A Dynamic Perspective on Diverse Teams: Moving from the Dual-Process Model to a Dynamic Coordination-based Model of Diverse Team Performance

Abstract

A dynamic perspective on diverse teams: moving from the dual-process model to a dynamic coordination-based model of diverse team performance. Academy of Management ABSTRACTThe existing literature on diverse teams suggests that diversity is both helpful to teams in making more information available and encouraging creativity and damaging to teams in reducing cohesion and information sharing. Thus the extant literature suggests that diversity within teams is a double-edged sword that leads to both positive and negative effects simultaneously. This literature has not, however, fully embraced the increasing calls in the broader groups literature to take account of time in understanding how groups function (e.g., Cronin, Weingart, & Todorova, 2011). We review the literature on diverse teams employing this lens to develop a dynamic perspective that takes account of the timing and flow of diversity's effects. Our review suggests that diversity in groups has different short-term and long-term effects in ways that are not fully captured by the dominant double-edged sword metaphor. We identify an emerging perspective that suggests a tropical depression metaphor-that has the potential, over time, to develop either into a dangerous hurricane or diffuse into a rainstorm that gives way to sunshine, as more apt to capture the dynamic effects of diversity in teams. We conclude by outlining an agenda for redirecting future research on diverse teams using this more dynamic perspective. A Dynamic Perspective on Diverse Teams 3 A DYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE ON DIVERSE TEAMS: MOVING FROM THE DUAL-PROCESS MODEL TO A DYNAMIC COORDINATION-BASED MODEL OF DIVERSE TEAM PERFORMANCEWhy do some diverse teams outperform homogenous teams, while others severely underperform? At some point in the not-so-distant past that question may have provided an interesting thought experiment, but in an era of globalization and increased worker mobility it has moved to everyday reality for managers. Scholars have responded to this changed reality with an explosion of research on group diversity of all types and have generated significant insight into the drivers of diverse group performance (see Guzzo & Dickson, 1996;Harrison & Klein, 2007;Joshi & Roh, 2009;van Knippenberg & Schippers, 2007;Williams & O'Reilly, 1998). The metaphor that has emerged from the literature on diverse groups and teams is one of a "double-edged sword" (Milliken & Martins, 1996) whereby diversity leads simultaneously to informational advantage and to potential for creativity, as well as to reduced cohesion and poor information exchange. In line with recent calls for better understanding team dynamics over time (Cronin, Weingart and Todorova, 2011), in this paper, we review the literature on team diversity through a more dynamic, temporal lens to explain how diversity influences team performance.Our review reveals a different emergent metaphor that takes account of time in understanding why diverse teams produce diverse outcomes to replace the historic dual-process model.By "diverse team" w...

Difficult Differences: A Socio‐cultural Analysis of How Diversity Can Enable and Inhibit Creativity

“…Srikanth et al. () reviewed the group diversity–creativity literature through a temporal lens and concluded that unfavorable social outcomes do not stem from a priori intergroup biases but from the failure to coordinate different perspectives. Diversity of perspectives can produce representational gaps that result in team members struggling to integrate their information in creative tasks, even if they are motivated to do so (Cronin & Weingart, ; Dougherty, ).…”

Work Design Influences: A Synthesis of Multilevel Factors that Affect the Design of Jobs

“…Similarly, changes in team membership can be a 'jolt' to team co-ordination which then requires efforts to reinstall trust (Summers, Humphrey, & Ferris, 2012). Nevertheless a heterogeneous work composition does not inevitably lead to negative outcomes, as research shows that employees can take steps to mitigate such negative effects, although whether this extends to work design outcomes has yet to be established (Srikanth et al, 2016).…”

“…Negative effects of team heterogeneity on work design also occur because team differences in values, personalities or perspectives can increase conflict and distrust amongst employees (Srikanth, Harvey, & Peterson, 2016); which in turn motivates them to create and craft particular work designs. For instance, using student samples, Langfred (2007, p. 888) showed that teams reporting high levels of conflict and distrust also reported lower autonomy and task interdependence, which the author argued occurred because distrust lowers employees' willingness to "expose themselves to the risk of relying on others by agreeing to greater individual autonomy".…”

Age diversity, group organisational citizenship behaviour, and group performance: Exploring the moderating role of charismatic leadership and participation in decision‐making

“…This study found the possibility of an inverted‐U‐shaped relationship between age diversity and group outcomes, such as GOCB and group task performance, and of the moderating role of participation in decision‐making and charismatic leadership in this relationship. This study contributes to refining the CEM of van Knippenberg et al () by extending the scope to boundary conditions, such as employee participation and charismatic leadership, to solve the paradox that work group diversity may lead to both positive and negative effects (Chi et al, ; Srikanth, Harvey, & Peterson, ). To elaborate and justify our research framework, we incorporated van Knippenberg et al's () CEM, which is a fully developed paradigm of how various types of diversity simultaneously influence group processes.…”