Being distinctive versus being conspicuous: The effects of numeric status and sex-stereotyped tasks on individual performance in groups

Chatman, Jennifer A.; Boisnier, Alicia D.; Spataro, Sandra E.; Anderson, Cameron; Berdahl, Jennifer L.

doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2008.02.006

Cited by 60 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…Roberson, Deitch, Brief, & Block, 2003). This is supported by empirical evidence showing that highly skilled work group members deal more effectively with their numerical minority status than work group members that are less skilled Running head: MANAGING DIVERSITY IN ORGANIZATIONS 21 (Chatman et al, 2008). Because dissimilarity has sometimes been associated with more creativity (Chatman, Polzer, Barsade, & Neale, 1998;Choi, 2007) and learning (Brodbeck et al, 2011) we would expect that group members that hold high self-efficacy beliefs should not only be able to overcome the interpersonal adversities often associated with higher levels of dissimilarity, but in fact benefit from their dissimilarity, leading in turn also to more innovation.…”

Section: Running Head: Managing Diversity In Organizations 20mentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Thus, people who are highly motivated to initiate a work-related behavior will only engage in, and enjoy doing it when they hold high self-efficacy beliefs; when their self-efficacy beliefs are low, they are less likely to engage in these behaviors. This seems to be particularly relevant in diverse work groups and organizations, which render interactions between dissimilar employees more difficult (Guillaume et al, 2012), and in which employees often suffer from denigration and stereotype threat (e.g., Chatman, Boisnier, Spataro, Anderson, & Berdahl, 2008;L. Roberson, Deitch, Brief, & Block, 2003).…”

Section: Running Head: Managing Diversity In Organizations 20mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Managing diversity in organizations: An integrative model and agenda for future research

Guillaume

Dawson

Priola

et al. 2013

European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology

138

159

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The literature on policies, procedures, and practices of diversity management in organizations is currently fragmented and often contradictory in highlighting what is effective diversity management, and which organizational and societal factors facilitate or hinder its implementation. In order to provide a comprehensive and cohesive view of diversity management in organizations we develop a multilevel model informed by the social identity approach that explains, on the basis of a work motivation logic, the processes by, and the conditions under which employee dissimilarity within diverse work groups is related to innovation, effectiveness, and well-being. Building on this new model, we then identify those work group factors (e.g., climate for inclusion and supervisory leadership), organizational factors (e.g., diversity management policies and procedures, and top management's diversity beliefs) and societal factors (e.g., legislation, socio-economic situation, and culture) that are likely to contribute to the effective management of diversity in organizations. In our discussion of the theoretical implications of the proposed model we offer a set of propositions to serve as a guide for future research. We conclude with a discussion of possible limitations of the model and practical implications for managing diversity in organizations.

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Section: Running Head: Managing Diversity In Organizations 20mentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Running Head: Managing Diversity In Organizations 20mentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing diversity in organizations: An integrative model and agenda for future research

Guillaume

Dawson

Priola

et al. 2013

European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology

138

159

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We anticipated that the additional complexity caused by balanced groups, such as a larger size (four members rather than three) and the possibility of subgroups, would make it harder to isolate the effects of the PC norm. Additionally, research has shown that solo men and women may not differ significantly from paired or balanced groups under certain circumstances, such as when the group is working on a sex-typed task that is aligned with the solo member's sex or a task that is not sex typed (e.g., Chatman et al, 2008). That said, our general expectation is that a gender-balanced configuration (two women, two men) would reduce individual uncertainty slightly due to the presence of a similar other but that uncertainty would still arise, not at the individual level but at the subgroup level.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Creativity from Constraint? How the Political Correctness Norm Influences Creativity in Mixed-sex Work Groups

Goncalo

Chatman

Duguid

et al. 2014

Administrative Science Quarterly

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As work organizations become increasingly gender diverse, existing theoretical models have failed to explain why such diversity can have a negative impact on idea generation. Using evidence from two group experiments, this paper tests theory on the effects of imposing a political correctness (PC) norm, one that sets clear expectations for how men and women should interact, on reducing interaction uncertainty and boosting creativity in mixed-sex groups. Our research shows that men and women both experience uncertainty when asked to generate ideas as members of a mixed-sex work group: men because they may fear offending the women in the group and women because they may fear having their ideas devalued or rejected. Most group creativity research begins with the assumption that creativity is unleashed by removing normative constraints, but our results show that the PC norm promotes rather than suppresses the free expression of ideas by reducing the uncertainty experienced by both sexes in mixed-sex work groups and signaling that the group is predictable enough to risk sharing more—and more-novel—ideas. Our results demonstrate that the PC norm, which is often maligned as a threat to free speech, may play an important role in promoting gender parity at work by allowing demographically heterogeneous work groups to more freely exchange creative ideas.

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“…In fact, numerical distinctiveness is a common manipulation in experiments to activate stereotypic performance expectations and thus stereotype threat (Steele, 1997). For example, women performed worse at a difficult math test when they were the solo female in a group of men (Ben‐Zeev, Fein, Inzlicht, 2005; Chatman, Boisnier, Spataro, Anderson, & Berdahl, 2008; Inzlicht & Ben‐Zeev, 2000). This performance deficit was not found when sex ratios were more favorable to women or when the test assessed verbal skills (Chatman et al, 2008; Inzlicht & Ben‐Zeev, 2000).…”

Section: Challenges For Women In Science and Engineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, women performed worse at a difficult math test when they were the solo female in a group of men (Ben‐Zeev, Fein, Inzlicht, 2005; Chatman, Boisnier, Spataro, Anderson, & Berdahl, 2008; Inzlicht & Ben‐Zeev, 2000). This performance deficit was not found when sex ratios were more favorable to women or when the test assessed verbal skills (Chatman et al, 2008; Inzlicht & Ben‐Zeev, 2000). Even anticipating being a token woman in a work group can induce negative expectations about the experience (Cohen & Swim, 1995).…”

Section: Challenges For Women In Science and Engineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Women Cope: Being a Numerical Minority in a Male-Dominated Profession

Richman

vanDellen

Wood

2011

Journal of Social Issues

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Women who have academic careers in engineering have successfully navigated the social identity threats that prevent many other women from feeling that they belong in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. In this research, we examined what factors may be related to resilience in these academic environments. Female academics in engineering and nonengineering fields watched a fictitious conference video depicting either an unbalanced ratio of men to women or a balanced ratio. Subjective measures of identity threat werecollected. Past experience with discrimination, positive experience with female role models, family support, and general social support were associated with a greater sense of belonging to or desire to participate in the conference. These variables all buffered negative responding to social identity threat. Implications are discussed for understanding resilience to social identity threat, particularly among women in engineering.Women in the United States and other industrialized nations increasingly are entering traditionally male fields of study, employment, and athletic competition (Wood & Eagly, in press). This remarkable social change is evident especially in engineering and math-intensive science fields. For example, women in 1958 earned less than 1% of the doctorates in engineering, but in 2006 they earned 20% of those doctorates (National Science Foundation, 2008 less than 1% of tenure-track or tenured engineering faculty through 1979, they increased to 11% of engineering faculty in 2006 (National Science Foundation, 2008). Yet, these gains are smaller at the higher levels of the academy, with women making up only 5% of the full professors in engineering in 2006. This overall pattern typifies women's inroads into math-intensive science fields: Despite the substantial increase over the past half century, women are still a distinct minority, especially in higher status positions.The changing role of women in science thus has several faces. On the downside, women continue to be in the minority. On the upside, women's increasingly greater entry and success indicates that some women are coping effectively with their minority status in math-intensive science and engineering fields. How do they do it? What are the factors that enable some women to be relatively impervious to the threats of being a minority in a traditionally male-dominated field?In the present article, we address these questions by identifying sources of resilience for women academics, including freedom from discrimination, helpful female role models, and social support outside of work. Thus, our focus is not on whether identity threat occurs-this already has been well documented. Instead, we are trying to understand how some women succeed despite this threat. Specifically, we report the results of an experimental study testing the buffering factors that help women academics to cope with exposure to the identity threat of being in a numerical minority in a professional setting. By examining how successful women academics...

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Being distinctive versus being conspicuous: The effects of numeric status and sex-stereotyped tasks on individual performance in groups

Cited by 60 publications

References 86 publications

Managing diversity in organizations: An integrative model and agenda for future research

Managing diversity in organizations: An integrative model and agenda for future research

Creativity from Constraint? How the Political Correctness Norm Influences Creativity in Mixed-sex Work Groups

How Women Cope: Being a Numerical Minority in a Male-Dominated Profession

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