IS THE TEAM TIGHT ENOUGH TO DELIVER?

Abstract

Groups are increasingly becoming the norm in the largely dynamic and complex
environment surrounding organizations. Due to this, understanding group dynamics is
imperative for modern managers. It is commonly assumed that once a group is put
together, group members will harness their collective abilities to accomplish group
tasks. This is especially at the top of the organization where top managers are largely
aware of overall organization objectives. However, the ability of the group to deliver
group goals depends on how well the group members can work together and support
each other. The self categorization theory proposes that this ability is driven by how
cohesive the group is. This study therefore sought to determine the effect of group
cohesion on firm performance through a cross sectional descriptive survey. Primary
and secondary data was obtained relating to 53 large food and beverage manufacturing
firms in Kenya and was analyzed using ordinary linear regression. The study
established that the teams in these firms were moderately to highly cohesive. Further,
group cohesion significantly affected financial, customer, internal processes, social and
learning and development performance perspectives positively which was consistent
with the self categorization theory. The study therefore concluded that group cohesion
was a key ingredient in the performance of teams and recommended that managers
should always craft measures to engender task and social cohesion in designing working
teams if such teams were to deliver superior performance.