The Conceptual Model of Cohesion

The conceptual model is divided into two major categories. The first is a member’s perceptions of the group as a totality and the second is a member’s personal attraction to the group. The former category is labeled group integration, and the latter individual attractions to the group. Both perceptions help to connect members to their group. This connection to the group can be based upon task or social aspects.

Task cohesion involves members of a group working together to achieve a specific and identifiable task, such as team goals and performance objectives (Carron, 1982; Cox, 1998; Gill, 2000). Social cohesion concerns itself with friendship issues, as well as other inter personal concerns such as social-emotional support (Cox, 1998; Gill, 2000). These two aspects of cohesion can be further divided, therefore forming a conceptual model of cohesion, which was provided by Carron et al, 1982.
This creates four dimensions:

Table 2: The four dimensions of the conceptual

Individual attractions to the group-task (ATG-T)

This is viewed as the attractiveness of the group’s task, productivity, and goals for the individual personally. Individual attraction to the group-social (ATG-S) This is defined as the attractiveness of the group as a social unit and social interaction and friendship opportunities available for the individual personally.

Group integration-task (GI-T) – This is the individual’s perception of task unity within the group as a whole.
Group integration-social (GI-S) – This is perceived as the individual’s perceptions of the social unity within the group as a whole

It is assumed that the four constructs of the conceptualization are correlated. They are related through the perceived interaction of various task and social orientations as viewed through the eyes of the individuals for themselves and their group (Carron et al, 1985 p.248).