion, but situational characteristics and personal characteristics did not. Additionally, situational characteristics and personal characteristics significantly affected task cohesion, but relational characteristics did not. Second, the path analysis between group cohesiveness (social cohesion, task cohesion) and conformity-based collective intelligence in beauty-related one-person media revealed that social cohesion and task cohesion significantly affected conformity-based collective intelligence. Third, the path analysis between conformity-based collective intelligence and fad-like behavior in beauty-related one-person media clarified that conformity-based collective intelligence significantly affected fad-like behavior.

The team cohesion-performance relationship: A meta-analysis exploring measurement approaches and the changing team landscape

Team cohesion is an important antecedent of team performance, but our understanding of this relationship is mired by inconsistencies in how cohesion has been conceptualized and measured. The nature of teams is also changing, and the effect of this change is unclear. By meta-analyzing the cohesion-performance relationship ( k = 195, n = 12,023), examining measurement moderators, and distinguishing modern and traditional team characteristics, we uncovered various insights. First, the cohesion-performance relationship varies based on degree of proximity. More proximal measures –task cohesion, referent-shift, and behaviorally-focused– show stronger relationships compared to social cohesion, direct consensus, and attitudinally-focused, which are more distal. Differences are more pronounced when performance metrics are also distal. Second, group pride is more predictive than expected. Third, the cohesion-performance relationship and predictive capacity of different measures are changing in modern contexts, but findings pertaining to optimal measurement approaches largely generalized. Lastly, important nuances across modern characteristics warrant attention in research and practice. Plain Language Summary Team cohesion is an important antecedent of team performance, but our understanding of this relationship is mired by inconsistencies in how cohesion has been conceptualized and measured. The nature of teams has also changed over time, and the effect of this change is unclear. By meta-analyzing the cohesion-performance relationship ( k = 195, n = 12,023), examining measurement moderators, and distinguishing between modern and traditional team characteristics, we uncovered various insights for both research and practice. First, the cohesion-performance relationship varies based on degree of proximity. Measures that are more proximal to what a team does – those assessing task cohesion, utilizing referent shift items, and capturing behavioral manifestations of cohesion – show stronger relationships with performance compared to those assessing social cohesion, utilizing direct consensus items, and capturing attitudinal manifestations of cohesion, which are more distal. These differences are more pronounced when performance metrics are also more distal. Second, despite being understudied, the group pride-performance relationship was stronger than expected. Third, modern team characteristics are changing both the overall cohesion-performance relationship and the predictive capacity of different measurement approaches, but findings pertaining to the most optimal measurement approaches largely generalized in that these approaches were less susceptible to the influence of modern characteristics. However, in some contexts, distal cohesion metrics are just as predictive as their more proximal counterparts. Lastly, there are important nuances across different characteristics of modern teams that warrant additional research attention and should be considered in practice. Overall, findings greatly advance science and practice pertaining to the team cohesion-performance relationship.

The Relationship Between Group Cohesion and Team Achievement: The Case of University Handball 2. League Teams

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the success ranking of competitive handball teams at the same league level (2nd league) according to the group cohesion level and to determine the relationship between success ranking and group cohesion. Group cohesion was determined according to the Team Environment Questinnaire (GEQ), which was developed by Carron et al. (1985), and adapted to Turkish athletes by Unutmaz et al. (2011). As a result of the research, task cohesion levels of the teams that came first in the competition and the other teams are similar. The task cohesion level of men's teams is higher than women's teams. In addition, the relationship between social cohesion and team success, and between task cohesion and gender were analyzed.&#x0D; As a result, it has been concluded that although task cohesion is necessary, it is not enough to achieve top positions, high social cohesion in the teams in the lowest league may cause failure and men exhibit more task cohesion than women in order to win.

A Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Collective Efficacy Questionnaire for Sports (CEQS): Validity Evidence for a Brazilian Version.

This three-part study aimed to translate, cross-culturally adapt, and validate the Collective Efficacy Questionnaire for Sports (CEQS) for Brazilian athletes. In Study 1, six translators and six specialists developed a Portuguese version of the CEQS (the CEQS-B), and 10 experts and 10 sports participants provided content validity evidence based on test content. In Study 2, 553 athletes completed the CEQS-B, and we provided evidence of construct and convergent validity for the test's internal structure through factor analysis and of reliability evidence based on the instrument's internal consistency and temporal stability. In Study 3, 79 athletes completed both the new CEQS-B and the Group Cohesion Questionnaire, and we provided evidence of concurrent validity for the CEQS-B, based on its relationship to other variables, with specific strong correlations between team task cohesion and collective efficacy among these participants. Overall, the results of this study support the use of the CEQS-B by researchers and professionals wishing to assess various sport athletes' self-perceived collective efficacy.

Team cohesion: the impact of team design and technical factors

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of team boundedness, and formal coordination on task and social cohesion and the moderating effect of organization tenure diversity. Design/methodology/approach Data was gathered from the responses of 398 team members and leaders working in 111 software development teams to a questionnaire survey. The hypotheses were all tested using structural equation modelling. Findings The results show team boundedness and formal coordination have positive and significant associations with task and social cohesion. Formal coordination is a stronger positive predictor for task than social cohesion. Organization tenure has a greater negative effect on social cohesion than task cohesion and moderates the relationship between formal coordination and task cohesion. Practical implications Therefore, for organizations to optimize team cohesion the impact of antecedent variables on social and task cohesion should be taken into considering in planning strategies for improvement. Originality/value This paper has an original approach by adding to the literature through an examination of the antecedent variables of task and social cohesion which are two key components of team cohesion.

A united front: Coach and teammate motivational climate and team cohesion among female adolescent athletes

Based on theory and research on athlete motivation and sport cohesion, this study examined the concurrent association of perceived coach and peer motivational climates with team cohesion among female adolescent athletes. Participants ( N = 235) included 14- to 18-year-old competitive volleyball players who completed self-report measures of motivational climates and team cohesion in the latter part of the season. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that all coach and peer task-involving dimensions were positively related, and peer intra-team conflict (ego-involving dimension) was negatively related, to team cohesion. Task-involving dimensions of coach cooperative learning and peer effort and relatedness support contributed most strongly to the relationship as did task cohesion. Multiple regression analyses showed that elements of both coach and peer climates were related to task and social cohesion. Findings extend past research by simultaneously examining coaches and peers as social sources of team cohesion among female adolescent athletes. Specific strategies are offered for how coaches can enhance team cohesiveness by directly shaping a task-involving climate, minimizing an ego-involving climate, and fostering a teammate task-involving climate that promotes positive peer interactions and relationships.

Moderator Chatbot for Deliberative Discussion

Online chat functions as a discussion channel for diverse social issues. However, deliberative discussion and consensus-reaching can be difficult in online chats in part because of the lack of structure. To explore the feasibility of a conversational agent that enables deliberative discussion, we designed and developed DebateBot, a chatbot that structures discussion and encourages reticent participants to contribute. We conducted a 2 (discussion structure: unstructured vs. structured) × 2 (discussant facilitation: unfacilitated vs. facilitated) between-subjects experiment (N = 64, 12 groups). Our findings are as follows: (1) Structured discussion positively affects discussion quality by generating diverse opinions within a group and resulting in a high level of perceived deliberative quality. (2) Facilitation drives a high level of opinion alignment between group consensus and independent individual opinions, resulting in authentic consensus reaching. Facilitation also drives more even contribution and a higher level of task cohesion and communication fairness. Our results suggest that a chatbot agent could partially substitute for a human moderator in deliberative discussions.

The Relationships Among Task Value. Collaborative Self-Regulations, Task Cohesiveness and Learning Performance in Co-Curriculum Class

The Relationships Among Task Value. Collaborative Self-Regulations, Task Cohesiveness and Learning Performance in Co-Curriculum Class

Using inquiry-based writing instruction to develop students\u2019 academic writing skills

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of using inquiry-based writing instruction on students’ academic writing skills. A pretest-posttest two groups quasi-experimental design was employed. Data were obtained through test, focus group discussion, and reflective journal from 62 first-year pharmacy students who were selected using comprehensive sampling. While the experimental group received the inquiry-based writing instruction, the control group learned using the conventional learning method. The quantitative data were analyzed using independent samples T-test and descriptive statistics when the qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The findings revealed that there was a statistical difference between the control and experimental groups in their academic writing performance. Hence, students who participated in the inquiry-based writing instruction improved their academic writing skills. Mainly, students who learned through inquiry-based writing instruction were able to produce essays that addressed task achievement, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy. Thus, this study recommends researchers, teachers, and students to pay due attention to inquiry-based writing instruction in their academic journey.

Enabling clinician engagement in safety and quality improvement.

Objective The aim of this study was to determine how individual, group and leadership factors influence clinician engagement in safety and quality improvement work. Methods The study was conducted through an online questionnaire. Participants were alumni of Australian healthcare safety and quality improvement capability development programs. Relationships between five factors influencing clinicians' perception of value for time and effort in safety and quality improvement work were explored. The five factors were psychological empowerment; task cohesion; social cohesion; transformational leadership behaviour of project leads and sponsors; and value for time and effort for self and patients. Correlation and regression analyses were used to explore the aspects of the hypothesised model. Moderation and mediation analysis was then used to explore the relationships further. Structural equation modelling was used to determine the path model. Results All factors showed strong positive correlations, with psychological empowerment and transformational leadership having the strongest relationships with perceived value for effort for self and patient. The factorial structure of measures was examined, and all indicators loaded significantly on their corresponding latent constructs and the model showed a good fit to the data. Conclusions The findings of this study suggest that the most crucial factor to clinician engagement in safety and quality improvement at the point of care is the leader's behaviour and how that influences team dynamics and individual motivation and empowerment. What is known about the topic? Healthcare organisations remain challenged regarding clinician engagement in safety and quality improvement. Although much is known about clinicians' perceptions of safety and quality, there is more to understand about what practically motivates clinicians to engage. Tapping into individual, group and leadership factors' influences on clinician engagement offers a deeper perspective. What does this paper add? This study explored the individual, group and leadership factors that drive clinician engagement. The factors include the clinician's individual motivation and empowerment to participate, the group dynamics that surround the clinician and the leadership behaviours of the team's leader. The research design allowed for greater understanding about how and to what extent these factors drive clinician engagement. The study's findings can be applied in practice in capability development activities or leadership for safety and quality improvement. What are the implications for practitioners? Rather than taking a perspective that the clinician needs to engage, this study suggests a strong onus on leadership behaviours to engage those clinicians. Focusing on the self as leader and a leader's own behaviours, as well as how those behaviours are fostering positive team dynamics and motivating and empowering individual team members, will have a great benefit on clinician engagement in safety and quality improvement. Higher clinical engagement in safety and quality improvement should translate into better value care.

Team engagement in an executive human resource development program: A closed cohort model perspective

AbstractThis study explored team engagement of two cohorts who had different team experiences in an Executive HRD program. Despite the widespread use of the closed cohort model (CCM) in executive programs and the recognition that a CCM is a type of team, there is a dearth of research on team engagement in cohorts. For ease of reference, the cohorts have been dubbed Team X and Team Y. Two research questions guided the study: What factors facilitated team engagement in a closed cohort model? What factors hindered team engagement in a closed cohort model? The findings showed that the CCM is only a formation tactic, narratives influence interactions and interdependence. Team X's engagement was impacted by cognitive bias, in and out team formation, and depersonalization. The findings showed that beliefs and the language used to describe the cohorts' goals and purpose initiated an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ mindset at the start of the program. The divergence led to the creation of an ‘in’ team and an ‘out’ team. The divisiveness between the in and out teams led to depersonalization. On the contrary, Team Y categorized itself on the principle of ‘becoming’, which meant that members would undergo a transformation unique to their experiences versus meeting a preset standard. Team Y celebrated the strengths of its members, which became a precursor for success. As a result, four factors influenced engagement, namely, the transactive memory system, task cohesion, social cohesion, and subgroups. Overall, dialogic, cognitive, and affective factors influenced engagement.

Examining Teamwork of Space Crewmembers and Mission Control Personnel Under Crew Autonomy: A Multiteam System Perspective

Introducing crew autonomy into the design of future space operations will involve a change in how responsibilities are distributed between crew and mission control and may disrupt the functioning of the space/ground multiteam system (MTS). During a 4-month space mission simulation we collected survey data from crewmembers and mission controllers tapping their team concept, perception of MTS cohesion and efficacy, task work and performance. Preliminary analyses indicate some aspects of team cognition that may be affected by crew autonomy. Crewmembers’ and mission controllers’ team concepts centered on members of their own component teams rather than the MTS. Mission controllers perceived higher cohesion— especially higher task cohesion—with crewmembers than vice-versa and were more likely than crewmembers to express high confidence in the efficacy of the MTS. While mission controllers and crewmembers expressed comparable levels of satisfaction with task performance, they disagreed on how much each component team contributed to task success.

PERCEPTION OF COHESION IN INTERACTIVE SPORTS TEAMS

The aim of this study is to examine the perception of cohesion in highly interdependent sports teams, compare cohesion in different sports, and then compare social and task cohesion. The participants were 205 professional sports players in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. They are engaged in five different sports: Football/soccer, basketball, volleyball, handball, and water polo. The Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ) was used to collect the data. All the analyses were carried out with the SPSS 22 statistical software. The results have shown moderately-high levels of all four aspects of cohesion (Group Integration-Task, Group Integration-Social, Individual Attractions to the Group-Task, and Individual Attractions to the Group-Social) in all sports. Overall, perception of task cohesion is higher than perception of social cohesion. The study also reveals that the type of sport played impacts the level of cohesion, with basketball players having the highest scores of all.

Does perceived cohesion mediate the student personality–engagement relationship in the university setting?

Student engagement has been established as a robust predictor of several positive outcomes related to academic development and success. Increasing our knowledge on what variables affect engagement can assist lecturers and other educational agents in maximizing student engagement within the university setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between personality and student engagement via the mediational role of perceived cohesion in the university classroom. The model was tested using multilevel structural equation modeling and cross-sectional data from 1,500 students (72% female) belonging to 72 different university classrooms. The mediation model linking the personality dimensions with engagement via perceived cohesion, including task and social orientations, was partially supported by the data. Task cohesion mediated the positive relationship between three personality dimensions (i.e., Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Emotional Stability) and student engagement. No significant results were found with social cohesion as a mediator of the personality-engagement relationship. These findings suggest that building and developing a cohesive environment in the university setting, especially with regards to task cohesion, may be an effective strategy to promote student engagement. However, the specific characteristics of the university environment should be also considered (e.g., academic major or time spent in small work groups vs. time spent in large “traditional” lecture theaters). Recommendations for future research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Communication for the win: task benefits of coach confirmation in collegiate athletics

ABSTRACT There is a heuristic and practical need to identify prosocial coaching behaviors that benefit both the relational climates on sports teams and team performance. This study considers the influence of coaches’ use of confirmation (i.e., consisting of acceptance and challenge) on student-athletes’ self-confidence, team task cohesion, and team winning. Data collected from 117 Division-I student-athletes, who participated in team sports, partially supported the task benefits of confirmation, especially challenge. It was found that as coaches call upon student-athletes to refine their skills in a manner that confirms their potential, they become more confident and perceive more cohesion with teammates. This cohesion in turn leads to team winning (i.e., what we term the Communication-Cohesion-Performance Model). This data extends confirmation theory to a novel context and addresses a practical need of sporting practitioners by providing prescriptive advice for leveraging communication to improve team performance.

Demographic, physiological, psychological, and on-ice performance indicators predict plus/minus status of recreational ice hockey players across a\xa0season

Little is known about physical, physiological, and psychological performance indicators predicting recreational athletes’ performance. This information may motivate players to become more active and inform coaches where to focus to build confidence, cohesion, and cooperation. This study investigated which performance indicators were related to the plus-minus statistic in German recreational ice hockey players (n = 20 players; 1 female; mean age = 36.25 ± 12.91 years; height = 178.85 ± 8.64 cm; weight = 81.36 ± 12.89 kg; mean years of ice hockey experience = 5.68 ± 8.93) over a season. Anthropometrics, psychological and on-ice performance data were collected mid-season and plus-minus were recorded after each game. Due to the small sample size, significance interpretations are not meaningful; therefore, Cohen’s guidelines were used for r = 0.2 (small), r = 0.5 (medium) and r = 0.8 (large). Medium size positive correlations of plus/minus were found for push-ups (r = 0.52) and squats (r = 0.37). Small positive correlations were found for shot speed (r = 0.33), competitiveness orientation (r = 0.28), and years on team (r = 0.23). Small negative correlations were found for win orientation (r = −0.30), body mass index (r = −0.28), task cohesion (r = −0.24), and percent body fat (r = −0.20). Some performance and psychological indicators are related to recreational ice hockey players’ plus-minus statistic over a season. Coaches and players of recreational teams should focus on muscular strength and endurance, shooting speed, body composition, and enjoying the challenge of competition while lowering their win orientation.

Using a Personal-Disclosure Mutual-Sharing Approach to Deliver a Team-Based Mindfulness Meditation Program to Enhance Cohesion

In an effort to increase perceptions of cohesion among intercollegiate soccer players, a team-based mindfulness meditation program was undertaken. This team-building program was delivered by using a personal-disclosure mutual-sharing approach. A total of 31 female intercollegiate soccer players from two teams participated. Assigned to the intervention condition was a Canadian intercollegiate team (U Sports), while the control condition was an American intercollegiate team (NCAA, Division II). The participants completed a measure of cohesion (Group Environment Questionnaire) pre- and postintervention. Controlling for the preintervention scores, the 8-week team-based mindfulness meditation program resulted in significantly higher perceptions of social cohesion for the intervention group compared with the control group at postintervention. However, there were no significant differences in task cohesion between the intervention and control groups at postintervention. Using personal disclosure, mutual sharing seems a viable approach by which to deliver a team-based mindfulness meditation program to enhance a team’s social cohesion.

Efficacy Beliefs Are Related to Task Cohesion: Communication Is a Mediator

Efficacy beliefs and communication are key constructs that have been targeted to develop task cohesion. This study’s purpose was to (a) examine whether collective efficacy, team-focused other-efficacy, and team-focused relation-inferred self-efficacy are predictive of task cohesion and (b) evaluate the possibility that communication mediates efficacy–task cohesion relationships. British university team-sport athletes (N = 250) completed questionnaires assessing efficacy beliefs, communication (i.e., positive conflict, negative conflict, and acceptance communication), and task cohesion (i.e., attractions to group, group integration). Data were subjected to a multigroup path analysis to test mediation hypotheses while also addressing potential differences across males and females. Across all athletes, collective efficacy and team-focused other-efficacy significantly predicted attractions to group and group integration directly. Positive conflict and acceptance communication significantly mediated relationships between efficacy (team-focused other-efficacy, collective efficacy) and cohesion (attractions to group, group integration). Findings suggest that enhancing athletes’ collective efficacy and team-focused efficacy beliefs will encourage communication factors affecting task cohesion.

A dynamic view of coach transformational leadership: How leadership perceptions relate to task cohesion and team potency

We examined whether athletes’ perceptions of coach transformational leadership across time related to task cohesion and team potency beliefs. Across multiple time points, we collected 384 observations (M = 5.41 observations per athlete) from competitive youth athletes via a mobile application designed to examine team dynamics. Multilevel structural equation modelling revealed intraindividual variation in athletes’ evaluations of coach transformational leadership across time. Further, we observed robust support for a positive relation between perceptions of coach transformational leadership and task cohesion over time at both the between- and within-person levels. The relation between coach transformational leadership and team potency was significant at the between-person level, however, we did not find support for this relation at the within-person level. These results provide insight into how the ebb and flow of coach transformational leadership over time connects to team cohesion, highlighting the need for more intensive longitudinal designs that capture the dynamic nature of leadership.