When Invisible Becomes Visible: Exploring The Diversity-Performance Relationship In The Context of R&D Team and Task Force team

Abstract

This study explores how diversity is related to performance at work. Although more organizations are integrating workforce diversity as part of their business strategy, diversity is often portrayed as a “double-edged sword” in contemporary organizational theory. However, in spite of numerous research endeavors, the impact of team diversity on team outcomes is not clearly understood. Moreover, it is still not clear when and where to apply diversity. Considering that the studies on diversity- performance relationship have been focused on whether diversity is beneficial or detrimental to team performance, the need to figure out in which team settings the diversity plays a critical role on performance emerges. Taking a social network theory as a mechanism linking diversity and performance, I investigate in which team types the initially “invisible” diversity becomes so “visible”, thereby playing a critical role in determining team performance.