First Advisor

Zafrin Rahman

Date of Award

Winter 3-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Business: Management and Leadership and University Honors

Department

Business

Language

English

Subjects

Leadership, Communication, Cohesion, Team Dynamics

Abstract

Communication is one of the main determinants of whether a team or group achieves a successful outcome; when it starts to erode, the team's overall goal often erodes with it. Communication breakdown within teams directly impacts group cohesion, causing small misunderstandings to escalate into larger conflicts. Every team experiences ups and downs, but maintaining a strong foundation of communication and continually strengthening it will prevent this breakdown.

Most of the existing research on team dynamics focuses on corporate environments. By shifting the focus to a short-term academic team, this thesis shows how communication breakdown impacts group cohesion over the lifespan of a team, using a ten-week capstone project as a case example. The analysis draws from the management disciplines of team dynamics, organizational behavior, and leadership studies.

Team chat transcripts are analyzed alongside the work of He and Hu, Damian et al., Lockwood, and Li et al. to show how communication patterns evolve. Factors such as shared awareness, team commitment, and misinterpretation in virtual interactions contributed to the communication breakdown and limited the effectiveness of benevolent leadership efforts. Despite all of these causes, the team ultimately produced a substantial product, showing that even though a team is doing well, a longer project timeline or a different environment may have revealed a more rapid erosion of cohesion.

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44760

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