Questions
Maged
Lecture15HRM30142018.pptHRM 3014: Contemporary Issues in Managing a Workforce
Lecture 15:
Performance Outcomes of a Diverse Workforce
Learning objectives for today:
To examine some of the links between diversity and performance
To explore contingency factors such as team members’ personality characteristics, and workgroup faultlines
To identify some limitations of the existing research
To consider the role of organisations’ diversity perspectives in predicting outcomes
To review processes for the upcoming mock exam
To review information concerning the final exam
*
Views on diversity
‘Pessimistic’ view
- Based on similarity-attraction paradigm, self/social categorization theory
- Diversity leads to conflict, reduces cohesiveness
- Increases absenteeism, turnover, reduces quality
Views on diversity
‘Optimistic’ view
- “Value in diversity” perspective; the business case
- Different backgrounds, networks, information & skills lead to better group decision making, performance
- (But more coordination problems)
Research support for both views – but evidence is mixed
Limitations of research design
- Few studies use mediators, moderators
- Do we need other dimensions of diversity?
- Socially shared cognition; moods & emotions
- We need more complexity in operationalizing diverse groups
Outcomes
?
Diversity
?
≠
For a review, see: Van Knippenberg, D., & Schippers, M. C. (2007). Work group diversity. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 515-541.
Diversity in teams
- Group information processing
- Routine vs. complex tasks
- Social categorization
- Interdependence
- Time
Informational diversity
Reflexivity
Team learning
Performance
Informational diversity
Performance
Task complexity
Social categorisation
Interdependence
Time
For a review, see: Van Knippenberg, D., & Schippers, M. C. (2007). Work group diversity. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 515-541.
Diverse teams and personality
Openness to experience:
Intellectual curiosity, adaptability, receptiveness to new ideas
Promotes information sharing
Leads to better quality decisions
Homan, A. C., Hollenbeck, J. R., Humphrey, S. E., Van Knippenberg, D., Ilgen, D. R., & Van Kleef, G. A. (2008). Facing differences with an open mind: Openness to experience, salience of intragroup differences, and performance of diverse work groups. Academy of Management Journal, 51(6), 1204-1222.
Faultlines
- Sub-groups or coalitions that emerge naturally within teams, typically along demographic lines such as age, gender and functional background (Gratton, Voigt, & Erickson, 2007)
- Sub-group categorisation
- “Us vs. them”
- Can undermine workgroup performance via…
- Less trust in and motivation to
cooperate with other members - Less commitment to workgroup
- More interpersonal tension & conflict
- Less communication
Gratton, L., Voigt, A., & Erickson, T. J. (2007). Bridging faultlines in diverse teams. MIT Sloan Management Review, 48(4), 22-29.
For a review, see: Van Knippenberg, D., & Schippers, M. C. (2007). Work group diversity. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 515-541.
How to manage faultlines
- Will increased socialising help?
- Team members get to know each other more
- Solidification of faultlines? (see Gratton et al., 2007)
- Leader behaviour
- Task orientation
- Develop clear protocol for communication & coordination
- Establish operational structure
- Then switch to relationship-oriented style (see Gratton et al., 2007)
- Diversity beliefs (see Homan et al., 2007)
- Believing that diverse groups outperform homogeneous groups helps teams with faultlines perform better, via improved information sharing and processing
- Can prime teams with pro-diversity info to create pro-diversity beliefs
Homan, A. C., Van Knippenberg, D., Van Kleef, G. A., & De Dreu, C. K. (2007). Bridging faultlines by valuing diversity: diversity beliefs, information elaboration, and performance in diverse work groups. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(5), 1189-1199.
Diversity in organisations
Level of racial diversity
Herring, C. (2009). Does diversity pay?: Race, gender, and the business case for diversity. American Sociological Review, 74(2), 208-224.
Diversity in organisations
Level of racial diversity
Herring, C. (2009). Does diversity pay?: Race, gender, and the business case for diversity. American Sociological Review, 74(2), 208-224.
Diversity in organisations
Level of gender diversity
Herring, C. (2009). Does diversity pay?: Race, gender, and the business case for diversity. American Sociological Review, 74(2), 208-224.
Diversity in organisations
Level of gender diversity
Herring, C. (2009). Does diversity pay?: Race, gender, and the business case for diversity. American Sociological Review, 74(2), 208-224.
Roberson, Q. M., & Park, H. J. (2007). Examining the link between diversity and firm performance: The effects of diversity reputation and leader racial diversity. Group & Organization Management, 32(5), 548-568.
Possible explanations
- Signalling theory
- Given incomplete information, stakeholders interpret information as signals about an organisation
- Diversity reputation may signal firm’s ability to effectively manage diversity among employees, consumers, suppliers, etc.
- Leadership team racial diversity
- Broader range of perspectives and skills
- May extend firm’s professional and social network ties
- At low to moderate levels: tokenism, decreased communication, increased conflict; faultlines
Diversity at board level
Gender diversity
Race diversity
Innovation*
Reputation+
Organisational performance
- Return on investment
- Return on sales
Information/decision making perspective
Signalling theory – orgs use visible signals (like diversity) to gain status, reputation
Miller, T., & del Carmen Triana, M. (2009). Demographic diversity in the boardroom: Mediators of the board diversity–firm performance relationship. Journal of Management Studies, 46(5), 755-786.
More gender diversity at board level
- Campbell & Minguez Vera (2010), Spain: positive stock market reaction to announcement of female board appointments
- appointments positively associated with firm value over long term
- Chapple & Humphrey (2013), Australia: no association between board gender diversity and stock portfolio performance
Lückerath-Rovers (2011), Netherlands: firms with women directors perform better than those without women on boards
higher return on equity, return on sales, return on invested capital, operating result
but, lower total shareholder return
Reading list: See Post & Byron (2015) for a review of women on boards and firm financial performance
Effects of diversity perspectives
“Discrimination & fairness”: negative outcomes
“Access & legitimacy”: some negative outcomes, some positive outcomes
“Integration & learning”: positive outcomes
Work group diversity perspective
Quality of intergroup relations
Degree of feeling valued & respected
Meaning / significance of cultural identity at work
Work group functioning
Diversity
Ely, R. J., & Thomas, D. A. (2001). Cultural diversity at work: The effects of diversity perspectives on work group processes and outcomes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46(2), 229-273.
Effects of mainstreaming
Does organisation emphasise inclusion and integrate diversity into all policies and practices?
Or does organization focus on diversity as a stand-alone practice?
Reading list: See Scott, Heathcote, & Gruman (2011)
Effects of diversity on absenteeism
Avery, D. R., McKay, P. F., Wilson, D. C., & Tonidandel, S. (2007). Unequal attendance: The relationships between race, organizational diversity cues, and absenteeism. Personnel Psychology, 60(4), 875-902.
What are some possible implications of these findings for employers?
Key takeaways
Diversity generally has positive or neutral impact on performance, especially over long term
May be dependent on organisational culture for diversity (perspectives)
For the seminar
- ‘The Adoption Agency’ assignment posted on Moodle, underneath lecture slides
- Complete the ‘personal rankings’ column of the questionnaire and bring with you to the seminar
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