Managing Inclusiveness and Diversity in Teams: How Leader Inclusiveness Affects Performance through Status and Team Identity

• Published date: 01 March 2015
• Author: Vicki Parker,Rebecca Mitchell,Michelle Giles,Pauline Joyce,Vico Chiang,Brendan Boyle
• Date: 01 March 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21658

Human Resource Management, March–April 2015, Vol. 54, No. 2. Pp. 217–239

© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI:10.1002/hrm.21658

Correspondence to: Rebecca Mitchell, Faculty of Business and Law, Newcastle Business School, University

ofNewcastle, New South Wales, Australia, 2308, Phone: +61 2 49216828, Fax: +61 2 49216911,

E-mail: Rebecca.mitchell@newcastle.edu.au

MANAGING INCLUSIVENESS

AND DIVERSITY IN TEAMS: HOW

LEADER INCLUSIVENESS AFFECTS

PERFORMANCE THROUGH STATUS

AND TEAM IDENTITY

REBECCA MITCHELL, BRENDAN BOYLE,

VICKIPARKER, MICHELLE GILES, VICO CHIANG,

ANDPAULINE JOYCE

While there is increasing pressure to work collaboratively in interprofessional

teams, health professionals often continue to operate in uni-professional

silos. Leader inclusiveness is directed toward encouraging and valuing the

different viewpoints of diverse members within team interactions, and has

signifi cant potential to overcome barriers to interprofessional team perform-

ance. In order to better understand the infl uence of leader inclusiveness, we

develop and investigate a model of its effect incorporating two mediated path-

ways. We predict that leader inclusiveness enhances interprofessional team

performance through an increase in shared team identity and a reduction in

perceived status differences, and we argue that the latter pathway is contin-

gent on professional diversity. Data from 346 members of 75 teams support

our model, with team identity and perceived status differences mediating

a signifi cant effect of leader inclusi veness on performance. In addition, we

found support for the moderating role of professional diversity. The results

reinforce the critical role of leader inclusiveness in diverse teams, particu-

larly interprofessional teams, and suggest that social identity and perceived

status differences are critical factors mediating its impact on performance.

©2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: professional diversity, health care management, team dynamics,

leadership

218 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, MARCH–APRIL 2015

Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

There is evidence

that health care

professionals tend

to operate in uni-

professional silos

and that sharing

knowledge across

professional borders

is problematic.

and restraining interprofessional collabora-

tion (Currie & Suhomlinova, 2006) and has

led to a gradual increase in research focused

on interprofessional teamwork over the past

three decades (Richter, Dawson & West, 2011;

Thylefors, 2012). An area of emerging value

in this work is leadership and the influence

of leaders in interprofessional team perfor-

mance (Mitchell, Boyle, Parker, Giles, Joyce,

& Chiang, 2014).

We contribute to this important research

in the leadership of interprofessional teams

by investigating the role of leader inclusive-

ness. Leader inclusiveness reflects behav-

ior that encourages an appreciation for the

disparate and diverse contributions of all

members, particularly in situations in which

their input might not typically be attended

to (Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006). While

research into inclusion is still in its infancy,

it has recently been discussed as a key theo-

retical determinant of performance in groups,

particularly diverse groups (Carmeli, Reiter-

Palmon, & Ziv, 2010; Shore etal., 2010).

The current study integrates our extant

knowledge of team diversity and leader inclu-

siveness into a research framework that is

informed by literature on the professions.

We develop a model of leadership and inter-

professional team performance through two

mediated pathways, which depict the effect

of team identity and perceived status differ-

ences between members. Leader inclusiveness

is argued to enhance team identity, defined

as shared attachment to the team (Shapiro,

Furst, Spreitzer, & Von Glinow, 2002), by

enhancing collaboration through the percep-

tion of shared goals (Delva, Jamieson et al,

2008; West, 2002). Leader inclusiveness also

decreases members’ perception of status dif-

ferences, differences in terms of the respect

and influence accorded on the basis of pro-

fession (Anderson, John, Keltner, & Kring,

2001), by convincing followers that their dif-

ferent perspectives and ideas are genuinely

respected and appreciated (Carmeli et al.,

2010; Hirak, Peng, Carmeli, & Schaubroeck,

2012). This increases performance by pro-

moting knowledge sharing and open discus-

sion of different perspectives. Given previous

support for the impact of professionally based

Interprofessional teams comprise mem-

bers of different health care professions

collaborating on service delivery and de-

cision making (Canadian Collaborative

Mental Health Initiative [CCMHI], 2006),

and have been the focus of significant or-

ganizational investment (Canadian Health

Services Research Foundation (CHSRF), 2008;

Curran et al., 2009). However, while such

teams can be beneficial at a patient, staff,

and organizational level (Reeves, Abramovich

etal, 2007; Reese & Sontag, 2001), a number

of studies suggest that they do not necessarily

perform effectively, and may experience fric-

tion, hostility, and poor performance (Atwal

& Caldwell, 2005; Caldwell & Atwal, 2003).

A core characteristic of interprofessional

teams, their diverse professional

composition, has been identi-

fied as a potential source of con-

flict and a factor explaining poor

performance (Hudson, 2002).

Con versely, such diversity has

also been identified as an impor-

tant contributor to effectiveness

through the knowledge-related

advantages associated with profes-

sional expertise (Mitchell, Parker,

& Giles, 2011). These ambiguous

results are typical of research into

diverse teams (van Knippenberg

& Schippers, 2007); however, the

nature of professions suggests that

some factors may be particularly

relevant to the success of interprofessional

teams (Mitchell, Parker, Giles & White, 2010).

Professions are differentiated from other

occupations by distinctive conventions and

institutions that are sustained by discrete

ideologies of expertise and service (Freidson,

1973). Past research supports the role of sig-

nificant normative and cognitive influences

in promoting and restraining collaboration

across professional boundaries (Currie &

Suhomlinova, 2006). There is evidence that

health care professionals tend to operate in

uni-professional silos and that sharing knowl-

edge across professional borders is problematic

(Ferlie, Fitzgerald, Wood, & Hawkins, 2005).

This research suggests that there are signifi-

cant professionally based factors promoting