Gender Composition and Crew Cohesion During Long-Duration Space Missionsformance, but some have argued that these effects were often moderated by addi-
tional variables.^30 The current view is that cohesion does have some influence over
team processes and how well a team performs, but that the effect often depends on
the type of cohesion, the type of task, and the interaction with other team variables.
In the case of group performance, a majority of authors cite task cohesion as the
critical component in the cohesion-performance effect. For example, task cohesion
has been related to better performance for teams making decisions under temporal
stress.^31 Particularly for additive tasks, for which individual efforts are combined to
complete an overall group task, S. J. Zaccaro and C. A. Lowe found that high task
cohesion increased performance, but that interpersonal cohesion had no effect.^32
Such is not the case with disjunctive tasks, for which group members must work
together to produce a collective product. Zaccaro and M. C. McCoy had groups rank
15 items in order of importance to group survival in a simulated survival situation task.
Results indicated that high task and high interpersonal cohesion groups outperformed
groups either high on one type but low on another, or low on both types. For disjunctive
tasks, Zaccaro and McCoy noted, “High task-based cohesion increases the likelihood
that high ability members will contribute to the group problem-solving, whereas
high interpersonal cohesion facilitates the procurement, recognition, and acceptance
of high quality contributions.”^33 In addition, better-performing teams competing in
a complex business simulation game, a disjunctive-type task, were more cohesive, as
represented by higher scores on measures of interpersonal and task cohesion. The
authors maintained that cohesive teams “are better performers because they are able
to satisfy the social needs of the team members while simultaneously demonstrating
a shared commitment to the team task.”^34
- S. M. Gully, D. J. Devine, and D. J. Whitney, “A Meta-analysis of Cohesion and
Performance: Effects of Levels of Analysis and Task Interdependence,” Small Group Research 26,
no. 4 (1995): 497–520. - Zaccaro, Gualtieri, and Minionis, “Task Cohesion”: 77–93.
- S. J. Zaccaro and C. A. Lowe, “Cohesiveness and Performance on an Additive Task:
Evidence for Multidimensionality,” Journal of Social Psychology 128, no. 4 (1988): 547–558. - S. J. Zaccaro and M. C. McCoy, “The Effects of Task and Interpersonal Cohesiveness
on Performance of a Disjunctive Group Task,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 18, no. 10
(1988): 837–851. - P. Miesing and J. Preble, “Group Processes and Performance in a Complex Business
Simulation,” Small Group Behavior 16 (1985): 325–338.