Abstract

This study adds to the growing literature on diversity in teams and team effectiveness. This study reviews the literature examining theoretical perspectives of diversity in teams, surface-level diversity attributes, team training and team outcomes. To test hypotheses, an archival dataset from a study focusing on team training, which is coded to represent the presence of gender and ethnic diversity on teams. Variables including team performance, shared mental models, and team behavioral processes are used to measure team effectiveness. The results of this analyses suggest mixed results, but do indicate that teams with diversity are more effective, particularly in measures of coordination, interaction mental models, and transition processes. Teams with gender diversity are shown to outperform teams without gender diversity for most measures, while teams with ethnic diversity only outperformed teams without ethnic diversity on transition processes. When teams received training, diverse teams were shown to be more effective than homogenous teams for measures of coordination and team interaction accuracy mental models. These results indicate a need for further research on the impact team training and other forms of organizational support has for diverse teams. Practically, these results also suggest that diverse teams are more effective than homogenous teams in many areas, and that team training is a viable option for organizations looking to improve diverse team effectiveness.

Advisor

Andrea Lassiter

Committee Member

Lisa Perez

Committee Member

Emily Boyd

Date of Degree

2020

Language

english

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

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Rights Statement

In Copyright