Diversity in My Team

Diversity is increasingly becoming a common element in the management of groups. The concept refers to qualities such as personality, culture, and gender that make individuals unique, and their acceptance, understanding, and respect among the group members. The current globalization trends are enhancing the growth of diversity in various groups. For instance, I noted a high level of diversity in my recent case analysis team. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate my team’s diversity a score of 7, due to the many unique qualities among the members. Among the qualities that made us different include, gender, age, culture, personality, majors, and nationality.

How Diversity Inhibited Teamwork

The high level of diversity within my team influenced our progress negatively in various ways. To begin with, it prolonged the time taken to finish the task due to poor communication among members. Our team contained both native English speakers and English as the second language (ESL) ones. The variation in language proficiency negatively affected our communication, as some members could take time to grasp the contributions of other members. This resulted to further elaboration of key points, thereby prolonging the duration of accomplishing the task. Moreover, conflicts erupted that compromised the team’s performance due to discrimination among members. Some members were discriminated on various grounds, including race and nationality. For instance, one of the members, a U.S. nationalist, could not trust the performance of members from other countries he perceived to be underdeveloped. The behavior lowered the morale of the victims and eventually contributing to poor group performance. As a group, we made him realize that all of us were equal and useful to the team by emphasizing the essence of teamwork. Finally, diversity contributed to frequent disagreements due to variation in personalities. The diverse personalities highly inhibited decision making in the team, as some members could always oppose any given decision. It is due to the team leader’s effective leadership skills that we managed to solve the disagreements and work towards the team goals.

How Diversity Promoted Teamwork

Despite partly inhibiting teamwork, diversity greatly contributed to the achievement of the team’s goals. For instance, it contributed to the effective flow of events due to increased creativity among the members. The members from different backgrounds, beliefs, and cultures came together and generated many ideas, increasing the team’s creativity. The high creativity eventually led to the effective flow of events by easily solving any barriers. Besides, diversity increased the productivity and performance of the group due to the broad range of skills. The team’s broad range of experiences, skills, and backgrounds further boosted the team’s productivity. Each member could contribute to the areas he/she mastered best leading to better performance and results. Moreover, diversity enhanced the adaptability of the team to the ever-changing situations, thereby maintaining its focus on the set goals. Similar to any other team, we experienced many challenges such as being behind schedule. However, due to the members’ diversity, we managed to provide ideas that easily solved such barriers, enhancing the achievement of our goals. Finally, the diversity experience was personally enriching. It offered the members an opportunity to learn new things and develop professionally. For instance, I gained a lot regarding working in a diverse environment. I now understand that people can consider a same situation differently, and there is a need to consider everybody’s opinion, as it enhances the determination of the best solution. Overall, I consider diversity to be a significant element for any particular team that is determined in attaining the best outcome.

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