Study on Determinants of Faultlines and Occupational Stress: Empirical Results of a Pilot Study

Abstract

Objective: Managing people from different backgrounds has brought great benefits to companies, sport teams, and surgical teams. However, previous research has shown that diversity may have negative effects on performance because of diversity "faultlines", hypothetical dividing lines that may split a group into subgroups. We conducted an empirical study on faultlines for the first time in Japan to investigate the present status of faultlines and to assess the degree to which workers perceive that (certain) attributes (e.g. age, personality, attitude) may have an impact on the emergence of faultlines in Japanese work organizations.Participants: Participants included 132 workers (122 males and 10 females; ages 20-59 years, M = 48.1 years SD =± 16.2). Methods:The questionnaire consisted of three sections, the first of which was a face sheet. The second was a newly developed set of items designed to assess the degree to which participants perceived that (certain) attributes might have an impact on the emergence of faultlines. The third explored participantʼs perception of faultlines at their present workplace. Results:We found that task-related attributes such as specialty and ability/knowledge were great factors affecting faultlines, and that every participant perceived faultlines based on such attributes as specialty, personality, and attitude. Conclusion:These findings provided the first step towards bridging faultlines in diverse teams. However, they also suggested faultlines are more detrimental than previously thought to individuals as well as organizations.Further research is now being conducted with the cooperation of more than 1,000 participants to examine the relationship between faultlines and individual outcomes, such as occupational stress and work-life conflict.