The present study seeks to advance understanding of intragroup trust and team diversity. The dynamic interrelationships between intragroup trust, information sharing, and performance were examined over feedback cycles in interdisciplinary and homogeneous teams. In a three-hour lab session, participants completed a management simulation task in teams of four. Performance feedback was administered and process variables were measured periodically throughout the task. Several hypotheses were posed predicting differences between team type as well as the dynamic influence of performance feedback on the nature of trust. Findings both add to knowledge about the development of trust as well as point to future research directions. Although trust displayed an overall positive linear trend independent of team type, Cycle 1 performance feedback contributed to the trust trajectory. Additionally, considerations for operationalizations of information sharing and team performance are discussed in light of findings. / Master of Science

This thesis intends to analyze the influence of diversity in deep-level characteristics of team members on team dynamics. Intragroup conflict (relationship and task conflict) and team cohesiveness are selected as the group dynamics to be studied. Deep-level diversity is investigated with respect to personality traits (extraversion and time-urgency) and values (individualism) of team members. In addition, the moderating effect of time on the diversity- team dynamic relationship is analyzed. For the purpose of testing the hypotheses, a questionnaire study was conducted with 297 individuals from 55 teams, employed in defense and IT companies in Ankara. All analyses were performed at the group level. The results indicated that deep-level diversity in individualism was positively associated with relationship conflict in groups. Contrary to the hypothesis, it was also found that time played a neutralizing role on the effects of deep-level diversity on team conflict

Virtual teams are being increasingly utilized in industry given their ability to bring together diverse knowledge and experience from individuals who are not geographically proximal. Having a diversity of knowledge within virtual teams is noted to benefit innovation outcomes; however, leveraging the benefits of diversity (both deep-level and functional level) is likely to require a capability to facilitate collaboration among team members. This dissertation examines collaboration capability and absorptive capacity at the virtual team level by evaluating the inter-relationships among the dimensions and their influence on team innovation. This research also tests the impact of team diversity on team innovation with an additional focus on understanding the moderating impact of collaboration capability and the mediating impact of absorptive capacity. Two dimensions of team diversity are examined. The first dimension, deep-level diversity, involves the individual characteristics, values, attitudes and preferences. The second dimension, functional-level diversity, which entails the diversity in functional and expertise backgrounds. Survey data was collected from 166 virtual team members and the validation process revealed satisfactory psychometric properties at the items and the constructs level. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out to determine the factor structure of the hypothesized models, as well as its reliability and validity.

團隊多元化(team diversity)指的是團隊成員於人口統計屬性(如性別、年齡與種族)或潛在特性(如人格特質、工作態度或工作價值觀)上之分配情形與差異程度，或可稱之為團隊異質性(team heterogeneity)。過去實證研究雖指出團隊多元化可對團隊結果產生不同方向與程度之影響，但對於不同類型多元化與不同團隊結果間之關係仍缺乏較完整之探討。本研究將團隊多元化區分為關係相關多元化(relation-oriented diversity)與工作相關多元化(job-related diversity)，其中，再進一步將關係相關多元化分為表象多元化(surface-level diversity)與深層多元化(deep-level diversity)，目的在釐清各種多元化屬性之異同處。同時，本研究另將團隊結果分為團隊歷程與團隊績效。與過去研究不同的，本研究不僅探討團隊內部凝聚力，更將團隊多元化連結至外部歷程－外部活動(external activity)，以檢視多元化與外部活動間之關聯性。 本研究以社會分類與社會認同理論解釋關係相關多元化對團隊歷程與團隊績效之影響，假設愈高的表象多元化與深層多元化將對團隊歷程與團隊績效造成負向影響。本研究另以資訊與決策觀點及認知資源觀點解釋工作相關多元化對團隊歷程與團隊績效之影響，假設工作相關多元化將對團隊外部活動與團隊績效造成正向影響。 本研究以62位團隊主管與280位研發工程師，共62個研發團隊為對象，探討關係相關多元化與工作相關多元化對各種團隊結果之影響。本研究以問卷調查法搜集資料，發放問卷予研發工程師與團隊主管，前者回答多元化屬性與團隊歷程問項，後者回答多元化屬性與團隊績效問項。 研究結果發現，深層多元化與團隊凝聚力呈負相關，且深層多元化對團隊凝聚力之負向影響大於表象多元化。表象多元化與外部活動呈負相關，且表象多元化愈高之團隊，其團隊績效愈低。同時，工作相關多元化對外部活動與團隊績效呈正相關。由此可知，不同類型之團隊多元化可對不同團隊結果造成影響，當團隊之關係相關多元化愈高時，其團隊凝聚力愈低；而當團隊之工作相關多元化愈高時，其團隊績效愈高。因此，在探討團隊多元化與團隊結果之關係時，須仔細地思考關係相關與工作相關多元化是否會對特定類型結果產生影響，方能有助於團隊多元化研究成果之累積。 / Team diversity refers to the differences and heterogeneity of the team members’ attributes that people use to tell themselves that another person is different. Diversity is traditionally conceptualized in terms of visible differences in age and gender. Individuals may also differ on less visible characteristics such as level of education, tenure, personality, and attitude. Past research had investigated the relationship between diversity and team outcomes, however, conclusive findings of the effects of diversity on team processes and outcomes still do not exist. There is a need to develop a theory to explain the complexity of diversity and team outcomes. In this study, we adopted Jackson, May, and Whitney’s (1995) argument, offering a distinction between relation-oriented and job-related diversity, in which the former represents diversity attribute that are easily detectable or underlying and likely to evoke others’ socioemotional responses. Furthermore, relation-oriented diversity is categorized as surface-level and deep-level attribute. The former is defined as biological characteristics that are typically reflected in physical features, the latter is the differences among members’ attitudes, beliefs, and personality. To understand the impact of different types of diversity in team outcomes, this study links diversity to team cohesiveness, performance, and a new outcome, external activity. According to social categorization and social identity theories, relation-oriented diversity is negatively related to team cohesiveness, external activity and team performance. Whereas the social categorization perspective explains the relationship between relation-oriented diversity and team outcomes, the information/decision-making and cognitive resources perspectives focus more on job-related diversity. The information/decision-making and cognitive resources theories propose that variances in job-related attributes have a positive impact through increase in the skills, abilities, information, knowledge, and confidence that diversity brings, independent of what happens in the group process. There are 62 team leaders and 280 engineers, totally 62 teams, responding to the survey. We distribute different questionnaires to leaders and engineers. Besides individual characteristics, leaders evaluated the team performance, and engineers answered their perception about their team. Results show that deep-level diversity is negatively related to cohesiveness. Moreover, the impact of deep-level diversity on cohesiveness is stronger than surface-level diversity. Teams higher in surface-level diversity perform less external activity, and received lower leader rating for team performance. Results also show that job-related diversity is positively related to team performance. Apparently, different type of diversity leads to specific team outcomes. Teams higher in relation-oriented diversity lower cohesiveness, and those higher in job-related diversity lead to higher performance. Implications and future research needs are discussed.