Further Considerations Concerning the Cohesion-Performance Relation in Military Settings

Abstract

A recent issue of Armed Forces and Society published an interchange among MacCoun, Wong, Kolditz, and others regarding the relation of cohesion to performance. The discussion was purposefully narrow in its scope, but other literature should be considered to properly frame the larger question of cohesion's function in military settings. Specifically, current and future discussions should acknowledge: (1) the primary function of cohesion as revealed in historical and observational accounts of soldiers in combat; (2) emergent similarities between social support and cohesion, which support the notion that cohesion acts as a moderator rather than a main effect of performance; and (3) findings from a recent meta-analysis that contradict those of Mullen and Cooper. Viewing cohesion's relation to performance as indirect rather than direct has very different and important implications for research, applications, and expected effects of cohesion on group performance.