In sports team cohesion is the tendency for a group of athletes to remain united in pursuit of team goals in the face of adversity.
Carron & Hausenblas (1998) offer a conceptual framework for team cohesion that includes the environment (i.e., group size), leadership (both peer and coaching behavior), team (i.e., roles), and personal factors (i.e., satisfaction). This framework is based upon Carron’s (1985) two principles of group integration and the individual’s attractive to the group (Burke et al., 2014). The principle of group integration is the concept that each athlete has a unique perspective about the closeness or bondedness of the team (Burke et al., 2014). The concept of an individual’s attractive to the group reflects the athlete’s personal benefits of being on the team or how each athlete’s individual needs are being met by other team members throughout the course of a season (Burke et al., 2014).
Both group integration and the individual’s attractive to the group ultimately impact whether the team sticks together over time. The factors that contribute to a team members motivation for group integration or attractiveness to the group can be broken down into the two categories of either task or social factors (Burke et al., 2014). Task factors represent a team’s objectives or goals (Burke et al., 2014). Social factors consist of social relationships and activities within the team (Burke et al., 2014).
Questions to Ask
As a sport psychology consultant, I primarily evaluate the quality of trust in the relationships between players to players, and between players to the coaching staff. I would also examine the quality and strength of team leadership.
- Are there clear leaders on the team?
- Are the leadership roles and responsibilities clear?
- Do those leaders have the respect of their teammates and serve as a communication conduit between the team and coaches?
It’s also critical to examine the individual sport satisfaction and burnout levels of the players.
- Do the players enjoy practicing and competing together?
- Do they share common goals?
- Do they enjoy being with one another outside of the gym or competition realm?
- Do the athletes show respect one another’s differences?
Assessments
The Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ) created by Widmeyer, Brawley, & Carron (1985) can be used to evaluate the level of team cohesion by assessing how the team members relate to and work together (Aoyagi et al., 2008). The Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire (ASQ) by Riemer & Chelladurai (1998) can also be used to evaluate athlete satisfaction (Aoyagi et al., 2008).
Closing
One important factor about team cohesion to keep in mind is that team cohesion alone does not necessarily always result in optimal or desired performance. A group of athletes could have a high level of team cohesion, but low levels of motivation or lack leadership and ultimately perform poorly. Successful teams require both cohesion and leadership to achieve optimal performance results.
References
Aoyagi, M., Cox, R., & McGuire, R. (2008). Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Sport: Relationships with Leadership, Team Cohesion, and Athlete Satisfaction. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 20(1), 25–41.
Burke, S.M., Davies, K., & Carron, A.V. (2014). Group Cohesion in Sport and Exercise Settings. In Mark R. Beauchamp, & Mark A. Eys. (2014). Group dynamics in exercise and sport psychology: Vol. Second edition. Routledge.