Assessment of Work Group Cohesion and Productivity

摘要

This thesis investigated the relationship of cohesion and productivity among work groups. The study was accomplished in two phases. First, the study investigated the strength of the relationship between cohesion and several variables that the literature reviewed as being strongly related with group cohesion. The strength of association that these variables had with cohesion was tested using a sample of employees from a military supply squadron. Secondly, the research studied the relationship between group cohesion and work group performance through employee and supervisory perceptions of group productivity and through the collection of actual productivity measures. The variables that were significantly related to group cohesion were interdependence, communication, supervisor influence, participation in goal setting, rewards, and employee perceptions of group performance at the p < .001 level. The development of a cohesion scale resulted in observed significant differences between low and high cohesive groups in supervisor influence, participation in goal setting, and employee perceptions of group productivity.