Diversity and Productivity: How Much Does Team Size Matter?
In recent years, the topic of diversity in teams has become central to corporate and academic discussions. Various research has shown how a mix of skills can lead to significant improvements in a group's overall performance. However, the question of how these diversity dynamics work in teams of different sizes is still debated. For example, integrating an expert in economics into a nursing team may lead to increased efficiency in resource management, but this may depend on the size of the team. This suggests that the added value of diversity might depend on the size of the team.
This is shown in the paper “Team size and diversity“, based on research conducted by Alexia Delfino, assistant professor in Economics at Bocconi University, together with colleagues Brais Álvarez Pereira (Nova School of Business and Economics, Portugal) and Shan Aman-Rana (Virginia University). The study, published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, investigates the impact of diversity and team size on performance through a controlled experiment. The experiment shows that in two-member teams, the addition of a person with diverse skills leads to a 3.5 percent increase in individual performance. However, this increase rises to 6 percent when the team consists of four people. This suggests that the benefits of diversity are not linear, but grow as the size of the team increases.
“We found that the positive effect of having a team member with diverse skills increases with team size,” says Alexia Delfino. “In larger teams, diverse skills not only improve productivity in specific areas, but also foster greater interaction and knowledge exchange among members.”
The researchers conducted an experiment involving 248 business and nursing students, dividing them into teams of varying sizes and observing how the presence of different skills influenced the results. The students took tests of general and field-specific knowledge, first individually and then in groups. The results showed that teams with members of different skills performed better than homogeneous teams, with a significant increase in performance in the larger teams.
In particular, four-person teams with a mix of skills recorded a 6 percent improvement in correct responses compared to two-person teams. This result was particularly evident in the general knowledge questions, where the presence of an economist helped nurses respond better than when they worked only with other nurses.
“Our research suggests there are important aspects in the structure of organizations-such as team size-that should be taken into account more often to maximize the benefits of diversity,” Delfino continues. “This may mean revisiting traditional organizational structures and experimenting with larger, more diverse teams.”
In summary, the study by Delfino and colleagues highlights how team size plays a crucial role in determining the benefits of diversity. Organizations that wish to take full advantage of skill diversity should carefully consider the composition and size of their teams to promote a collaborative and productive work environment. This approach may require a cultural shift within organizations, fostering a mindset that is open to experimentation and flexibility in managing teams.
As Alexia Delfino points out, “Investing in diversity, but also in understanding the best way to integrate it into one's organizational structure, can lead to significant competitive advantages, improving not only the performance but also the innovation capacity of organizations.” This message is especially relevant in an age when complex problems demand creative, multidisciplinary solutions.
