Cohesion and Performance

Abstract

The management of project teams is evolving from managing technical processes to focusing on psychosocial determinants of performance. This trend puts a strain on project management theory and practice. Past meta-analyses on the cohesion—performance relationship show a positive correlation. However, they integrate effect sizes across different types of teams and settings. To clarify this issue for project teams, this meta-analysis differentiates 33 cohesion—performance correlations depending on whether teams are project, production, or service teams in organizational or academic settings. Results show that types of teams and settings are moderators. Project teams in organizational and academic settings show large effect sizes and differ from other teams. Theoretical considerations point to five interrelated modifiers: task uncertainty, task versus outcome performance, student samples' mental representation of the project outcome, and group heterogeneity.