Engaging Differences: How Socially Diverse Organizations Can Mobilize Resources to Improve Performance

• In Event: 3253 - Gender, Race, and Organizational Careers

Abstract

Diversity is a goal for many organizations, yet it is not clear how an organization can leverage its social differences to improve performance. This study advances diversity-performance research by analyzing the relationship between engaging social differences and organizational performance. The analysis uses original survey data from a national study of community-based organizations containing information on the race, class, gender, and religion of each organization’s leadership team members as well as information on the type and content of interactions occurring among them. The data also contain multiple measures of organizational performance, specifically the organization’s ability to form alliances, develop strategies, and mobilize people. The analysis focuses on organizations with a diverse leadership team, examining the teams’ social interactions to assess whether engaging members’ social differences is associated with better performance. Additionally, qualitative data from 12 of the surveyed organizations provide examples of how the relationship between engaging social differences and organizational performance functions. The study finds that teams whose members participate in bridging cultural activities and regularly talk about their social differences perform better. Overall, this study indicates that an organization’s ability to realize the performance benefits of having a diverse leadership team depends partly on how the leaders interact with each other. The findings suggest that an organization with a diverse leadership team can improve its performance by ensuring that its leaders interact in ways that engage their social differences.

Author

• Brad R. Fulton, Indiana University