All the pros and cons that come with diversity in workplace teams
| Jul 30, 2019, 11:30 IST
Diversity adds positivity, doesn't it? At least that's what we've been told over and over again. And while this may hold true for a society, it isn't always necessarily this way when it comes to a workplace team. A new study found that having a diverse workplace team might not be as positive as thought to be. The study was able to find that individuals who added demographic diversity to the teams didn't really have any positive outcomes on the team.
The study used two categories to conduct their survey on - demographic (race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality) and scientific (career stage, academic discipline, tenure on team). Nearly 266 people were considered as samples and these people were then required to fill questionnaires that asked them how satisfied they were with individual and team diversity, how satisfied they were with their teams and authorship practices and what they thought of the data sharing practices in their team.
The participants were also asked to disclose what the team climate was like. So, they were asked questions like how often were they included in team discussions, how often did they participate in conversations etc. It was found that participants with underrated demographic characteristics (gay men, ethnic women) felt that their team climate was generally negative. The study’s lead author Isis Settles said that this perception of a negative climate made these people associate their teams with lower satisfaction, negative perceptions of data sharing and inclusion.
“Creating successful teams that are demographically and scientifically diverse is not a simple matter of recruiting more individuals from underrepresented groups and combining team members from a variety of backgrounds,” said Settles. “Diverse teams can struggle with allocation of credit, differences in perspectives and unequal power dynamics,” she added. “Team policies must be clear and openly discussed, and transparent policies and procedures must be followed to alleviate power imbalances,” Settles suggested.
Study co-lead author, Kevin Elliott also added that teams needed to be more mindful of people with underrated demographic diversity and that while it may be great to have diversity in teams, one needs to know how to make things work in such a way that no one feels left out or unappreciated. And this needs to hold true especially for minorities. Stay tuned for more updates.
The study used two categories to conduct their survey on - demographic (race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality) and scientific (career stage, academic discipline, tenure on team). Nearly 266 people were considered as samples and these people were then required to fill questionnaires that asked them how satisfied they were with individual and team diversity, how satisfied they were with their teams and authorship practices and what they thought of the data sharing practices in their team.
The participants were also asked to disclose what the team climate was like. So, they were asked questions like how often were they included in team discussions, how often did they participate in conversations etc. It was found that participants with underrated demographic characteristics (gay men, ethnic women) felt that their team climate was generally negative. The study’s lead author Isis Settles said that this perception of a negative climate made these people associate their teams with lower satisfaction, negative perceptions of data sharing and inclusion.
“Creating successful teams that are demographically and scientifically diverse is not a simple matter of recruiting more individuals from underrepresented groups and combining team members from a variety of backgrounds,” said Settles. “Diverse teams can struggle with allocation of credit, differences in perspectives and unequal power dynamics,” she added. “Team policies must be clear and openly discussed, and transparent policies and procedures must be followed to alleviate power imbalances,” Settles suggested.
Study co-lead author, Kevin Elliott also added that teams needed to be more mindful of people with underrated demographic diversity and that while it may be great to have diversity in teams, one needs to know how to make things work in such a way that no one feels left out or unappreciated. And this needs to hold true especially for minorities. Stay tuned for more updates.
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