This study examined the hypothesis that differences in the cultural norms of Anglo-Americans and three other ethnic groups-Asian, Hispanic, and Black Americans-will result in different behaviors on a group task. Student subjects were assigned to ethnically diverse or all-Anglo groups. Individual and group responses were measured using a Prisoner's Dilemma task in which participants could choose to compete or cooperate with another party. We hypothesized that groups composed of people from collectivist cultural traditions would display more cooperative hehavior than groups composed of people from individualistic cultural traditions. Results confirmed this hypothesis. Implications for future research and for organizations seeking to manage diversity are discussed.

There is a growing belief among managers that ethnic diversity, when well managed, can provide organizations with certain competitive advantages. But the belief in this value-inl diversity hypothesis rests largely on anecdotal rather than empirical evidence. Results are reported ofa controlled experimental study that compares the performance on a brainstorm ing task between groups composed of all Anglo-Americans with groups composed ofAnglo-, Asian, African, and Hispanic Americans. The particular brainstorming task used-The Tourist Problem-was chosenfor its relevancefordiversity along the dimension of ethnicity. The ideas produced by the ethnically diverse groups were judged to be of higher quality-more effective andfeasible-than the ideas produced by the homogeneous groups. Members of homogeneous groups reported marginally more attraction to their groups than did members of diverse oroups. Directions for future research with respect to the degree of diversity, the nature of the task, and group process are discussed.

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Flexible work arrangements that give employees more control over when and where they work (such as part-time, flextime, and flexplace) have resulted in growing workplace trends of reduced face time, namely less visible physical time at the workplace. Most previous writings highlight negative effects on work group processes and effectiveness. In contrast, we develop a cross-level model specifying facilitating work practices that enhance group processes and effectiveness. These work practices: collaborative time management, re-definition of work contributions, proactive availability, and strategic self-presentation enhance overall awareness of others' needs in the group and overall caring about group goals, reduce process losses, and enhance group-level organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Our model presents testable propositions to guide empirical research on potentially positive effects of individual reduced face time on group outcomes.

Brazilian and U.S. student samples responded to measures of behavioral intention, perceived norms, and affect regarding prosocial behaviors. Subjects were randomly assigned to either an anonymous or public condition in answering the questionnaire, and subjects were categorized as either allocentric, i.e., tending to subordinate their personal goals to the goals of others, or idiocentric, i.e., tending to subordinate the goals of others to their personal goals. The Brazilian sample indicated they would do what was expected of them and would enjoy doing so, whereas the U.S. sample reported not only less intention to do what was expected of them, but also less enjoyment regarding adherence to norms. As predicted, U.S. subjects in the anonymous condition showed less willingness to perform prosocial behaviors with high personal cost than U.S. subjects in the public condition, whereas the Brazilians did not respond differently in the two conditions. These results imply that the Brazilians have internalized ingroup norms; the U.S. subjects demonstrated compliance because of social desirability pressures. In collectivist cultures, habits and other such mechanisms of social control may predict pro-social behavior, whereas both habits and attitudes may be necessary to predict pro-social behavior in individualist cultures.