Beyond the double-edged sword of cultural diversity in teams: Progress, critique, and next steps

Abstract

Ten years ago, Stahl et al. (J Int Bus Stud 41:690-709, 2010) performed a metaanalysis of the literature on cultural diversity and team performance, aiming to improve our understanding of ''the mechanisms and contextual conditions under which cultural diversity affects team processes'' (p. 691). State-of-the-art studies still echo the article's conclusion about the 'double-edged sword' of cultural diversity, referring to the trade-off between process losses and gains. In this commentary, we assess progress within the past decade on our understanding of this double-edged sword. We argue that in terms of adding new insights, IB, as a field, has made substantial progress with respect to understanding diversity within teams, moderate progress with respect to inputprocess-output logic, and minimal progress with respect to definitions of cultural diversity. Our recommendations for moving beyond the double-edged sword metaphor in the next decade include shifting focus from cultural diversity per se to how it is managed, moving away from simplicity towards unfolding complexity, and expanding diversity categories beyond culture, and mechanisms beyond knowledge or information.

The relationship between top management team diversity and organizational resilience: Evidence from the automotive industry in Japan

“…Given these results, simply organizing a TMT based on diversity indices can be a double-edged sword that can negatively affect organizational outcomes (Minbaeva et al, 2021; Triana et al, 2014). It will be necessary to utilize diversity carefully, taking into account the industrial and historical context that surrounds the focal industry and companies.…”

Analysis on the Influence of Organizational Cultures on Economical and Managerial Performance - A Case Study of Huawei and Lenovo

“…Huawei and Lenovo, both international firms, have age and lin guist ic diversity among their employees, which is adverse to their organizational performa nce [9]. In contrast, possible differences in the economic base of their human development resources may be favourable for organizations so long as their culture separates them from rivals.…”

‘Maybe it’s culture and maybe it isn’t’: An ethnographic study of sensemaking, culture and performance in a multicultural team

“…Tung and Stahl, 2018). In IPO models, cultural diversity is positioned as an antecedent (Minbaeva et al, 2021), measurable and definable. The dominant approach in the study of multicultural teams (Stahl and Maznevski, 2021;Tsui et al, 2007) has drawn on shared cultural values (Hofstede, 1980;Hofstede, 1991;House et al, 2004), conceptualised as a sort of 'pre-determined personality template' (Ailon-Souday and Kunda, 2003).…”

“…Operationalising the Process in IPO models has proved especially difficult (Einola and Alvesson, 2019; Mathieu et al, 2008). In frameworks using fixed time points and fixed measures of culture and diversity, process has been conceptualised as ‘how constructs mediate and moderate the team diversity-performance relationship’ (Minbaeva et al, 2021). Such research treats process as largely static (Zhu et al, 2021).…”

“…The impact of cultural diversity on team performance is widely researched (Minbaeva et al, 2021; Stahl and Maznevski, 2021; Stahl et al, 2010), but understanding of the dynamic processes within multicultural teams is limited (Einola and Alvesson, 2019). The widely used metaphor of the double-edged sword (Milliken and Martins, 1996: 403) rests on the assumption that diversity can cut both ways, enhancing and limiting performance.…”