다양성이 프로젝트 팀의 성과에 미치는 영향

The Effects of Diversity on Project Team Performance

  본 연구는 62개의 프로젝트 팀을 대상으로 팀의 다양성이 팀성과에 미치는 영향에 대하여 실증분석을 하였다. 분석결과, 연령 다양성은 팀성과에 대하여 부정적 영향을 미치는 반면, 주기능 다양성과 리더의 개인내 기능적 다양성은 팀성과에 대하여 긍정적 영향을 미치는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 다음으로, 다양성 변수들의 상호작용이 팀성과에 대하여 유의적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 근속기간 다양성과 팀의 개인내 기능적 다양성의 상호작용은 팀성과에 대하여 긍정적 영향을 미치며, 교육배경 다양성과 리더의 개인내 기능적 다양성의 상호작용도 팀성과에 대하여 긍정적 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 마지막으로, 연구결과에 대한 이론적ㆍ실무적 시사점에 대하여 논의하였다.

&nbsp;&nbsp;We explored the direct and interactive effects of diversity variables on project team performance. Six variables were used to measure team diversity: age, tenure (service year), dominant function, intrapersonal functions among team members, team leader’s intrapersonal functions, and educational background.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Our hypotheses are as follows. Age diversity of team members will be negatively related to team performance (Hypothesis 1). Tenure diversity will be positively related to team performance (Hypothesis 2). Dominant function diversity will be positively related to team performance (Hypothesis 3). Intrapersonal functional diversity of team members will be positively related to team performance (Hypothesis 4). Intrapersonal functional diversity of team leader will be positively related to team performance (Hypothesis 5). Educational background diversity will be negatively related to team performance (Hypothesis 6). Along with testing these hypotheses, we further analyzed the effects of interaction among diversity variables.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Data were collected from 62 field project teams that operated for four years consecutively in a think tank affiliated to a large Korean company. Specifically, diversity and performance data were collected from the personnel records and documents of the company. The team performance data were collected from the actual results of performance ratings systematically done through the evaluation processes of the company. This study controls several variables that might affect the hypothesized relationships, including team type (consulting or research), team size (the number of team members), and the length of operation of the team.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Results indicate that age diversity is negatively associated with team performance, while we could not find any significant association between tenure diversity and team performance. Interaction among some diversity variables also have positive effects on team performance. More specifically, interaction between tenure and intrapersonal functional diversity is positively associated with team performance. Interaction between educational background diversity and leader&quot;s intrapersonal functional diversity is also positively associated with team performance.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Our results have several implications for both researchers and practitioners. First, the project team has horizontal organization structure and thus team members should cooperate with each other based on the expertise to achieve the common goals of the team. This means that age diversity could bring about negative effects on team performance. In the social, cultural context respecting seniority like in Korea, it is commonly accepted for seniors to expect to be respected only because of their own seniority regardless of their own capability. The social identity and similarity-attraction theory supports the result. Age difference often functions as a crucial social category in Korean culture and can have a negative impact on organizational cohesiveness, integration and communication, often resulting in lowering team performance.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Second, the amount and variety of the task-related ability, information, and skill could depend on the length and variance of the service year of the team members. These variances can help generate new perspectives and enhance performance in doing the task of project team which requires high level of creativity. Even with this assumption, we could not find significant influence of tenure diversity in the Korean context. The tenure might be recognized like age difference in the organization, but the negative effect can be diluted due to the task-relatedness of tenure, so the trade-off makes no significant effect on the performance.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Third, dominant function diversity of a team and leader’s intrapersonal functional diversity are associated with positive team performance. The dominant function diversity