Managing diversity

Question 1

Diversity may…

Answer 1

• enlarge pool of talent
• increase capacity of innovation
• improve decision making
• provide access to more customers
• enable to better satisfy customers’ needs
• increase well-being

Question 2

Yet, diversity often leads to…

Answer 2

• unfavourable work outcomes
• more absenteeism
• weaker employee attachment
• more conflict
• poorer in-role and extra-role performance
• discrimination
• less well-being

Question 3

Diversity Definition (van Knippenberg and Schippers, 2007)

Answer 3

“…differences between individuals on any attribute that may lead to the perception that another person is different from self”

Question 4

An integrated model of demographic impacts on group process and performance (Williams & O’Reillym, 1998):

Answer 4

Demographic Variations within groups will affect the ability of the group to function.

Underlying theories:
1. Information/Decision-Making: Diversity in the group is proposed to increase the information available for problem solving and, in turn, enhance the ability of the group to generate correct or creative solutions

2. Social Categorization (+) and similarity/attraction (-) theories highlight the potentially divisive effects of increased cognitive biases and stereotypes and decreased attraction/liking of groups. Diversity is proposed to result in increased conflict, communication problems -> result in diminished ability of the group to solve problems

–> effects of diversity can be moderated by the situation (such as common identity or goal that reduce in-group/out-grou biases)

Question 5

Work Group Model (McGrath et al., 1995; Labert & Bell, 2013)

Answer 5

Cluster 1: Demographic attitudes (DEM): age, race, sex, sexual orientiation, physical status, religion, education

Cluster 2: task-related knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA)

Cluster 3: Values, Beliefs, Attitudes (VBA)

Cluster 4: Personality and cognitive behavior styles

Cluster 5: Status within the organization (ORG) (e.g. organization rank, tenure or department affiliation)

Question 6

Trait Approach:

Answer 6

There is a direct link between different people in the diverse team and the outcome - everybody brings something to the team such as skills/knowledge, attitudes, personality. Because of that, everyone behaves differently. The behavior has a direct effect on group interaction and performance.

Question 7

Expectations Approach

Answer 7

If someone comes to a job that doesn’t fit to the common expectations (such as young male in the kindergarden), the others of the team will have other expectations. Expectations others have of us, will have a strong impact on our self-esteem, on our decisions, wether we feel afraid or if we are proud.

Question 8

Differential Power Approach

Answer 8

If I put young people with older people in one team, usually the older people have more authority than younger people. This differences have an influence on the performance and the group interaction (in a good or in a bad sense)

–> if you have people in a team that don’t feel empowered with their ideas, it can produce groupthink (the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group, resulting typically in unchallenged, poor-quality decision-making) and hinder good solution and creative ideas finding

Question 9

Multicultural Approach

Answer 9

combines all three approaches

Question 10

Team Mental Model Construct Space
Information Sharing/Transactive Memory

Answer 10

In heterogeneous teams in which dinstinct roles require information unique to particular individuals, it is argued that knowledge concerning the task should be primarily distributed among team members. Although there is some taskwork knowledge that all team members will need to hold in common in every team, too much overlap will create redunancies and inefficiencies that result in suboptimal use of team resources.

Question 11

Team Mental Model Construct Space
Group Learning

Answer 11

Emphasized the overlapping definition of sharing. Knowledge reflecting how the team will function together and communication processes should primarily be held in common by all the team members. Teamwork in heterogeneous teams.

Question 12

Team Mental Model Construct Space
Cognitive Consensus

Answer 12

A balance between both overlapping and complementary sharing perspectives is needed with respect to belief structures.
- with completely divergent belief structures: likely to involve in high degree of miscommunication and misunderstanding
- multiple perspectives are one of the advantages of a group context
- group members must simultaneously agree and disagree in order to maintain both unity and diversity.

Question 13

Transactive Memory

Answer 13

not everyone has the same knowledge. But everyone has a metaknowledge in the group of who knows what. -> it can amplify the vision of labor in terms of memorizing different stuff

Question 14

Relation between Diversity and Performance

Answer 14

Curvlinear Relation: if we have too much or too little diversity, it is bad. If it’s the right level of diversity, then it’s fine. For practicioners it’s reasonable, for researchers it’s frustrating because you cannot really predict outcomes. How much diversity to we really need?

Question 15

Moderations of Diversity and elaboration of task-relevant information

Answer 15

Moderator: need for cognition

For those high in need for cognition: educational diversity had a positive impact on task-relevant information

For those high in need for cognition: age diversity had a positive impact.

For those wo are lower in need for cognition, age-diversity is disturbing for task-relevant information and collective team identification.

Question 16

Other potential moderators:

Answer 16

• Complexity of task
• Team interdependence
• Team Processes
• Leadership Style
• Organizational Culture
• HR Practices
• Diversity beliefs
• Distribution of information

Question 17

Categorization-Elaboration Model of group work diversity and group performance:

Answer 17

1. primary process underlying positive effect of diversity on group performance is elaboration of task-relevant information
2. task requirements, as well as task motivation and task ability moderate this relationship, such that diversity may be positively related to performance when performance requires information processing and creative-innovative solutions
3. Social Categorization within work groups is contingent on the interaction of the comparative fit, the normative fit and the cognitive accessibility of social categorizations. -> This results in intergroup biases that are disruptive to group functioning to the extent that the identity implied by the categorization is subjectively threatend or challenged.
4. Intergroup biases elicited by work-group diversity are disruptive to elaboration of task-relevant information and therefore to group performance.
5. All dimensions of diversity may elicit social categorization processes as well as elaboration processes.

Question 18

Dual pathway model of diversity (Carter & Phillips, 2017)

Answer 18

• recognition of diversity sparks processes of social categorization, whereby individuals make in-group and out-group distinctions so that out-group members are viewed as more different from the self and in-group members are seen as more similar.
• due to similarity-attraction, individuals have a higher attraction towards in-group members compared to out-group members

To potential pathways:
1. social categorization can disrupt group processes when intergroup bias is activated, potential sources of bias activation include threats to group identity, presence of strong faultines
–> within an environment of intergroup bias, detrimental group processes marked by interpersonal conflict, avoidance behaviors and communication problems will emerge and ultimately undermine group performance.

2. when intergroup bias is not activated, social categorization can give way to an alternative pathway. With less interpersonal attraction, members of diverse groups can focus their energy towards the task rather than on forming social connections. Within this environment, thwere differences are the norm rather than the exception, diverse group members are more likely to engage in processes described by the information and decision-making framwork (considering the perspectives of others and seeking out unique, rather than commonly shared information during group discussion) - engagement in critical analysis of own knowledge is more likely, these processes wil enhance problem-solving and creativity

Question 19

Adding the importance of status (van Dijk & van Engen, 2013)

Answer 19

• status configurations are more likely to occur and tend to be more disparate in diverse groups than in more homogeneous groups
• task type moderates the relationship between work group diversity and the formation and composition of a status configuration in such a way that group members who are stereotypically thought to be more competent and the task at hand obtain higher status
• a more disparate status configuration enhances group efficiency
• however: more efficiency does not automatically result in improved performacne.

Question 20

Distinction of faultlines

Answer 20

Identity-based subgroups

Resource-based subgroups

Knowledge-based subgroups

Question 21

Identity-based subgroups

Answer 21

separation-based faultlines -> activate development of identity-based subgroups (e.g. cliques, relational subgroups, social subgroups,…)

Inter-subgroup processes are characterized by social identity (“horizontal” continuum of traits related to the values that team members possess (e.g. cultural values))

Question 22

resource-based subgroups

Answer 22

dispartiy-based faultlines -> active resource-based subgroups (e.g. coalitions, factions, alliances,…)

inter-subgroup processes are characterized by social dominance (e.g. asymmetric perception of fairness and centralization of power in the team) “vertical” continuum of traits related to the resources team member possess (e.g. status and decision power)

Question 23

knowledge-based subgroups

Answer 23

variety-based faultlines -> knowledge-based subgroups (cohorts, informational subgroups, task-related subgroups)

Inter-subgroup processes are characterized by information processing (e.g. consideration of alternative sources of knowledge and the covergence of mental models)
- represent qualitatively distinct component of knowledge related to how team mebers process information vis-a-vis their environment (e.g. functional expertise)