Beyond Diversity and Homogeneity: Conceptualizing Compatibility in Cognition

Abstract

Despite the oft touted benefits of having differences in how people think about a task, teams often are not able to capitalize on their heterogeneity. The problem, we demonstrate, is that representational gaps—fundamental incompatibilities in the way that team members conceptualize the problem and solution space—degrade the knowledge synthesis capabilities of teams. We show that rGaps degrade team processes and thus have a unique effect on performance above and beyond mere differences in cognition. In two laboratory studies, we find that representational gaps hurt verbal and nonverbal communication and increased relationship conflict. Relationship conflict, in turn, mediated the negative relationship between rGaps and performance. We discuss possible interventions when rGaps are present.