Diversity in teams

From apppm
(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
(Abstaract)
Line 4: Line 4:
 
People are critical to the success of projects, programs and portfolios. As stated in the DS Handbook 185 "Projects are made for people by people", and it is only in the recent years that people and behaviours has been recognized and incorporated in project management as a profession. <ref name ="Handbook"> Geraldi, J., Thuesen, C., Oehmen, J., & Stingl, V. (2017). Doing Projects. A Nordic Flavour to Managing Projects: DS-handbook 185:2017. Dansk Standard.</ref>. It does not help to have the right processes and right systems if the team members do not work effectively together. An important part of managing projects, programs and portfolios is therefore connecting people who do not know one another and come from different backgrounds to work together towards a shared purpose. This has changed the role of the project manager from a technician to a leader, where it is as important to have social skills.
 
People are critical to the success of projects, programs and portfolios. As stated in the DS Handbook 185 "Projects are made for people by people", and it is only in the recent years that people and behaviours has been recognized and incorporated in project management as a profession. <ref name ="Handbook"> Geraldi, J., Thuesen, C., Oehmen, J., & Stingl, V. (2017). Doing Projects. A Nordic Flavour to Managing Projects: DS-handbook 185:2017. Dansk Standard.</ref>. It does not help to have the right processes and right systems if the team members do not work effectively together. An important part of managing projects, programs and portfolios is therefore connecting people who do not know one another and come from different backgrounds to work together towards a shared purpose. This has changed the role of the project manager from a technician to a leader, where it is as important to have social skills.
  
Different backgrounds, interests, and personalities will make people see and approach tasks differently. This also leads to different preferences when it comes to types of work and team roles. To be able to manage a team it is important that the manager is aware of the challenges and benefits of diversity, and knows how to manage them.
+
In government, business, science, health care, and almost any other sector, diverse groups the rise. Diversity has the potential to disrupt team functioning, or on the flip side be the source of creativity and insight.
 +
Different backgrounds, interests, and personalities will make people see and approach tasks differently. It
  
 +
To be able to manage a team it is important that the manager is aware of the challenges and benefits of diversity, and knows how to manage them.
  
  
Line 11: Line 13:
 
- More equality  
 
- More equality  
  
- Less homogenous groups  
+
- Less homogenous groups
 
+
 
+
  
 
== Types of diversity ==
 
== Types of diversity ==

Revision as of 22:25, 14 February 2021


Contents

Abstaract

People are critical to the success of projects, programs and portfolios. As stated in the DS Handbook 185 "Projects are made for people by people", and it is only in the recent years that people and behaviours has been recognized and incorporated in project management as a profession. [1]. It does not help to have the right processes and right systems if the team members do not work effectively together. An important part of managing projects, programs and portfolios is therefore connecting people who do not know one another and come from different backgrounds to work together towards a shared purpose. This has changed the role of the project manager from a technician to a leader, where it is as important to have social skills.

In government, business, science, health care, and almost any other sector, diverse groups the rise. Diversity has the potential to disrupt team functioning, or on the flip side be the source of creativity and insight. Different backgrounds, interests, and personalities will make people see and approach tasks differently. It

To be able to manage a team it is important that the manager is aware of the challenges and benefits of diversity, and knows how to manage them.


- More equality

- Less homogenous groups

Types of diversity

Personality diversity

Knowledge of the different types of personalities and how they may influence is crucial for the manager to be able to establish balanced teams that work well together. [2] Project managers who know the natural roles of the team member can use that knowledge to build balanced and effective teams. There are a number of ways of assessing these preferences (e.g. Belbin team role inventory).


Cultural Diversity

As the world gets globalized, projects become more international and project groups are formed across country borders. This leads to cultural diverse project teams. Cultural diversity is defined as "the existence of a variety of cultural or ethnic groups in a society"[3]. All though research suggests that there is no direct connection between cultural diversity and team performance, it still affects the teams in several ways. [4].




Effects of diversity

How is connected to the key references - People - Complexity --Stakeholder complexity- Stakeholder complexity focuses on the program team itself and the diversity within the program team. p. 31 --- Diversity in teams is also connected to the complexity perspective, and particularly stakeholder complexity. Stakeholder complexity focuses on the program team itself, and the diversity within the team. [5]


People - communication State of subject

Effects of diversity

The effects of diversity have traditionally been understood trough three different perspectives: [6]

1. Similarity-attraction

People are attracted to working with those with similar values, beliefs and attitudes.

2.Self-and social categorization

People categorize themselves into specific groups, based on a race, gender, values, beliefs among others, and others as outsiders. This creates an atmosphere where the outsiders are judged more stereotypically, and there are different expectations for those in the same groups and the outsiders.

3.Information processing

Individuals in groups with cultural diversity have access too other individuals that have different backgrounds, networks, information and skills. This increases the amount of information within the group and creates an atmosphere that can improve the group-performance



Application

Limitation

Annotated bibliography

[4] Large meta study, that tries to summarize previous research on the topic of cultural diversity. Taken from the report: "Our goals in this study were to take stock of and synthesize the findings from previous research, to reconcile conflicting perspectives and past results, and to propose an agenda for the next stage of research in this field."

  1. Geraldi, J., Thuesen, C., Oehmen, J., & Stingl, V. (2017). Doing Projects. A Nordic Flavour to Managing Projects: DS-handbook 185:2017. Dansk Standard.
  2. AXELOS. Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 2017 Edition, Page 74, The Stationery Office Ltd, 2017.
  3. Oxford Languages for Google. Cultural diversity definition. Available at: https://www.google.no/search?rls=com.microsoft%3Anb%3A%7Breferrer%3Asource%7D&sxsrf=ALeKk00Aga05cPg7KF2xXvAQudX3lPwCFQ%3A1613070110502&ei=Hn8lYISXHqXnrgTy7L6oAw&q=cultural+diversity+definition&oq=cultural+diversity+definition&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQDFAAWABgsCFoAHAAeACAAVWIAVWSAQExmAEAqgEHZ3dzLXdpesABAQ&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwiEnry3wuLuAhWls4sKHXK2DzUQ4dUDCA0
  4. 4.0 4.1 Stahl, G., Maznevski, M., Voigt, A. et al. Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural work groups. J Int Bus Stud 41, 690–709 (2010). Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46526123_Unraveling_the_effects_of_cultural_diversity_in_teams_A_meta-analysis_of_research_on_multicultural_work_groups
  5. The Standard for Program Management — Fourth Edition. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, 2017. Accessed February 12, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central.
  6. Mannix, Elizabeth & Neale, Margaret A (2005). What differences make a difference? Psychological Science in the Public Interest. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1529-1006.2005.00022.x?casa_token=qiXUEAO_nPIAAAAA:77IXwF62pgU5VFPWF6eW7mm2XyX56bgBE-cmFbnMJsl6NTVD1S2u9EEHZIry56F8RPzRaaAfDdyu
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Toolbox