A special category within demographic characteristics is the presence or absence of a person with a disability in the team. This kind of individual difference is included to provide insight that disability/ies do not hinder individual performance within a team; in fact, an individual with disability perform as efficiently as those individuals who are non-disabled. This distinction encourages employers to hire disabled workers because they serve as good motivation and inspiration for the team to perform their tasks satisfactorily.
Beyond demographic characteristics, cultural differences operate more strongly to influence and affect the creation and development of a high performance team. There are five differences that exist within the broader category of cultural characteristics: competency, personality, value, attitude, and perceptual differences. These differences center on the internal aspect of team diversity, wherein the behavior of each member is gauged based on their cultural characteristics.
Competency-based difference looks into the work performance and appraisal of the individual about himself/herself. Competency may be aptitude- or ability-based: the former is identified as a person's capability to do something, while the latter reflects a person's existing capacity to perform various tasks needed for the job, which necessitates the utilization of both knowledge and skills.
Personality differences are the over-all profile of the individual, a holistic combination of his/her characteristics that make him/her distinct with other members of the team. Identifying the personality of the individual is vital in determining what particular tasks or area of expertise is more appropriate for him/her to accomplish. Personality traits also determine the kind of problem solving-style the individual adopts in performing with the team. These problem-solving styles are categorized into four: sensational-thinkers, the decisive and dependable thinkers of the team; intuitive thinkers who are creative and perceptive; sensation-feelers, who are pragmatic and analytical; and intuitive-feelers, who are charismatic and people-oriented. These different approaches to problem...
Different values held important by each member determines the ethical nature of the resolutions and decisions that they formulate. A team that considers fair and honesty as important values would more or less base their decisions to problems that address issues concerning fairness and honesty. There are also teams which value achievement more than fairness and honesty, and subsistence to this value can radically alter the image of the team as well as the decision formulated among its members.
Lastly, attitude difference takes value difference to a higher level, where positive or negative responses to an action or issue are generated by the member of the team. The reinforcement or discouragement of an individual's attitudes ultimately result to the development of perceptual differences, which are general constructs about an individual, group, event, place, or any stimuli that affects the behavior or action of an individual as a response to these attitudes and perceptions.
The existence of these elements in a team allows its members to utilize their differences optimally by leveraging on their diversity through the formulation of more ideas and solutions to a particular task or problem presented to the team. The various ways and perspectives in which each individual may view a task is one of the beneficial effects of diversity, although the leader must be cautious enough to acknowledge that a highly-diverse team cannot yield high performance if they are not motivated and guided properly to use their differences as assets to team rather than a liability.
Bibliography
Lindorff, M. (2001). "Social relationships and social support among Australian managers." Work and Stress, Vol. 15, No. 3.
Schermerhorn, J. et. al. (1995). Basic organizational behavior. NY: JohnWiley & Sons, Inc.
