Overcoming stereotyping and antagonism in a diverse workplace team

Case Analysis: Team Diversity, Performance, and Cognitive Functioning The Case
Organizations depend on functional teams to carry out specific projects and tasks to meet goals and objectives. This case involves a team that struggles with productivity, harmony, and output due to the lack of leadership, lack of vision, and the lack of ethical standards that moderate the devolution towards stereotyping and antagonism. An organizational consultant can offer solutions that reintegrates team members and extricates the problems that have prevented the team from reaching its goals and objectives.
The team is comprised of John, a 75-year-old Caucasian who describes himself as “hip, street, and tech savvy,” although some of the other members of the team describe him as old and forgetful. It would be interesting to find out why exactly the other team members describe him as forgetful—or whether they are just labeling John as such due to his age. Describing him as old is simply a matter of fact. Also, it is uncertain how the team members expressed their beliefs about their colleagues, and if their perceptions were delivered anonymously or not. Jill is another member of the team, a 22-year-old African American who describes herself as shy and who does not participate in the group discussions unless she is asked a direct question. In an interview with the consultant, Jill stated that she feels she is too young to bring anything productive to the group. When asked why, she said that she is new with the organization and lacks some of the technical skills her teammates have. In private interviews with the consultant, the other members of the team report that her youth implies that she does not have the experience to do what the job requires.
Joe, a 35-year-old immigrant with limited English language proficiency, reports that he often feels misunderstood and teased because of his heavy accent. Observations do not reveal any teasing, however. The team does indicate that it has great difficulty understanding him and one team member did tease him, in a ‘good-natured’ manner, about his accent by making fun of him. When asked, the person making fun of him said that Joe was a good friend. Mary is a 30-year-old with an ADA accommodation due to childhood trauma (which her family denied ever happened); the team reports that she is often preoccupied. It is rumored that Mary is going to leave the company, as she has been threatening to quit. Ahsan is a 50-year-old woman who is strongly committed to her Indian culture; the team reports that it feels that she has not fully embraced the American culture.
All teams will exhibit some diversity, in the very least in terms of cognitive, affective, and creative diversity if not demographics. For a team to function optimally, it must be designed to fit in with the organizational culture and structure. It must have the right leadership model for the team, ideally based on transformational leadership. Transformational leadership leads to positive outcomes for teams (Shin, Kim, Lee, et al., 2013). The reason why transformational leadership has been shown to be effective in promoting team performance and effectiveness is simple: transformational leadership entails the empowerment of each and every member of the group.
Empowerment fosters intrinsic motivation, which prompts each individual team member to contribute to the best of their ability towards meeting the team’s goals. When team members are intrinsically motivated, they are driven not by the desire for reward or accolade but to do the best possible job they can do. They take pride in their work, and seek help when needed because they trust their team members rather than feeling ashamed or unsupported. Moreover, transformational leadership and intrinsic motivation create an opportunity for each team member to cultivate a sense of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy comes from an innate belief in one’s own talents, skills, and abilities. When a team member has creative self-efficacy, their personal competency also increases (Shin, Kim, Lee, et al., 2013). Competency leads to faster and more productive workgroup outputs. In this case, workgroup outputs became crucial because this team was assembled during a crisis. A high sense of personal competency among team members in turn moderates the relationship between cognitive team diversity and individual creativity,” (Shin, Kim, Lee, et al., 2013, p. 1). Creativity is important on most teams because of the need for teams to be innovative and devise creative solutions to the problems they have been designed to solve. Identified Problems In this case, the team members are diverse on all levels. There is age diversity, ethnic diversity, task diversity, and cognitive diversity. Diversity can enhance or inhibit a team’s performance, depending on how diversity is leveraged, managed, and guided by its leaders. Horwitz & Horwitz (2007) found that task-related diversity has a positive effect on team performance, but that bio-demographic diversity was “not significantly related to team performance,” (p. 987). Interestingly, this team has been plagued by petty stereotyping that creates mistrust. The first problem that is identified is therefore related to ineffective diversity management with regard to ethnic/bio-demographic diversity. Addressing this issue should not be a major concern given that team diversity does not appear to have an effect on social integration in the team, which can be cultivated using various team-building strategies (Horwitz & Horwitz, 2007).
Age bias is a major area of concern for this team. John is the eldest member of the group and his self-concept differs sharply from how he is perceived by his teammates. It would be important to understand how information is being gathered; if the individual team members are speaking frankly about age discrimination, then those individuals should be required to attend diversity sensitivity training. Those types of biases and prejudices are categorically unacceptable within the organization. On the other end of the spectrum is the youngest member of the team, Jill, who is underestimated due to her youth. Her lack fo self-esteem is compounded by intersectionality as Jill is a woman of color. The wide gap between John’s and Jill’s ages does not need to impact group performance adversely, and yet it will unless the consultant is able to weed out the faulty attitudes about age.
It is not altogether surprising John does not perceive his age as a barrier, or that he believes that he is hip as well as street savvy and tech savvy. Being a white male privileges him to a position of power. For this reason, it is not recommended that John by placed in a position of leadership in this group. His inflated ego might disrupt any potential for group harmony. John should be reminded that age could have bearing on his cognitive functioning. If necessary, the consultant could offer John some cognitive tests in order to assess his functioning. The results of that test could be used to confirm or reject the other members’ concerns about his age-related deficits.
Jill’s lack of self-confidence is related to her believing that she is too young to have something to contribute. The consultant should work with Jill to improve her confidence by finding ways to empower Jill. Jill can then emerge as a team leader, empowering all other members of the team to reach their full potential. The other members of the group might not consider age as an important variable at all.
Cultural biases are also an issue in this team. Joe is an immigrant whose heavy accent makes him feel self-conscious as well as being perceived of negatively by other team members. It may be a good idea to let Joe know about available services for English language skills development if he needs to improve his confidence or his fluency. Jill is African-American, John and Mary are Caucasian, and Ahsan is South Indian. The cultural diversity variables impact issues like identity, but do not necessarily need to come in the way of team performance. Perceptions of team members have thus far been based on surface features rather than on meaningful variables that could actually impact team performance. To overcome these impediments to team performance, the consultant recommends a complete assessment of the team’s affective and cognitive functioning.
Affective and cognitive factors include feelings, attitudes, beliefs, and problem-solving styles. These diversity cues are tacitly linked with stable characteristics like age, gender, and culture. Yet individual differences and personal psychological factors are far more salient determinants of affective and cognitive functioning. Van Knippenberg & Mell (2016) differentiate between state diversity, trait diversity, and emergent diversity. State diversity is defined as “variation in team member malleable characteristics defined independently from the team and/or team processes,” and is connected with affective and preference diversity (p. 136). Affective and preference diversity is correspondingly linked to the values and principles that guide the organization as a whole. This is why the consultant will recommend cultivating a sense of team cohesion through ritual and identity construction. Team identity construction should follow the overall organizational identity, which “directly predicts those aspects of team functioning that enable, and are instrumental in, employees’ fulfillment of their identity with the organization,” (Mesmer-Magnus, Asencio, Seely, et al., 2015, p. 1530). In other words, when team members identify as being part of the group, their sense of belonging and engagement lead to positive outcomes. Cohesion among group members should be positively cultivated by creating group rituals, rather than focusing overly much on the differences between team members in terms of state, trait, or emergent diversity characteristics.
The rituals the team can create to promote cohesion, collaboration, and communication include regular meetings. Kilduff, Angelmar & Mehra (2000) found “reciprocal effects of diversity and firm performance,” (p. 1). Again, it is important to empower team members via the power of transformational leadership. Intrinsic motivation and transformational leadership are both interconnected variables impacting team creativity (Wang, Kim & Lee, 2016). To empower team members, the team leader should be aware of the importance of knowledge sharing and knowledge integration, which are also crucial variables in team functioning, performance, and creativity. ”Functionally diverse teams may capitalize on their knowledge benefits to produce innovations through knowledge sharing,” (Cheung, Gong, Wang, et al., 2016, p. 1507). The team in this case is not functionally diverse, but does still need to engage in knowledge sharing activities regularly.
Another factor that will promote the success of this team is to use transformational leadership to promote individual level thriving. Thriving refers to individual-level optimization of cognitive and affective characteristics. An individual who thrives can contribute at full potential to the team, thereby ensuring the productivity and success of the team, and leading to more innovative solutions to problems. According to the research by Abid & Ahmed (2016), “thriving has ties to different behavioral outcomes, like: innovative work behavior, work engagement, health care cost, commitment, performance, productivity, resilience to change and employee well-being,” (Abid & Ahmed, 2016, p. 1). Therefore, transformational leadership should be guided towards the goal of improving individual thriving and individual engagement as well as identification with organization objectives.
Upon assessment, it has been determined that this team suffers from outmoded beliefs and views based on biases, stereotypes, and prejudices. These prejudices are linked to age, culture, and gender diversity. In this day and age, such stereotypes seem ridiculous and should be tossed out. Those diversity variables are also tied in with personality trait differences, which could actually be relevant to team performance. Research shows that “differences in goals and personality traits can lead to tensions and reduced effectiveness,” (Kaufmann & Wagner, 2015, p. 1). The consultant will work with each team member individually to reduce the stereotyping and promote group identity and individual thriving at the same time. Traits such as arrogance, low self-esteem, or openness can either improve team performance or hinder it, which is why the consultant needs to set some boundaries and goals. Tasks should be assigned according to the individual’s interests and level of competency.
Dealing with age-related discrimination should be the first issue that is directly addressed in team meetings. The members of the group need to openly discuss their biases, so as to dispel them. Sensitivity training might help illuminate some of the problems, but it may be even more helpful to highlight the value that can be gained from trait diversity. Trait diversity is “variation in team member stable characteristics,” such as gender, culture, or age (Van Knippenberg & Mell, 2016, p. 136). Age-related diversity means that people like John will have frames of reference that are totally unfamiliar to other members of the team. These frames of reference include music and other popular culture items that can be leveraged, as well as worldview and outlook. Similarly, culture and gender differences lead to different worldview and that type of diversity can be leveraged in this case.
Affective functioning in this team was relatively poor when the consultant first performed the assessment. John’s sense of self-confidence can be contrasted with Jill’s lack of self-esteem. Joe likewise lacks a sense of competency based on his being a non-native English speaker. Mary has some affective functioning issues due to her trauma-related disability, and her performance and thriving suffer as a result. Empowering Mary may be one of the greatest challenges facing this team. Her being distracted could be grounds for her dismissal unless something can be done to promote Mary’s engagement and thriving within the group. It should be of no importance that Ahsan does not want to assimilate to American society; her being proud to be Indian should be viewed as an asset.
The team’s performance will depend on the leader’s ability to empower the team members. In this case, it is suggested that Jill be nominated to be the leader. Empowering Jill serves several strategic objectives. One is that it will promote Jill’s thriving. Through her leadership, the team may find that her best traits rise to the surface. Jill’s transformational leadership will promote creative problem solving and innovation. The position of leadership will also allow new forms of cognitive and affective diversity to emerge within the group. Emergent diversity is “variation in team processes and psychological states defined in reference to the team,” and is linked with cognitive diversity (Van Knippenberg & Mell, 2016, p. 136). Some people need to rely on their intuition in order to solve problems, while others need to grapple with them analytically or use visual aids and diagrams to work out possible solutions to problems. Team processes will depend on the specific issues the team is grappling with, or the projects it has been assigned.
Cognitive diversity refers to different ways of thinking about an issue or problem. People in this team have different worldviews, which affect their cognitions and perceptions. Similarly, the people in this team have different types of intelligence, different backgrounds, skills, and areas of interest. The consultant might want to look into administering a cognitive or psychological assessment methods that would be used to discern personality types or intelligence. An assessment would work best if the team were planning to function together for a long period of time. However, assessments would be an unnecessary cost and resource expense if the team is only together for a short while. Interviews with the team members might also help to iron out some of the interpersonal conflicts that presented themselves during the initial assessment of the dysfunctional workgroup.
It might be helpful to construct a team building exercise, in which all the diversity-related issues are addressed in a single meeting and then set aside in order to focus on the real goals and objectives. Then, the group can come up with a project management schedule. Assigning tasks to specific team members will promote role clarity within the group, which will enhance harmony and cooperation. The consultant should also aim to create a team identity. This can be done through the construction of a name for the team. Revealing the plan for team development can be done using sensitive language so that no one is offended. The ethical code of the organization will guide the methods used to construct team identity. The team should be expected to uphold all of the values and principles held sacred within the organization’s ethical code. Jill, or whoever is appointed leader, will be the custodian of the team’s ethical code. The ethical code would also include suggestions for how to deal with infractions. The length of the team’s life cycle is also a factor in determining objectives and outcomes. If it is a short-lived team, then not much effort needs to be put into rapport-building other than what is necessary for the functioning of the group. Final Recommendations An ad-hoc team comprised of several individuals who do not seem capable of working together in a harmonious way presents a peculiar problem for the consultant. The consultant also needs to inquire about the function of the group, how long they are expected to work together, and what its goals are. Based on what is known about this team, it could even be recommended that the organization dismantle the team or add members to the group to increase rather than decrease complexity and diversity. Capitalizing on diversity would be a great benefit to the team, enabling it to be more creative and innovative. Given the extent of the cognitive and affective performance concerns in this case, it would also be advisable to hire a counselor for one-on-one and group therapy interventions as well as sensitivity training. If possible, the sensitivity training would be offered to the entire organization.
This team needs an intervention that is assessed via systematic metrics that can quantify outcomes. Quantifiable outcomes will be required if the consultant is to fulfill contractual duties to the client. The leaders of the organization also need to offer the team the financial and time resources it needs to achieve its objectives. When the team finally realizes what it is capable of and what it is doing to further the mission and goals of the organization, then it is more likely that it will perform at top capacity.




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