Organizational Behavior (Stephen Robbins)

Questioning the Impact of Diversity

Do diverse teams really have more difficulty learning how to work together?The late

Professor Barbara Kelsey of Ryerson University studied groups of Caucasian and

Chinese men living in Canada to see how being a token ethnic member in a group

(the only Chinese or the only Caucasian) would affect participation and influence lev-

els in groups.^58 Some groups worked face to face, others by computer only.

What Kelsey found in the face-to-face groups was that Caucasian males, whether

tokens or dominants in their groups, had higher participation levels on average than

Chinese males. However, in face-to-face groups dominated by Chinese males, the

Chinese males also had relatively high participation rates. Only the token Chinese

males scored low in participation or influence on their groups.

In the computer-only groups, the ethnicity of group members could be deter-

mined in some groups, while for others it could not. In those groups where the eth-

nicity of team members was unknown, there were no differences in the participation

rates of Chinese and Caucasian men.

Kelsey’s research suggests that participation and influence may be less a cultural

issue, and more related to how individuals respond to visible differences when inter-

acting with diverse team members.

Size
Generally speaking, the most effective teams have fewer than 10 members. And experts
suggest using the smallest number of people who can do the task. Unfortunately, there
is a tendency for managers to make teams too large. While a minimum of four or five
members may be necessary to develop a diversity of views and skills, managers seem to
seriously underestimate how coordination problems can dramatically increase as team
members are added. When teams have excess members, cohesiveness and mutual
accountability decline, social loafing increases, and more and more people do less talk-
ing compared to others. So in designing effective teams, managers should try to keep the
number of members at less than 10. If a work unit is larger and you want a team effort,
consider breaking the unit into subteams. Uneven numbers in teams may help build in
a mechanism to break ties and resolve conflicts, while an even number of team mem-
bers may foster the need to create more consensus.

Chapter 5Working in Teams 167

FOCUS ON DIVERSITY

Separated workstations, such as these at a Hong Kong toy factory, reduce work group interactions.