TEAM COHESION AND PERFORMANCE – A CONCEPTUAL STUDY IN OIL EXPLORATION TEAMS IN INDIA

Abstract

The correlation between Team Cohesion and Team Performance has been an area of active
interest, both among researchers and practitioners. This paper explores the cohesion–
performance correlation through a synthesized review of literature on teams, in the specific
context of Indian petroleum industry. The paper argues that while Cohesion helps Performance
in the initial stages of team formation, excessive Team Cohesion beyond a threshold is
detrimental to Team Performance in the context of petroleum industry. The argument is
strengthened by triangulation of the literature review with qualitative enquiry to secure
specific information about conceptualization of Team Cohesion and its relationships with
Team Performance in Oil exploration teams in India. The framework relating to the various
elements of team Cohesion at play in such oil exploration teams is proposed