Cohesion Assessment Team: A Multidisciplinary Unit Assessment Grounded in Army Doctrine.

Area of Science:

• Military Psychology
• Organizational Behavior
• Sociology

Background:

• Harmful behaviors and unit climate significantly impact military readiness and soldier well-being.
• The Vice Chief of Staff of the Army initiated a need for actionable insights into unit climate.
• Existing assessment methods may lack a comprehensive, rapid, and triangulated approach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the methodology and implementation of the Cohesion Assessment Team (CAT) assessment.
• To provide battalion and brigade command teams with actionable data on unit climate.
• To identify key factors influencing unit cohesion and identify areas for improvement.

Main Methods:

• Selection of two battalions within a brigade for assessment.
• Multi-source data collection including Army metrics, expert observations, staff discussions, soldier surveys (~90% participation), and targeted interviews.
• Rapid synthesis of onsite and survey data within one week.

Main Results:

• The CAT provides actionable insights into unit climate and identifies harmful behaviors.
• Assessment results are presented to command teams, highlighting areas for maintenance or improvement.
• Summarized findings are escalated to higher echelons, including the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army.

Conclusions:

• The CAT offers a distinct, non-attributional, and systematic approach to assessing unit climate.
• The assessment empowers leaders to make informed decisions to enhance unit cohesion and readiness.
• The successful pilot has led to the transfer of CAT responsibility to the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).