Topic > The positive impact of team diversity and decision making

In recent years, organizations have relied much more on diversity teams to develop products, make decisions and even achieve business success (when and how) , so diversity teams are becoming very important element for organizations. In the United States, diversity usually refers to demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and ethnicity, however, diversity not only refers to demographics, but also means diversity in psychological characteristics such as ability, personality, ability, and educational background ( diversity of books). Although team diversity leads to some benefits such as positive organizational cooperation, sharing of knowledge and experience, it can also bring some problems to the organization, such as tension among members. In fact, some research has found that team diversity has a positive impact on decision-making. For example, one of the research found that educational diversity can positively influence decision making and also impact team performance (Simons). Furthermore, Dooley and Frywell illustrated that discussion and argument were associated with quality decision making in US hospitals. However, some research has also shown that diversity within the team can have a negative influence on decision making. For example, Sounder () found that, in diversity-based teams, due to the many differences among team members, it is sometimes difficult to reach agreement. While team diversity can sometimes improve the quality of decision making, it also increases conflict within team members and impedes cooperation. In Gassman's (1467) early research, he illustrated that although team diversity results in language barriers and cultural differences occur frequently, some benefits can still be found, such as opening up opportunities. Another experiment on creativity in problem solving found that the team made up of people with different attitudes and perspectives was much better than the team made up of people with similar attitudes (Triandis). Although team member diversity has demonstrated some benefits for creativity and innovation, some research and experiments have shown that there are no relationships between team member diversity and team performance or that team member diversity has a negative impact on creativity and innovation. Ochse (1990) illustrated that creativity can be hindered if the team member is expert enough in their field. Another study by Diehl (1992), demonstrated that although the diversity of team members increased the team's ability to develop creative ideas, this does not mean that diverse teams outperform homogeneous teams. As these researchers explored, diversity in team members brings not only a positive influence but also a negative one