Ethnic Diversity and Creativity in Small Groups
Open accessAbstract
There is a growing belief among managers that ethnic diversity, when well managed, can provide organizations with certain competitive advantages. But the belief in this value-inl diversity hypothesis rests largely on anecdotal rather than empirical evidence. Results are reported ofa controlled experimental study that compares the performance on a brainstorm ing task between groups composed of all Anglo-Americans with groups composed ofAnglo-, Asian, African, and Hispanic Americans. The particular brainstorming task used-The Tourist Problem-was chosenfor its relevancefordiversity along the dimension of ethnicity. The ideas produced by the ethnically diverse groups were judged to be of higher quality-more effective andfeasible-than the ideas produced by the homogeneous groups. Members of homogeneous groups reported marginally more attraction to their groups than did members of diverse oroups. Directions for future research with respect to the degree of diversity, the nature of the task, and group process are discussed.
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“…that the presence of a few group members who hold opinions that are different from those of the majority leads to increased reasoning and creativity (e.g., Butera, Mugny, Legrenzi, & Pérez, 1996; De Dreu & De Vries, 2001; Nemeth, 1992, 1995; McLeod et al., 1996; Triandis, Hall, & Ewen, 1965).”
Background
- Authors
- McLeod, P. L., Lobel, S. A., & Cox, T. H.
- Affiliations
- University of Iowa (US)
- Seattle University (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Venue
- Small Group Research
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1996-05
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 248-264
- ISSN
- 1046-4964 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-8278
- OpenAlex
- W1964793238
- Cited by
- 852
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 57 · 2023: 46 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 44 · 2020: 51 · 2019: 44 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 56 · 2015: 36 · 2014: 42 · 2013: 46 · 2012: 37
- FWCI
- 9.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Small Group Research (publishedVersion)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Team Dynamics and Performance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Diversity and Inequality
- Keywords
- ethnic diversity, creativity, small groups, brainstorming, group performance, idea quality, group attraction, group composition, Asian Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans
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