Diversity in teams has been previously defined in terms of the nominal categories into which team members "fall". The core argument of this paper is that diversity is a subjective experience of social categories to which members "feel" they belong. These categories, or social identities, may become more or less salient in different contexts and at different times. We propose a model of diversity in teams that explains under what conditions these social identities become salient and how these social identities may influence appraisals of issues and events. These appraisals, in turn, can influence conflict and emotion. This dynamic view of diversity provides us with a better understanding of the "black box" --the cognitive and affective processes that may help to explain behavior and subsequently team performance.

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This study investigates the assumption that teams are the basic unit for creativity and innovation in organizations. Through a quasi‐experiment conducted with 548 professionals participating in a training course on management, the study first examines whether individuals opt for intrinsically more creative solutions than groups in a music composition task. Secondly, it explores whether alternating between group and individual music composition has an impact on the originality of the pieces composed. The results show that individuals make more original choices than groups whatever protocol is used, confirming that individuals are better able to think outside of the box, take risks, and demonstrate the divergent thinking necessary for creativity. Moreover, individuals choose less original options when their independent work is preceded by a group composition exercise. Paradoxically, we observe that in all cases, participants are more satisfied with their group production than their individual production. We conclude with some recommendations for developing the most original and satisfactory collective solutions to complex problems.