Experts have a clear understanding of the potential advantages that diversity brings to teams and organizations.
APM acknowledges that diverse teams generally outperform homogeneous ones. This correlation is increasingly evident in the performance and financial outcomes of organizations.
Does this align with your personal experience?
In a previous section, you explored exceptional and high-performing teams. Based on your own observations, do you see a connection between diversity and performance? Do teams with greater diversity produce superior work? Additionally, what challenges arise when working in highly diverse teams?
We are genuinely interested in hearing about your experiences and thoughts regarding these questions in the discussion section.
Diversity produces authentic work and maintains superiority. People bring in their unique ideas from their various experience to push a project , all for the sole reason to achieve a preferred goal.
In diversity, the team should exist with a clear purpose, align and work together to achieve it through meetings and a clear cut out plan.
Forming , storming, norming, performing and adjusting steps should be used by the project manager to build a strong team whose aim is to make a difference.
COHORT 17
TEAM3
Diversity and Team Performance: A Complex Relationship
The research is clear: diverse teams often outperform homogenous ones. This aligns with my observations and experiences. A variety of perspectives, backgrounds, and skill sets can lead to more innovative solutions, better problem-solving, and a deeper understanding of target audiences.
However, it’s essential to distinguish between mere diversity and effective diversity. A team composed of individuals from different backgrounds but lacking effective communication and collaboration can actually hinder performance. True value comes from leveraging differences to create synergy.
Challenges in Diverse Teams
While the benefits are evident, diverse teams also present challenges:
Communication Barriers: Different cultural norms, languages, and communication styles can hinder effective information exchange.
Conflict: Disagreements and misunderstandings are more likely to arise due to varying perspectives.
Time for Adjustment: Building trust and cohesion can take longer in diverse teams.
Unconscious Bias: Prejudices can impact team dynamics and decision-making.
Overcoming these challenges requires strong leadership, open communication, and a commitment to inclusivity. Through a culture of respect and valuing differences, organizations can maximize the benefits of diversity while mitigating potential drawbacks.
It’s also crucial to recognize that diversity is multifaceted. It encompasses not only demographics but also cognitive styles, work experience, and personality traits. A truly high-performing team is likely to exhibit a variety of these dimensions.
Yes. I think teams with more diversity produce superior work. This is because there are various range of skills and experiences that might prove useful in the course of the project.
Some challenges that might arise while working with diverse teams is communication, cultural and social diversity, different mindset
From my experience, I would say there is a correlation between diversity and performance. Sometimes, the diversity in a team has a way of putting each team member in a unique light to perform as a specialist, which boosts productivity.
However, in a diverse team, I have seen a click-formation challenge, which could cause division in the team, which is unhealthy for the project team.
HOMOGENEOUS TEAMS consist of a group of individuals with similarities in skills, experience and background
While DIVERSE TEAM brings together individuals with different backgrounds, experiences, perspective and problems solving approaches.
Given my experience as a Floor Manager in a retail store and as a team lead in my self founded NGO,
i can say that it is imperative to work with DIVERSE TEAM, because you tend to get faster results as all your team members have diverse abilities and ways of getting a problem solved given their various experiences.
However there are several challenges that can come with working with a DIVERSE TEAM which are as follows:
COMMUNICATION: This can pose a big challenge as all the t we team members have different backgrounds and languages,but this situation can be remedied when the team lead decides to choose a language that is user friendly.
CULTURAL DIVERSITY:
This also another factor because all the team members have different cultures and ways of getting things done,but an active and intelligent team lead will also find ways to bring harmony by making them understand that the end result is getting the tasks done regardless of your culture.
DESCRIPTION:
Race,tribe and colour can be a constraint when working with a DIVERSE TEAM,but the team lead should constantly remind them that the task has to be done timely.
SLOWR DICISION MAKING:
Different perspectives, opinions and ideas are great for innovation but it can also slow the decision making and progress towards achieving Thier goals, however the team will Play an important roles in bringing the team together so as to have a UNANIMOUS AGREEMENT on decisions.
Oku Blessing
Project management
Cohort 17.
In my first job experience in the NGO space, my boss used to complain about the lackadaisical attitude of the staff which was what pushed the incorporating of a more diverse workforce (ethnic diversity). This was done to not just ensure work was done and in quality but for the home team to also grow and be more creative, in essence to learn. I would say that yes, diversity allows for the birthing or building of high performing teams as being a member of her team, we had testaments in a 3 months period of growth and performance.
We did go through the Bruce Tuckman’s team formation process; Forming- Storming- Norming- Performing- Adjourning, and we came out the better for it both as a team and individually.
I have also worked with a bigger diverse team ( ethnicity, age, gender, sexuality and cognition/knowledge). I’ve come to realise that the more the diversiyy, though this is good for each team member to learn from each other, the storming phase is much longer and I must say even when the team is performing optimally, there are parts where the storming comes in. Recognising that each person is different and accepting them the way they are would allow for a better working environment.
However, poor work ethics (which is usually seen in a more diverse workforce) or should I say a performance imbalance(where one or two persons or a group are uncouth, need to be addressed and performance improvement plans put in play to support the change that needs to happen should the storming last longer than expected.
Research has it that diverse teams work better than homogeneous teams this is due to the different backgrounds the team members have and how well they have Excel in their various fields. This will therefore increase the productivity of the project.
It is therefore not news that these differences in their field will bring about challenges when they all come together as everyone will want the group to work with their own method or approach. This is why the norming phase is always challenging.
Most problems encountered are whennusing a diversified team are, communication, social and cultural backgrounds.
Just as research has shown, there is a relationship between diversity and performance. Diverse team tends to do a much better work in a complex project than a simple project. Using one of the examples mentioned in one of the modules, a diverse team tend to have more skill set that that of the homogeneous team.
The time it would take for a homogeneous team member to learn a particular skill to properly execute a project will be the same time a diverse team member would take to increase productivity and efficiency.
Some of the challenges of working in highly diverse teams include; communication, language barrier ( for teams in different countries), time difference, finding a common ground, pride.
NDIDI IFEDIBA NWOKEDI
COHORT 17, TEAM 5
Yes, there is evidence to suggest a link between diversity and performance. More diverse teams perform better in most occasions. A diverse workforce may contribute a wide range of viewpoints and ideas to a team, resulting in more inventive solutions and improved decision-making. Here are several essential factors to support this relationship:
1. Innovation and creativity
2. Better decision -making due to broader perspective
3. Improved market performance
However, working with a diverse team can also be hard. Some of the issues that may occur are:
1. Communication barriers due to different cultural backgrounds, different first languages or accents.
2. Misunderstandings and cultural differences because different cultures have different ways of approaching and solving problems.
3. Different work styles by people who have different work styles, which may be shaped by cultural and social backgrounds, leading to differences in how tasks are approached and carried out.
There is a positive relationship between diversity and performance or productivity. To me, a diverse workforce can lead to increased creativity, innovation and better decision making, which can ultimately lead to increased productivity. There are also negative sides to this, some of which are: language, different communication styles, cultural backgrounds, and generational differences can be challenges to diversity and inclusion efforts.
Okiemute Iko-ojo Ojogbane
Cohort 17, Team 8