An Analysis of the Role of Diversity in Effective Teamwork

This essay delves into the critical role of diversity in fostering effective teamwork within organizations. It defines diversity, encompassing factors like race, age, and beliefs, and explores how it impacts team dynamics. The essay analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of diverse teams, highlighting how varied backgrounds can lead to innovation and new ideas, while also addressing potential challenges like cultural friction and management complexities. It discusses the importance of leadership in promoting diversity and creating inclusive environments, emphasizing the benefits of diverse teams for problem-solving, creativity, and global opportunities. The essay also touches upon the modern business environment's increasing demand for diversity and concludes by reiterating the significance of diversity in enhancing team effectiveness and organizational success.

Running head: ROLE OF DIVERSITY IN EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK
ROLE OF DIVERSITY IN EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The small and the large business organizations are competing in the global
environment for the new customers and they are thereby able to recognise the value of the
diversity levels in the teams and the organizational groups. The smart managers of
organizations have realized the importance of increase in diversity with the implementation
of the new ideas, services and products. Diversity can be defined as the differences that are
present between the various dimensions of the employees including, race, age, sexual
orientation and political beliefs. The frame references of a particular person are also shaped
with the help of various external factors related to the ways by which he lives and is raised
and the educational opportunities that are available for him (Baumeister, Ainsworth and Vohs
2016).
The essay will be mainly based on the levels of diversity in the various organizational
groups. The effect of diversity in the effectiveness of teamwork in the organization and the
analysis of the advantages and the disadvantages of this concept related to the teamwork in
organizations will be discussed in the essay.
Analysis of the role of diversity on the teamwork in organizations
As discussed by, Benoliel and Somech (2015) the levels of diversity in the different
organizations are not same. The diversity levels are related to the external factors that are
present in the environment. The impact of the shared traits of the employees in organizations
can prove to be an advantage or disadvantage for them. The people who belong to the similar
backgrounds have same physical traits and are comfortable in the interaction with the people.
On the other hand, the similar traits can also lead to the similar thought process of employees
and the lack of innovation. The thinking process in the organizations are affected by the
similar traits of the people who are a part of the organizational processes. The teams or the

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groups which comprise of people who have different age, race, sex and cultural backgrounds
and the other factors result in the collaboration of diverse thinking. The preconceived notions
of the employees are thereby challenged by the different thinking process and diverse
backgrounds. This helps in the opening up of new ideas services, products and processes
within the organizations. The managers of the organizations strive for diversity by balancing
individuals that they select with respect to the internal factors which include, race, gender and
age and the external factors which include, the educational experiences, different
backgrounds, political ideologies and the educational experiences as well (Carter et al. 2015).
The managers try to encourage the feedback, start discussions with the diverse teams and
groups. This can further help in the flexible process of decision-making and active listening
to the issues and thoughts of the employees by the managers.
According to Eisenberg, Gibbs and Erhardt (2016), the diverse workplaces are able to
create better results for the organizations. The multicultural teams have been found to be
much more effective in the various studies as compared to the homogenous teams. The ethnic
diversity is related to the success and the innovation levels in the organizations. The
individual teams are making sure that the different viewpoints, different perspectives and
different backgrounds are present in the various teams. The idea that is related to the different
perspectives can provide better results at work has been also examined from macro-economic
perspectives as well. The various researches have shown that the diverse cities are able to
experience high levels of economic growth as compared to the less diverse cities. The
building of multicultural teams can put pressure on the managers of the organizations. The
rifts that occur between the different cultures can also cause issues even is the members of the
team are not directly involved in the conflicts (Fay et al. 2015). The managers of the diverse
teams need to encourage the practices that can keep the potential frictions low. The effects
related to the disharmony between cultures can reduce the effectiveness of the managers in

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the organizations. The effective management of the cultural friction can help in the creation
of a harmonious workforce so that the creative benefits can be reaped.
As argued by, Herdman, Yang and Arthur (2017), the modern business environment
demands high levels of diversity in the organizations mainly related to the areas of ethnicity
and race. The formation of diverse teams is important for the purpose of creating innovations
and new ideas in the organizations. This further brings a social change for the various groups
which are a part of the organizations. The senior leaders or managers of the organizations
need to represent diversity and attract more and more candidates from the diverse
backgrounds. The effectiveness of the leaders is important for the proper functioning of the
diverse groups. The building of teams which feature people from different backgrounds and
their personal experiences can ensure that greater levels of performance of the can be
achieved and better decisions can be made. The heterogeneous teams have thereby proved to
be much more effective as compared to the other teams.
The start-up organizations tend to employ less diverse employees as compared to the
older organizations. The main reason behind this is related to the sourcing of the employees
from within their own networks which further results in the recruitment of similar types of
employees. The employees who belong to these homogeneous teams have common thoughts
and perspectives and experiences. This results in the lack of creative and innovative ideas in
the organizational processes. The working relationships within the heterogeneous teams
sometimes however tend to become messy in nature (Herdman, Yang and Arthur 2017). The
starting points and the perspectives of the employees of these teams are different which often
results in the high levels of conflicts and the difficulties arise in the understanding of the
rationale and points. The high risk levels of the diverse teams further tend to provide high
returns to the organizations. The true diversity has brought the people with a wide range of
perspectives, beliefs, personal experiences and the ways by which they interact with each

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other. The members of the diverse groups are however related to the goals of the organization
as a whole. The diverse group of employees belonging to different groups thereby work
together to achieve the vision and the goals of the organizations (Hu and Liden 2015).
The members of a diverse team do not share similar background or same political
ideas and religion. The clashes related to the culture and the personality of the members tend
to occur in the diverse teams of the organizations. The thoughtful process of planning can
help in solving the conflicts that are related to the misunderstanding that is creating within the
various teams. The origin or the country to which a person belongs can influence the ways by
which he approaches towards the work in an organization. The various occupational and
educational backgrounds are major factors that affect the diversification of the teams (Levitt
2015).
As discussed by, Lourenç and Dó (2014), the creation of the diverse teams is quite
important in the modern business organizations. The leaders of the organizations are affected
by the positive and the negative aspects of diversity. The culture of the organization is a
major factor that affects the effectiveness of the diverse teams. Diversity provides some
concrete benefits in the workplace and the organizations thereby need to hire more diverse
employees. The benefits that are provided by diversity may not be visible in the initial stages,
however, the companies can realize the benefits later on the during the work process.
Diversity in an organization fosters the levels of innovation as the different types of people
are able to provide different ideas. As argued by, Matthews and McLees (2015), the teams
also become more effective and innovative due to the increase of diversity in the various
organizational processes. This helps in the creation of new ideas which further leads to the
quick solutions to various issues that are raised in the organizations. Diverse teams are
thereby more productive, innovative and creative in nature. Diversity is not only promoted
within the organizations as a whole, however the departments and the teams are also able to

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boost the productivity of the company. The diversity in various teams helps in opening global
opportunities for the organizations. The diverse teams within the organizations help in
increasing the global opportunities. The organization can thereby become a global leader in
its specific field if the teams are able to provide diverse ideas to the management. The culture
of the organization is also improved with the help of the inclusion of diverse types of
employees within the workforce (Mitchell et al. 2015). The increase in the diversity of the
organization will help in increasing the talent pool and levels of ideas that can be provided in
the organizational processes. The brand value of the organization can also increase with the
help of the creation of a diverse workforce which helps in the improvement of opinions of the
customers. The diverse organizations show the consumers that they are global minded,
innovative, inclusive and future headed as well. The levels of diversity have further increased
with the increase in the usage of technology in various work processes. The diverse
employees are also able to assist the diverse customer base. The diverse teams can solve the
issues that are faced by the different types of customers (Nishii et al. 2018). The
multinational corporations need to deal with different types of employees in its global
operations. This process is supported by the diverse teams which can help in increasing the
capabilities of the organizations in the different areas of its operations. Diversity thereby
helps the organizations to create better and effective teams so that they are able to get a
different position in the market.
The formation of diverse teams has become a hot topic in the conversations related to
team building. The diversity related factors of the organizations include, the gender, age,
ethnicity, experience levels and social class. The members of team consist of critical thinkers
with different levels of sensibilities and the areas of expertise who are able to collaborate
with each other to reach a common goals and get effective results (Salas et al. 2015). The
team members with different backgrounds and academic levels are able to provide better

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ideas which are diverse in nature. The diverse teams allow members to serve the specific
roles that are based on their individual strengths. The main positive effect that is provided by
diverse teams is based on the solving of different conflicts in an effective manner. The
diversity related factors thereby play an important role in increasing the creativity levels of
the organizations and they are able to innovate new products as well (Tekleab et al. 2016).
Diversity also provides some major disadvantages to the teams which include
different types of employees. The old and traditional ways of thinking act as a hindrance in
the to the implementation of diversity. The transition from normal to diverse organizations
involves some major costs to the company. This can also act as a disadvantage for the
implementation of diversity in the workplace and the teams. The inclusion of different types
of employees also requires high levels of management by the superiors or the managers of
organizations van (Knippenberg and Mell 2016).
Conclusion
The essay can be concluded by stating that diversity plays a major role in the
effectiveness of the teams. The creativity and the innovativeness of the teams are also
increased by the inclusion of different type of employees. The new and different ideas that
are provided by the employees is an important advantage of diverse teams. However, the
organizations and teams also need to face some major challenges related to the inclusion of
diverse employees. The costs and the efforts that are related to the inclusion of different types
of employees can act as a hindrance to the development of organizations with the help of the
various diverse teams. The diversity related issue therefore has some advantages and some
major disadvantages that are related to the effectiveness of the diverse teams. The
management of the organizations thereby need to plan the inclusion of employees in the
teams before the formation of the diverse teams.

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