Diverse Teams Analyze Problems More Effectively

When people anticipate working with people similar to themselves, they process information less effectively than when they anticipate collaborating with diverse co-workers.

Denise Lewin Loyd

MIT’s Denise Lewin Loyd, Cynthia S. Wang of Oklahoma State University, Columbia’s Katherine Phillips and Robert Lount Jr. of Ohio State University asked volunteers to complete a survey about their political attitudes, then to read a murder mystery, determine the perpetrator, and rate their confidence in their conclusion.

Next, Loyd and team told participants would meet other volunteers to solve the case and would write a statement about their conclusions to prepare for the session with the other participant.

Cynthia Wang

Later, volunteers learned the other person’s political affiliation and opinion about the murder, and researchers ensured that each person was matched with another who had a different conclusion about the perpetrator.

Participants wrote their statements but were told the experiment was over, without meeting the other person.
The researchers assessed participants’ preparation statements to determine “elaboration,” a measure of analysis complexity and depth, when people anticipated working with others who have different attitudes.

Katherine Phillips

People who said they were members of any political party wrote less-detailed statements when they anticipated meeting with someone affiliated with the same political party.
In contrast, they wrote more detailed statements when they anticipated meeting someone of a different political orientation.

This suggests that people prepare less extensively and less carefully when they anticipate working with someone who shares their views.
In contrast, people working with others holding different views applied greater critical thinking in their problem analyses.

Robert B Lount Jr

Loyd and team extended this finding by “priming” some volunteers before preparing their written analysis of the case by mentioning that developing a positive interpersonal relationship with the other person would increase accuracy in solving the case.

The team instructed other participants that concentrating on the task rather than the interpersonal relationship was most important way to have a productive meeting.
People “primed” to focus on their interpersonal relations wrote less detailed and thoughtful preparation statements, suggesting that analytic rigor was sacrificed for interpersonal harmony.

In addition, the finding shows that people can be “primed” to focus on the task to more thoroughly consider problems, decisions, and solutions.

The team investigated the impact of the volunteers actually meeting to solve the case after writing their statements.
Teams with the most accurate solutions came to the meeting with most detailed and “elaborated” case analyses, suggesting the importance of detailed analysis and preparation to accomplish more effective outcomes from work sessions.

Loyd and team concluded that people in homogeneous groups may prepare less thoughtfully and completely while focusing on cultivating interpersonal harmony and avoiding conflict.
In contrast, diverse groups may not attempt to form close social relationships, so are more able to focus on task analysis and solution.

They concluded that diverse teams provide multiple perspectives as well as greater focus on shared work tasks.

Ron Elsdon

However, other researchers advocate workplace affiliation as a way to engage and retain employees.
Ron Elsdon, formerly of Cambridge University and Air Liquide America, suggested that workplace affiliation leads to organizational value creation, and Gallup’s Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman argued that “having a best friend at work” is both important for employee engagement and “one of the most controversial of the 12 traits of highly productive workgroups.”

Marcus Buckingham

Loyd and team’s findings suggest that social relationships among similar people at work may feel good, but may not lead to the most effective or innovative problem analysis.

-*To what extent have you observed homogeneous work groups focusing on maintaining harmony at the expense of rigorous task analysis?