What are the pros and cons of having a diverse team? As a leader (or hypothetical leader), how would you structure a diverse team in order to have a creative and innovative team?
There is a misconception that gender diversity is about hiring more women, but it’s about creating an environment where both genders feel empowered to speak’. Being able to have a diverse and dynamic workforce allows the organization to innovate, create and contribute at a higher level.
This will enable the organization to be successful in the long run and will assist with achieving the CEO’s goals.
Diversity envisions every individual having the opportunity to reach his/her full potential, and is an essential ingredient to success. It’s not only a macro social issue but a positive enterprise advantage as well (Cakir, 2021).
The argument for having female leaders is that women have different leadership styles than men which leads them to make better decisions in some situations.
For example, in sales, they are more likely to lead by building rapport and understanding the customer instead of just following orders like their male counterparts.
The most obvious argument for having gender diversity is that there should be equal opportunity for both genders to have a job opening no matter what their gender is. This is apparent in the workforce because of the representation of females in jobs.
Having a diverse team can be similar to having women on all teams, but not just limited to that, it can be just having a mix of genders on an individual team.
A key aspect of having gender diversity is understanding each person’s strengths and weaknesses and finding a way for them to still function as an integrated unit. Having gender diversity can help in collaboration by acknowledging the differences between men and women so that everyone feels comfortable working together.
It also creates a culture of flexibility which can help create an environment where people are able to expand their leadership style; leading to more innovation and creativity. It is good for a business because it helps them think more critically, and it’s a good thing because it reduces the gender pay gap.
For instance, women have different leadership styles compared to men. A woman with power over others is not the same as a man who has authority. Women tend to be more collaborative, nurturing, and sensitive than men. Women may shy away from using power over others, instead of being authoritative.
Women are also less assertive and can be more indecisive in certain situations. During these situations, men may take over and make a decision on their own without the influence of others or their team. This is an example where gender diversity comes into play because women would have made a different decision in this situation (Sharma, 2018).
Women are more likely to share the credit for the work that they do. In turn, this leads to women being less likely to have a job that is based on merit instead of who they know or what connections they have.
Frustration can arise if a lack of gender diversity is seen as the cause of problems that can be fixed by having female leadership. However, excluding women from leadership positions may result in losses in talent due to the under-representation of females in leadership roles.
References
Cakir Ömer. (2021). Cultural diversity management challenges and advantages of culturally diverse teams in the company (1. Auflage). GRIN Verlag. Retrieved October 25 2022 from https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:101:1-2021051203323997952152.
Sharma N. Singh V. K. & Pathak S. (2018). Management techniques for a diverse and cross-cultural workforce. IGI Global Business Science Reference.