DIVERSITY, A MATTER OF COMMUNICATION

This paper provides a model to evaluate the choice of (non-)diversity in team settings. It includes the role of communication intervals as well as the probability of similarity in ideas. This makes it able to compare diverse teams to less diverse teams and draw conclusions for specific projects with different characteristics. This paper does not give an absolute answer for the question whether or not to choose for diverse team members but gives more insights in the factors complying diversity. In this model, diversity is narrowed down to the aspect of abilities as abilities contribute to the expected output of a team. It assumes that the more diverse a team is, the lower the level of communication and the lower the probability of drawing the same idea. On the other hand, the less diverse a team is, the better the communication but the higher the probability that the team members draw similar ideas. This pay-off should be analyzed including the important characteristics regarding communication and generating ideas of the specific project. Further research could include other dimensions of diversity and could implement more factors cooping with diversity in abilities.