Final answer:
Diversity in teams can lead to both challenges and benefits, affecting communication, decision-making, and performance. Gender-balanced teams have been found to perform better, indicating that diversity may improve the overall skill set of the team. However, the effectiveness of diverse teams is still an active research area, especially in rapidly changing workplace environments.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question centers on the impact of diversity on team performance, specifically with regard to communication, decision-making, and conflict. Diversity in teams can lead to interpersonal challenges and conformity effects, which may potentially disrupt performance. However, research, such as the study by Hoogendoorn, Oosterbeek, & van Praag (2013), has demonstrated the benefits of a balanced gender mix, showing that gender-balanced teams have improved performance in terms of sales and profits compared to those dominated by a single gender. These findings point to a complex relationship where diversity may introduce challenges but can also enhance a team's skill set and ultimately improve performance. The concept of the team halo effect further complicates this dynamic, as it suggests that successes are attributed to the team as a whole, while failures are often blamed on individual members.
The rapid changes in workplace dynamics—technology, economics, globalization, and demographics—necessitate adaptive responses from organizations. Structuring organizations around diverse work teams rather than individuals is a strategy employed by many companies to leverage the array of skills, experiences, and expertise to respond swiftly to these changes. Nevertheless, the increased use of such teams notwithstanding, their effectiveness is still subject to ongoing research and does not guarantee increased productivity.