Doing it Right or Doing the Right it? Uncertainty, Innovation, and Group Composition

Though theoretical links have been established between group diversity and performance on creative tasks, researchers have had difficulties confirming this view. In this inductive study we argue that part of this difficulty stems from a failure to fully account for the effects of uncertainty on task performance groups. Using qualitative and quantitative data from an R&D organization, we examine the dynamics of composition in voluntarily formed teams pursuing highly-creative research and development projects. Rather than a monotonic decrease in compositional diversity as suggested by the "value-in-diversity" hypothesis, we find that early- and late-phase project teams are significantly less diverse than those in the middle-phase of the organization's poduct development process. We speculate that groups may understand the potential value in diversity, but also know when it is beneficial to trade it for other important advantages in group process and functioning. We propose that task uncertainty influences the ease of communication, the stability of structure, and the salience of shared values (e.g., commitment, shared goals) within a group; and, therefore, has a direct effect on task and relational processes in the group. We suggest that the value in diversity for a group is likely to decrease as uncertainty increases, and that only relatively bounded and certain tasks (in particular brainstorming and other forms of creative problem solving) are likely to derive the benefits associated with compositional diversity in groups