from the evidence, it cannot be said that lack of team cohesion is statistically likely to result in numerous performance errors or an observable failure, but it does seem likely that ignoring the relationship between cohesion and performance will result in sub-optimal performance. we know that many factors contribute to how cohesion is built and encouraged within a team, and we know that cohesion is positively related to better performance. research cannot effectively determine in a reasonable amount of time what minimum level of cohesion is required to avoid catastrophic failure. instead of investing research and time in such an endeavor, funding would be better used to test and identify effective means of building cohesion and promoting optimal performance in a long-duration mission context.