100% satisfaction guarantee Immediately available after payment Both online and in PDF No strings attached
logo-home
Summary of the article: "Work group diversity and group performance" $3.35   Add to cart

Summary

Summary of the article: "Work group diversity and group performance"

2 reviews
 534 views  13 purchases
  • Course
  • Institution

Summary of the article "Work group diversity and group performance: an integrative model and research agenda" written by Knippenberg, Dreu & Homan

Preview 1 out of 4  pages

  • September 22, 2016
  • 4
  • 2016/2017
  • Summary

2  reviews

review-writer-avatar

By: MichielvanEldik • 4 year ago

review-writer-avatar

By: sfturner2 • 6 year ago

avatar-seller
Summary: Work group diversity and group performance: an integrative model and research agenda –
Knippenberg, Dreu & Homan

Teams have become more diverse in terms of their demographic composition over the years and this
will continue. In addition, companies are increasingly using cross-functional teams, which means that
the teams have a higher functional diversity. Diversity has both positive and negative influences upon
performance.

Diversity refers to the differences between individuals on any attribute that may lead to the perception
that another person is different from self. Those attributes refer to an almost infinite number of
dimensions. Broadly, it can be separated in 2 categories:
 Social category diversity: differences in readily detectable attributes, such as sex, age and ethnicity.
 Informational/functional diversity: differences in less visible underlying attributes that are more job-
related, such as functional and educational background.

There are two main traditions in research in work-group diversity and performance:
 The social categorization perspective: similarities and differences are used as a basis for categorizing
self and others into groups, with ensuing categorizations between one’s own in-group and one or
more out-groups. In-group members are mostly more trusted and consequently favored. This can
lead to inter-subgroups within a work group. Therefore, the more homogenous the group, the
higher the member commitment and group cohesion, and the higher the performance.
 The information/decision-making perspective: diverse groups should outperform homogenous
groups. Diverse groups are more likely to possess a broader range of task-relevant knowledge, skills
and abilities that are distinct, which creates a larger pool of resources. Furthermore, they are more
likely to have different opinions and perspectives on the particular task, which leads to negotiating
and to more thoroughly processing task-relevant information and may prevent the group from
opting too easily for a consensus choice. In addition, the differences may lead to more creative and
innovative ideas and solutions. This leads to higher performance in the end.

Analyzing both sides, one could conclude that diversity negatively affects relationships within a team,
and positively affects the performance of a team. However relationship-conflicts lead to lower
performance, so not completely true.

Social categorization is more likely to occur for readily observable characteristics as sex and ethnicity,
than for more ‘hidden’ dimensions of diversity, such as functional or educational background. The
positive effects of diversity are linked to the latter. Therefore, you can also argue that diversity has only
positive effects on performance through informational differences, through underlying-job related
attributes. However, research show different results on this hypothesis.

Previous research failed to find the relation between diversity and group performance. To address this
problem, the article proposes the categorization-elaboration model (CEM). The CEM identifies a number
of reasons, why diversity research has yielded such inconsistent findings:
- Diversity research has paid insufficient attention to group information processing and to
important moderators of group information processing.
- Diversity research has often worked from a somewhat oversimplified conceptualization of social
categorization process (in-group versus out-group). This led to ignoring important moderators of

The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.

Quick and easy check-out

Quick and easy check-out

You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.

Focus on what matters

Focus on what matters

Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!

Frequently asked questions

What do I get when I buy this document?

You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.

Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?

Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.

Who am I buying these notes from?

Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller jannahollema. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.

Will I be stuck with a subscription?

No, you only buy these notes for $3.35. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.

Can Stuvia be trusted?

4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)

84251 documents were sold in the last 30 days

Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now

Start selling
$3.35  13x  sold
  • (2)
  Add to cart