The effect of Diversity on Team Social Integration

Abstract

There have been many researches done on diversity and performance or work outcomes but not on team social integration as the dependent variable. In the world today globalization is becoming a phenomenon that is happening to all countries over the world. People are moving out of their comfort zones and going to other countries for work or living. For organizations this present a need to understand about diversity and how it impactsteams and how it can be used to improve their performance. This research examined two areas of diversity and its' effect on team social integration. Diversity is divided into two areas perceived surface-level and perceived deep-level. The data was collected from students via hard copy survey questionnaire and online survey. It examined the participants perception of team members within their team/group and how it affects team social integration. This used a quantitative analysis using convenient sampling of 207 participants of which they were students in universities in Taiwan. The results found that perceived surface-level diversity had a negative relationship and negative impact on team social integration, while on the other hand, perceived deep-level diversity had a negative relationship but no impact on team social integration.There have been many researches done on diversity and performance or work outcomes but not on team social integration as the dependent variable. In the world today globalization is becoming a phenomenon that is happening to all countries over the world. People are moving out of their comfort zones and going to other countries for work or living. For organizations this present a need to understand about diversity and how it impacts teams and how it can be used to improve their performance. This research examined two areas of diversity and its' effect on team social integration. Diversity is divided into two areas perceived surface-level and perceived deep-level. The data was collected from students via hard copy survey questionnaire and online survey. It examined the participants perception of team members within their team/group and how it affects team social integration. This used a quantitative analysis using convenient sampling of 207 participants of which they were students in universities in Taiwan. The results found that perceived surface-level diversity had a negative relationship and negative impact on team social integration, while on the other hand, perceived deep-level diversity had a negative relationship but no impact on team social integration.