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The purpose of this research is to model, measure and explain group cohesiveness through consonance. For this aim, we propose a holistic framework that combines the sociometric test with the novel Picture Apperception Value Test for defining group cohesiveness by assessing interpersonal attraction of group members through categorical values. The research approach is quantitative, classified both as inferential and quasi‐experimental. Findings indicate that the holistic framework serves as an effective model for measuring group cohesiveness, much more that it can be the sociometric test alone. Research originality and value derives from the fact of combining one existing and consolidated tool like the sociometric test, with an innovative tool like Picture Apperception Value Test for the measurement of group cohesiveness. Regarding practical implications, through the first instrument it is possible to create groups; with the second, it is possible to measure in a new way the interpersonal attraction based on individual's value system. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Organizations are important sources of communication during natural-hazard crises. How members of an organization perceive these communications (e.g., creating confusion, causing disorder, providing clarity, and restoring order) influences response and recovery from such a crisis. Using Chaos Theory as a guiding framework, the authors developed a new instrument measuring the perceived effects of an organization's communication on crisis-organizing processes. Three distinct studies were conducted to assess the reliability and validity of this new instrument: the "Perceived Effects of Communication on the Crisis-organizing Process (PEC-COP)" scale. This one-factor scale can be used by both scholars and practitioners to assess the effects of an organization's communication on how people organize (i.e., react and respond) during a crisis. By gaining greater insight into how an organization's communication is perceived, the organization can better prepare to communicate in ways that promote efficient and effective crisis-organizing processes throughout a natural-hazard crisis. Effective communication can create order out of chaos.