Diversity and team outcomes: the moderating effects of outcome interdependence and group longevity and the mediating effect of reflexivity

Reflexivity - the extent to which teams reflect upon and modify their functioning - has been identified as a possible key factor in the effectiveness of work teams. We examined the extent to which team composition affected team process (i.e., reflexivity) and in turn team outcomes (i.e., satisfaction, commitment, and performance). The results of diversity research thus far have been inconclusive in terms of positive or negative effects of team composition on team process and outcomes. In the current research, group longevity and outcome interdependence were expected to moderate the relationship between diversity on the one hand and reflexivity and team outcomes on the other hand. Reflexivity was expected to mediate these interaction effects. The current field study was conducted among 54 work teams from 13 different organizations. As predicted, few main effects were found. Instead, analyses showed interaction effects of diversity and outcome interdependence on the measures of reflexivity, satisfaction, and performance. As predicted, interaction effects were also found for diversity and group longevity on the measures of reflexivity, satisfaction, and performance. Three-way interactions were found for satisfaction and commitment. Also, reflexivity was shown to mediate these relationships, indicating that the moderating effects of outcome interdependence and group longevity on the relation between diversity and team outcomes are due to the effects on process. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[1]  R. Bales,et al.  Phases in group problem-solving. , 1951, Journal of abnormal and social psychology.

[2]  L. R. Hoffman,et al.  Quality and acceptance of problem solutions by members of homogeneous and heterogeneous groups. , 1961, Journal of abnormal and social psychology.

[3]  B. Tuckman.  DEVELOPMENTAL SEQUENCE IN SMALL GROUPS. , 1965, Psychological bulletin.

[4]  D. Byrne.  The Attraction Paradigm , 1971 .

[5]  M. E. Shaw.  Group dynamics : the psychology of small group behavior , 1971 .

[6]  I. Steiner.  Group process and productivity , 1972 .

[7]  J. Teachman.  Analysis of Population Diversity , 1980 .

[8]  I. Janis.  Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes , 1982 .

[9]  R. Katz.  The Effects of Group Longevity on Project Communication and Performance. , 1982 .

[10]  L. James,et al.  Estimating within-group interrater reliability with and without response bias. , 1984 .

[11]  Jeffrey Pfeffer,et al.  Organizational demography and turnover in top-management groups. , 1984 .

[12]  D. Rousseau.  Issues of level in organizational research: Multi-level and cross-level perspectives. , 1985 .

[13]  M. Evans.  A Monte Carlo study of the effects of correlated method variance in moderated multiple regression analysis , 1985 .

[14]  D. Wakefield,et al.  On the Causal Ordering of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment , 1986 .

[15]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[16]  W. Wood,et al.  Meta-analytic review of sex differences in group performance. , 1987, Psychological bulletin.

[17]  J. Hackman,et al.  The design of work teams , 1987 .

[18]  W. P. Barnett,et al.  Work group demography, social integration, and turnover. , 1989 .

[19]  M. Hogg,et al.  Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. , 1989 .

[20]  Todd R. Zenger,et al.  Organizational Demography: The Differential Effects of Age and Tenure Distributions on Technical Communication , 1989 .

[21]  Audrey J. Murrell,et al.  How does cooperation reduce intergroup bias , 1990 .

[22]  C. Gersick,et al.  Habitual routines in task-performing groups. , 1990, Organizational behavior and human decision processes.

[23]  L. Humphreys,et al.  Assessing spurious "moderator effects": Illustrated substantively with the hypothesized ("synergistic") relation between spatial and mathematical ability. , 1990, Psychological bulletin.

[24]  Jennifer M. George,et al.  Personality, affect, and behavior in groups. , 1990 .

[25]  Dean Tjosvold,et al.  Team Organization: An Enduring Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[26]  P. McLeod,et al.  Effects of Ethnic Group Cultural Differences on Cooperative and Competitive Behavior On a Group Task , 1991 .

[27]  S. Jackson,et al.  Some differences make a difference: Individual dissimilarity and group heterogeneity as correlates of recruitment, promotions, and turnover. , 1991 .

[28]  D. P. Leyden,et al.  Familiarity and Group Productivity , 1991 .

[29]  Deborah G. . Ancona,et al.  Demography and Design: Predictors of New Product Team Performance , 1992 .

[30]  M. Wiersema,et al.  Top Management Team Demography and Corporate Strategic Change , 1992 .

[31]  Charles A. O'Reilly,et al.  Being different: Relational demography and organizational attachment. , 1991 .

[32]  M. West,et al.  Innovation and creativity at work::Psychological and organizational strategies , 1992 .

[33]  Kamalesh Kumar,et al.  Differences in decision making regarding risk taking: A comparison of culturally diverse and culturally homogeneous task groups , 1992 .

[34]  Warren E. Watson,et al.  Cultural diversity''s impact on interaction process and performance: Comparing homogeneous and diver , 1993 .

[35]  C. Judd,et al.  Statistical difficulties of detecting interactions and moderator effects. , 1993, Psychological bulletin.

[36]  Gina J. Medsker,et al.  RELATIONS BETWEEN WORK GROUP CHARACTERISTICS AND EFFECTIVENESS: IMPLICATIONS FOR DESIGNING EFFECTIVE WORK GROUPS , 1993 .

[37]  H. P. Sims,et al.  Top Management Team Demography and Process: The Role of Social Integration and Communication , 1994 .

[38]  B. Mullen,et al.  The relation between group cohesiveness and performance: An integration. , 1994 .

[39]  R. Wageman.  Interdependence and Group Effectiveness , 1995 .

[40]  K. Jehn.  A Multimethod Examination of the Benefits and Detriments of Intragroup Conflict , 1995 .

[41]  Benjamin Schneider,et al.  The ASA framework: An update. , 1995 .

[42]  Richard A. Guzzo,et al.  Teams in organizations: recent research on performance and effectiveness. , 1996, Annual review of psychology.

[43]  M. West.  Reflexivity and work group effectiveness:a conceptual integration , 1996 .

[44]  D Kahneman,et al.  On the reality of cognitive illusions. , 1996, Psychological review.

[45]  L. H. Pelled.  Demographic Diversity, Conflict, and Work Group Outcomes: An Intervening Process Theory , 1996 .

[46]  Frances J. Milliken,et al.  Searching for Common Threads: Understanding the Multiple Effects of Diversity in Organizational Groups , 1996 .

[47]  Gwen M. Wittenbaum,et al.  Management of information in small groups. , 1996 .

[48]  Michael A. West,et al.  Handbook of Work Group Psychology , 1996 .

[49]  Jean Carletta,et al.  Group decision-making and effectiveness:unexplored boundaries , 1997 .

[50]  S. G. Cohen,et al.  What Makes Teams Work: Group Effectiveness Research from the Shop Floor to the Executive Suite , 1997 .

[51]  Kamalesh Kumar,et al.  Process gain and process loss: Comparing interpersonal processes and performance of culturally diverse and non-diverse teams across time , 1998 .

[52]  Michael A. West,et al.  Reflexivity, Effectiveness, and Mental Health in BBC-TV Production Teams , 1998 .

[53]  K. Eisenhardt,et al.  Exploring the Black Box: An Analysis of Work Group Diversity, Conflict and Performance , 1999 .

[54]  G. Northcraft,et al.  You have printed the following article : Why Differences Make a Difference : A Field Study of Diversity , Conflict , and Performance in Workgroups , 2007 .

[55]  A. C. Fernandes Da Costa,et al.  A Matter of Trust : Effects on the Performance and Effectiveness of Teams in Organizations , 2000 .

[56]  T. Girndt.  Cultural diversity and work-group performance : Detecting the rules , 2000 .

[57]  Michael A. West,et al.  Reflexivity, revolution and innovation in work teams , 2000 .

[58]  James A. Pharmer,et al.  When Member Homogeneity is Needed in Work Teams , 2000 .

[59]  G. V. D. Vegt,et al.  Team Members’ Affective Responses to Patterns of Intragroup Interdependence and Job Complexity , 2000 .

[60]  C. Earley,et al.  Creating hybrid team cultures: An empirical test of transnational team functioning. , 2000 .

[61]  N. Anderson,et al.  Handbook of Industrial, Work & Organizational Psychology , 2001 .

[62]  R. Golembiewski.  Handbook of Organizational Behavior , 2001 .

[63]  Scott Highhouse.  Judgment and Decision-Making Research: Relevance to Industrial and Organizational Psychology , 2001 .

[64]  Sandra E. Spataro,et al.  Getting to Know You: The Influence of Personality on Impressions and Performance of Demographically Different People in Organizations , 2001 .

[65]  S. Webber,et al.  Impact of highly and less job-related diversity on work group cohesion and performance: a meta-analysis , 2001 .

[66]  Debra L. Shapiro,et al.  Maximizing cross-functional new product teams' innovativeness and constraint adherence: A conflict communications perspective. , 2001 .

[67]  Jennifer A. Chatman,et al.  The Influence of Demographic Heterogeneity on the Emergence and Consequences of Cooperative Norms in Work Teams , 2001 .

[68]  Gerben S. van der Vegt,et al.  PATTERNS OF INTERDEPENDENCE IN WORK TEAMS: A TWO‐LEVEL INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONS WITH JOB AND TEAM SATISFACTION , 2001 .

[69]  Carsten K. W. De Dreu,et al.  Team innovation and team effectiveness: The importance of minority dissent and reflexivity , 2002 .

[70]  C. D. De Dreu,et al.  Work group diversity and group performance: an integrative model and research agenda. , 2004, The Journal of applied psychology.