Page 76 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

3. RELATIONAL DEMOGRAPHY
47
Second, demographically dissimilar employees should have a broader
range of knowledge and experience than similar employees and can there­
fore add value to workgroups by providing new information that is much
needed, especially for tasks related to product design, innovation, or com­
plex problem solving (Ely & Thomas, 2001; Williams & O'Reilly, 1998).
Overall, the benefits predicted by the value-in-diversity hypothesis have
been associated with personal characteristics such as tenure, experience,
education, and knowledge. Research has generally supported the hypothe­
sis with regard to these characteristics with some exceptions (e.g., O'Reilly,
Snyder, and Boothe, 1993).
Although some studies have found that diversity on these visible charac­
teristics can be beneficial (Ely & Thomas, 2001), much less research has sup­
ported the hypothesis for more visible demographic characteristics such as
race, age, and gender. For example, Watson, Kumar, and Michaelsen (1993)
found that culturally diverse groups of undergraduate students (with re­
spect to race and nationality), after several weeks of working together
on a project, were more effective on task elements related to identifying
problems and generating solution alternatives than homogeneous groups.
Kirchmeyer and Cohen (1992) found that for culturally diverse groups,
the use of frank and open discussions, the encouragement of a variety of
opinions, and the careful critiquing of other members, helped the group
make more valid and more important assumptions.
Finally, Cox, Lobel, and McLeod (1991), also using students as partic­
ipants, found that diverse groups (e.g., a mix of Anglo American, Asian,
Hispanic, and Black American members) displayed more cooperative be­
havior than groups that were more homogeneous (e.g., all Anglo American
members). Each of these examples was a laboratory study using groups
comprising either undergraduate or graduate college students. There have
been virtually no organizational field studies that have supported the infor­
mation and decision-making hypothesis when the measure of workgroup
diversity has been based on visible demographic characteristics (Williams
& O'Reilly, 1998; see Ely & Thomas, 2001, for an exception). Although the
advantages of certain types of functional and background diversity may,
in some cases, be related to improved group processes such as commu­
nication and even group performance, most of this research has focused
only on group-level outcomes. That is, research has not really examined or
demonstrated a consistent positive impact of diversity on individual-level
attitudes and behaviors. Prior research still largely supports the general
proposition that an individual's demographic dissimilarity to his or her
work group is associated with unfavorable individual-level work-related
attitudes and behaviors.