Group mechanisms and group cohesion: an examination of the effects of group properties on cohesiveness

Abstract

Cohesion is a critical area of investigation in the analysis of groups in that at least a minimum amount of cohesion is necessary for group formation and group elaboration. This research project was designed with two related purposes in mind. One purpose was to investigate the effects of a number of independent variables derived from the work of Kanter (1972) on group cohesion. The first model examined the effects of sacrifice, investment, renunciation, mortification, and transcendence on cohesion.

On the basis of the results of the first model, a second model was tested in which the variables from the first model in conjunction with an additional independent variable, type of organization, was tested. Regarding the significance of the second model, Hillery (1972) has criticized the field of community theory by stating that there has been a confusion between community as sentiment and community as a human group. Using cohesion as a measure of sentiment, and defining community as communal organizations, the second purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between type of organization and cohesion.

The first major finding of this study was that sacrifice is a powerful predictor of group cohesion: it explained 74 percent of the variance in-group cohesion. With the introduction of type of organization into the model, the findings of data analysis showed: (1) the effect of sacrifice on cohesion is stronger communal organizations, (2) among groups with sacrifice scores between 36.6 and 72.8 there is no statistically significant difference between types of organization and cohesion, and (3) among groups with sacrifice scores below 36.2, communal organizations are more cohesive than formal organizations, while among groups with sacrifice scores above 72.8, formal organizations are more cohesive than communal organizations.