weak 4 Flashcards
TWO KEY DEVELOPMENTS SHOW THE
CLEAR RELEVANCE OF TEAM DIVERSITY AND COMPOSITION
Organizations increasingly work using teams + these teams are increasingly diverse
team diversity
The degree to which objective OR subjective differences exist
between group members
double-edge sword of diversity
value in diversity hypothesis and diversity impedes performance and team functioning
value in team diversity: information-processing approach
- Diverse teams have more relevant
information and perspectives available
than homogeneous groups (i.e., have
more available resources) - When teams can combine these resources
well (=good process), they can achieve
superior performance
Social Categorization Perspective:
Diversity creates social divisions which harm teamwork
Stems from:
* Similarity-attraction theory (People attracted to similar others)
* Self-categorization / social identity theories
- Part of our identity/self esteem is rooted in group memberships
- People categorize themselves and others into groups, with which they identify and which they try to promote (i.e., favoring the ingroup above the outgroup, thereby harming intergroup relations)
Categorization-elaboration
combines optimistic & pessimistic view of diversity. diversity can lead to both positive or negative impact, depending if
- information elaboration
or
-subgroup categorization and intergroup bias
occur
which process (information elaboration or subgroup categorization) will be activated depends on the moderators
- characteristics of the team
- characteristics of the context (task requirements: task complexity, cooperation, motivation & ability, interdependence)
- characteristics of individuals within the team
four i’s of transformational leadership
- idealized influence: being a positive role model
- individualized consideration: genuine care for subordinates
- inspirational motivation: inspire and motivate subordinates
- intellectual stimulation: challenge subordinates to become their best, most
results of kearney & gebert where
-input: 3 types of diversity
-moderator: transformational leadership
-process/emergent state: collective team identification & elaboration of task-relevant information
-output: team performance
- TL moderates the relationship between diversity (all three types) and team performance
- With
increasing nationality diversity,
transformational leadership has
a positive effect on team
performance
high diversity + high TL = team performance. why?
- Team members engage in more
information elaboration - Information elaboration is good
for team performance - Team experiences more
collective identification - Collective identification is
positively associated with
information elaboration - Information elaboration is good
for team performance
dark side of visionary leadership
A 3-way interaction: In ethnically diverse teams, visionary
leaders who have increased tendency to categorize,
reduce performance and team communication adequacy
THE ROLE OF DIVERSITY BELIEFS
- Groups that believe that differences are important,
meaningful, or valuable will benefit from diversity - Thus, diverse teams with a positive outlook on diversity
function better than diverse teams with a negative outlook
on diversity
As you learned as part of Lecture 4, tasks characteristics impact
which diversity related process will be activated and thus be
predictive of performance in diverse teams. Which task
characteristic most likely stimulates information elaboration in
diverse teams?
a. A task that creates high interdependence among team
members
b. A task with little complexity (an easy task)
c. A task that increases competition among team members
a. A task that creates high interdependence among team
members
Which of these three things matters the most when trying to
predict whether diversity will be positive or negative for team
outcomes?
a. Whether the team’s attitude is positive or negative about
diversity.
b. Whether there’s surface level diversity in the team.
c. Whether there’s visionary leadership in the team.
a. Whether the team’s attitude is positive or negative about
diversity.
