Diversity for Groups & Teams in the Workplace

Businesses both large and small are competing for new customers on a global scale, and, in doing so, they soon recognize the value of diversity in organizational groups and teams to the bottom line. When creating a group or team in the workplace, smart managers realize that with increased diversity come new ideas, products and services.

Why Should Businesses Strive for Diverse Groups and Teams?

When a group or team comprises people who differ in age, sex, race, cultural background and other factors, the hoped-for result is a collaboration of wildly diverse thinking. Working with people who differ from each other challenges people's preconceived notions about how the world works and it forces people to step outside their comfort zones and consider new thought processes. By opening people up to new ways of thinking, the hoped-for result is often new ideas, new processes, new services and new products.

Making Diversity Work

When establishing new groups or teams, smart managers strive for diversity by balancing the individuals they select based upon differing internal factors, such as age, race and gender, and external factors, including differing backgrounds, educational experiences and political ideologies. Additionally, when working with diverse groups and teams, smart managers seek open discussion, encourage feedback among group and team members, actively listen, and practice flexible decision making. After all, having diverse groups and teams in the workplace provides little value if their new ways of thinking are ignored.

Reference: “Business Communication: Process and Product”, Mary Ellen Guffey; 2008

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