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Cultural Diversity and Work Group Effectiveness

An Experimental Study

The University of Auckland, New Zealand

Changes in workforce demographics resulting from globalization, combined with the rising popularity of team-based management techniques, has resulted in a practical concern with the management of multicultural groups. In this experimental study, three mechanisms that are proposed to influence group effectiveness are examined. Results supported the notion that the cultural diversity of the group, the sociocultural norms of group members, and their relative cultural distance from each other influence work group effectiveness. Culturally homogeneous groups had higher performance than did culturally heterogeneous groups on five group tasks. The degree of collectivist orientations of group members was directly related to their evaluations of group processes, and their relative cultural distance from each other influenced their perceptions of group receptiveness. A comparison of the results of this study with previous research indicates the importance of the group task and process-related feedback on group performance. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 30, No. 2, 242-263 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/0022022199030002006


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