The influence of gender and ethnic diversity on team effectiveness

Organizations are becoming increasingly diverse as a growing number of women and ethnic minorities enter the workforce. Understanding the influence of diversity is particularly important for organizations that rely on team-based work structures, where individuals must engage in face-to-face interactions more frequently than in other organizational settings. The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of gender and ethnic diversity on team member interactions when performing a highly interdependent task that is both cognitively and behaviorally challenging. Participants were composed of 264 undergraduate students who enrolled in psychology courses at Florida International University and formed 66, 4-person teams. Teams participated in a low fidelity F-22 flight simulation consisting of two aircraft that had to interact in order to be successful. A 2 x 2 design was utilized in which the gender and ethnicity composition of each team was manipulated to form four experimental conditions (same gender/same ethnicity, same gender/mixed ethnicity, mixed gender/same ethnicity, mixed gender/mixed ethnicity). Both ethnic and gender homogeneity in teams resulted in increased interpersonal cohesion. Moreover, coordination fully mediated the relationship between interpersonal cohesion and team performance. Higher levels of interpersonal cohesion enhanced coordination between team members, which ultimately improved performance. Implications of these findings are discussed, as are limitations of the study and suggestions for future research. ^

Implementation of service -learning in higher education courses: Perceptions of faculty

This study examined the motivation of college and university faculty to implement service-learning into their traditional courses. The benefits derived by faculty, as well as those issues of maintenance, including supports and/or obstacles, were also investigated in relation to their impact on motivation. The focus was on generating theory from the emerging data. ^ Data were collected from interviews with 17 faculty teaching courses that included a component of service-learning. A maximum variation sampling of participants from six South Florida colleges and universities was utilized. Faculty participants represented a wide range of academic disciplines, faculty ranks, years of experience in teaching and using service-learning as well as gender and ethnic diversity. For data triangulation, a focus group with eight additional college faculty was conducted and documents, including course syllabi and institutional service-learning handbooks, collected during the interviews were examined. The interviews were transcribed and coded using traditional methods as well as with the assistance of the computerized assisted qualitative data analysis software, Atlas.ti. The data were organized into five major categories with themes and sub-themes emerging for each. ^ While intrinsic or personal factors along with extrinsic factors all serve to influence faculty motivation, the study's findings revealed that the primary factors influencing faculty motivation to adopt service-learning were those that were intrinsic or personal in nature. These factors included: (a) past experiences, (b) personal characteristics including the value of serving, (c) involvement with community service, (d) interactions and relationships with peers, (e) benefits to students, (f) benefits to teaching, and (g) perceived career benefits. Implications and recommendations from the study encompass suggestions for administrators in higher education institutions for supporting and encouraging faculty adoption of service-learning including a well developed infrastructure as well as incentives, particularly during the initial implementation period, rewards providing recognition for the academic nature of service-learning and support for the development of peer relationships among service-learning faculty. ^