Homan Astrid C, van Knippenberg Daan, Van Kleef Gerben A, De Dreu Carsten K W
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
J Appl Psychol. 2007 Sep;92(5):1189-99. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.92.5.1189.
Although there are numerous potential benefits to diversity in work groups, converging dimensions of diversity often prevent groups from exploiting this potential. In a study of heterogeneous decision-making groups, the authors examined whether the disruptive effects of diversity faultlines can be overcome by convincing groups of the value of diversity. Groups were persuaded either of the value of diversity or the value of similarity for group performance, and they were provided with either homogeneous or heterogeneous information. As expected, informationally diverse groups performed better when they held pro-diversity rather than pro-similarity beliefs, whereas the performance of informationally homogeneous groups was unaffected by diversity beliefs. This effect was mediated by group-level information elaboration. Implications for diversity management in organizations are discussed.
尽管工作团队的多样性有诸多潜在益处，但多样性的趋同维度往往会阻碍团队挖掘这种潜力。在一项针对异质决策团队的研究中，作者探讨了通过让团队相信多样性的价值，是否能够克服多样性断层线的破坏作用。研究人员使团队相信多样性对团队绩效有价值或者相似性对团队绩效有价值，并为他们提供同质或异质信息。正如预期的那样，当持有支持多样性而非支持相似性的信念时，信息多样的团队表现更好，而信息同质的团队的表现不受多样性信念的影响。这种效应是由团队层面的信息阐述介导的。文中还讨论了该研究对组织中多样性管理的启示。
