Unlocking the performance potential of functionally diverse teams: The paradoxical role of leader mood

In a multisource, lagged design field study of 66 consulting teams, we investigated the role of leader mood in unlocking the performance potential of functionally diverse teams. In line with our hypotheses, we found that, given high levels of leader positive mood, functional diversity was positively related to collective team identification. In contrast, given high levels of l

The Preventative Benefit of Group Diversification on Group Performance Decline

Integrating the open systems perspective of groups and the contingency approach to diversity, we study how group diversification (i.e. a process in which a group becomes more diverse over time as members join and/or leave the group) affects group performance change in an adverse task environment characterized with uncertainty and risks for failure. We argue that diversification benefits performance by reducing group performance decline in adversity. Group size increase, however, attenuates this preventative benefit of group diversification. Focusing on organizational tenure and gender, we studied 279 sales groups (3,277 individuals) in a large German financial consulting company from 2004 to 2008. In this period, a national legislative change prompted the company to withdraw its star product from the market and presented adversity to the sales groups. Results from latent growth models (LGMs) overall support our arguments. This research extends the (conditional) beneficial view of diversity from a static theoretical space about groups’ being diverse to a dynamic one about groups’ becoming diverse

From being diverse to becoming diverse: a dynamic team diversity theory

On the basis of the literature of open systems and team diversity, we present a new dynamic team diversity theory that explains the effect of change in team diversity on team functioning and performance in the context of dynamic team composition. Building upon the conceptualization of teams as open systems, we describe the enlargement and decline of team variety, separation, and disparity through member addition, subtraction, and substitution. Then, focusing on diversity enlargement, we theorize the contemporaneous and lasting effects of team diversity change on team performance change and on team processes and states leading to them. Dynamic team diversity theory expands the focus of team diversity research from teams' being more diverse than others to teams' becoming more diverse than before. It aims to advance team diversity research to be better aligned with the organizational reality of dynamic team composition. We also discuss methodological considerations in subsequent empirical testing of the theory and highlight how the theory and future research may help to guide organizational practice in recomposing work teams

The role of leader emotion management and team conflict for team members’ proactive behavior: A multilevel perspective

Employees' personal initiative (i.e., their active and future-oriented engagement at work) is of high relevance to organizations that strive for innovation and competitiveness. To better understand its drivers and diminishers, the present study refers to Affective Events Theory and examines the impact of leader emotion management, team conflict, and affective well-being on personal initiative. Data from 300 members of 59 work teams in Germany were gathered from multiple sources at three points in time over the course of 2 weeks. Multilevel analyses indicated that leader emotion management positively affected team members' personal initiative and that this effect was mediated by team members' affective well-being. Data also revealed a contrasting negative indirect effect of task conflict within the team on team members' personal initiative via team members' affective well-being. The study's results suggest that the improvement of leaders' emotion management as well as the establishment of work conditions and experiences that foster affective well-being should be seriously considered by organizations wishing to facilitate personal initiative in team settings

A multi-level process model for understanding diversity practice effectiveness

A significant amount of research has been conducted on diversity "best practices" to understand whether they help reduce discrimination, increase managerial diversity, and enhance performance. Regardless, which diversity practices should be used, how they should be implemented, for what purpose, and to what effect remains unclear due to issues related to inconsistencies across outcomes studied within and between diversity practices as well as a lack of integration of micro research and macro research. In this review, these issues are revealed in an effort to make sense of the array of research conducted since the turn of the century. We first synthesize key research findings from sociological, firm-level research on diversity management practices with research conducted within the psychological tradition using experimental and within-organizational research designs. The results of our review provide the basis for a multi-level process model through which research findings can more easily be interpreted to uncover when and how diversity practices produce desirable results. We discuss how considering the interplay across levels of analysis is critical for enriching our theoretical understanding of the mediating and moderating mechanisms that link the distal constructs of diversity practices and organizational outcomes. We conclude with implications for future research that emerged from an analysis of the literature through our multi-level process model

What makes age diverse teams effective? Results from a six-year research program

Based on a new model of productivity in age diverse tams, findings from a six-year research program are reported in which data from more than 745 natural teams with 8,848 employees in three different fields (car production, administrative work, financial services) were collected. Moreover, central assumptions of this model were tested with a representative survey of the German workforce (N = 2,000). Results support both significant advantages and disadvantages for age-mixed teams. Based on the findings, the following preconditions for the effectiveness of age diverse teams are identified: high task complexity, low salience and high appreciation of age diversity, a positive team climate, low age-discrimination, ergonomic design of work places, and the use of age differentiated leadership. Based on these insights, we developed a new training for supervisors, which addresses the aforementioned aspects and seeks to improve team performance and health of team members. It was found that the training reduces age stereotypes, team conflicts and enhances innovation. Thus, we can conclude that effective interventions for a successful integration of elderly employees in work groups are available and that combinations of measures that address ergonomic design issues, team composition and leadership are to be strongly recommended for practice