ECU College of Business Research: when can racial diversity in teams can enhance performance

A diverse team of workers collaborate on a project in business setting

Article

Setting the Stage for Success: How Participation Diversity Can Help Teams Leverage Racioethnic Diversity

Publication Name

Journal of Management

Authors

Derek R. Avery (University of Houston), Lauren A. Rhue (University of Maryland) and Patrick McKay (ECU College of Business, management)

What are the practical implications of your findings?

The research examined the conditions under which racial diversity in teams can enhance performance. Prior research has shown that diversity in teams can result in conflict between members that undermines team performance. We examined whether participation diversity (i.e., the extent to which team members’ time involvement in team tasks varies) could improve the positive impact of racial diversity on team performance by clarifying the key versus non-key contributors on teams. By clarifying team members’ roles, we expected high racial diversity and high participation diversity to enhance cooperation between team members and improve team performance. The ideas were supported across three studies involving retail store department sales volume, and National Basketball Association team seasonal winning percentages and even game-level performance.

What types of practitioners can take action based on your research? Industry titles?

Practitioners who manage in team contexts can utilize our findings to lead racially diverse teams more effectively. It is likely that our results for race may extend to functional diversity, as represented by cross-functional teams such as surgical teams, research and development teams, interdisciplinary task forces, etc. The key consideration is structuring team tasks so that team members are clear about who will serve as key contributors and those who will play a more supportive role in teams. This will allow for more cooperation (and less conflict) across different functional specialties. The pooling of expertise across functional areas should result in better productivity, innovation, and the like.

What are the top three takeaways from your findings?

The top three takeaways are (1) negative effects of racial diversity on team performance are not inevitable, (2) members of racially-diverse teams are more cooperative when their roles on teams are highly structured, leading to improved team performance, (3) managers must devote time to learning which teams members are key versus peripheral contributors and allocating their time on tasks accordingly.

Categories:
Management