How demographic diversity impacts teams?
How demographic diversity impacts teams?
Higher educated and cross functional team members boost innovation
Higher educated and cross functional team members boost innovation
Diversity is like an iceberg: there's a visible surface-level and an invisible deep-level.
At the surface-level diversity, we can observe the following person characteristics: gender/ age/ race and nationality /educational background.
In the deep-level diversity, we can't observe the following person characteristics: personality/ values/ abilities/ beliefs and motives.
Both levels matter... but as teams work together, the effects of deep level diversity become greater. Source: Harrison et al., AMJ, 2002
Job-relevant diversity has a positive effect on team innovation while background diversity has a negative effect.
Age has no effects on team innovation but education (higher education, higher innovation) and functional background (diverse expertise) has a relevant impact.
If you require innovation, seek high educated and cross functional team members.