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RESEARCH PROPOSAL FOR

PhD IN SOCIAL WORK,
FACULTY OF SOCIAL WORK

IMPACT OF TEAM GENDER COMPOSITION ON LEVELS OF INCLUSION,

COORDINATION, COHESION AND EVENTUALLY TEAM PERFORMANCE.
Manasi Vahia

January 2016

Introduction
Significance of theme:
According to the ILOs Global Employment Trends 2013 report, Indias labour force
participation rate for women fell from just over 37 per cent in 2004-05 to 29 per cent in
2009-10. Out of 131 countries with available data, India ranks 11th from the bottom in
female labour force participation. Female employment in India grew by 9 million
between 1994 and 2010, but the ILO estimates that it could have increased by almost
double that figure if women had equal access to employment in the same industries and
occupations as their male counterparts. "Failure to allow women full access to the labour
market is an under-utilization of human resources that holds back productivity and
economic growth," said ILO economist Steven Kapsos.
Under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs 5) established following the
Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, 23 International organizations
committed to help achieve eight MDGs by 2015; the third one focused on Promotion of
gender equality and empowerment of women. Nations and their organizations and
institutions have taken it in their stride to work on efforts to achieve this goal.
Many International organizations such as Vodafone, PepsiCo, LEGO etc even have
policies and practices in Gender diversity & inclusion. As women are getting more
opportunities to enter the workforce in large numbers, there would be an increase in the
number of mixed-gender teams.
The study of workforce diversity has taken on new importance as changes in the different
economies around the world force organizations to resize, restructure & redesign
themselves continuously in order to survive and sustain in the marketplace. In this
endeavour, the organizations could resort to a tendency of workplace exploitation in order
to achieve maximum outputs. But fortunately, the current scenario of legislations &
awareness amongst the people across the world has restrained organizations to move
rapidly & unthinkably towards such a move.

Basic review of literature:

Groups, their productivity & performance:
Not all tasks can be performed by a single person & hence groups are formed to
accomplish them. Organizations churning out their daily, weekly, monthly targets are a
function of various parameters; groups are one of the most important such aspects which
help achieve these targets. The relay test room experiments at the Hawthorne Plant of the
Western Electric company revealed a very important dimension in the study of group
behaviour & its impact on productivity. The observations concluded that group processes,
not aspects of physical work setting, were the principal determinants of productivity
(Hare, 1967; Mayo, 1933; Roethlisberger & Dickson, 1939; Whitehead, 1983). Some
studies further studied that team performance levels are higher at the later stages of group
development (Tuckman, 1965). Charles F. Bond and Linda J. Titus (1983) conducted a
meta-analysis of around 24,000 people participants performing tasks alone and with
others. When they combined the results of these studies statistically, they found that
people work faster and produce more results when others are present only when they
work on simple tasks. This phenomenon rarely occurs; in fact it decreases the quantity
and quality of work on complex tasks. The law of group productivity proposed by Ivan
Steiner (1972) predicts that Actual productivity = Potential productivity Losses owing
to faulty processes. This realizes that groups rarely reach their full potential because a
variety of interpersonal processes detracts from their overall proficiency. Research in this
area highlights that owing to individuals working in groups, there is a reduction of effort
and hence subsequent impact is visible on inability to reach the potential productivity.
Social combination and performance:
All groups are amalgamation of joining together of many relatively independent
individuals. Each individual has a set of personality characteristics, interests, skill sets,
abilities, knowledge etc. These characteristics when fused with those of other group
members form the group as a whole and have impact in various areas of group
performance. Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman (1997) studied groups that
have made remarkable advances in science, technology, education and art. They

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accentuated that all these great groups had great leaders, but the primary task for the
leaders was the recruitment and retention of gifted individual members. The combination
of knowledge, skill and ability levels of individuals in groups has hence been
emphasized. Organizations pay a lot of attention to their talent acquisition processes since
they realize that the composition of teams with respect to various aspects (knowledge,
skills, abilities, attitudes) has an impact on their performance and ultimately that of the
organization. Modern day organizations also are increasingly removing barriers with
respect to various diversities in the organization. This builds many researchers interest in
the area of workforce diversity and its impact on various components, both in the groups
as well as organizations.
Team behaviour and gender composition:
Homogeneity and heterogeneity have also been topics of interest to researchers. Group
members characteristics in terms of socioeconomic background, age, gender, expertise,
ethnicity etc have an impact on group performance. Work group diversity may be linked
to favourable or unfavourable performances (Kent & McGrath, 1969; Murnigham &
Conlon, 1991). Researchers have reported conflicting findings with regards to impact of
diversity on group cohesion and performance.
Differences in team members behavior owing to gender composition in teams can have
various implications for effectiveness, especially for the teams performance.
Consequently, varied research has been conducted in studying the impact of gender
diversity at workplace. [1] A study of 101 public, private and non-profit organizations
found that those with three or more women on their executive boards outperformed other
companies on all of the studys measures of performance; leadership, direction,
accountability, co-ordination and control, external orientation, capability, work
environment and values. [2] Another study surveyed 1,400 team members from 100 teams
at 21 companies in 17 countries. The study found that gender balanced teams were the
most likely to experiment, be creative, share knowledge, and fulfill tasks. The study also
found that the most confident teams had a slight majority of women (60%). [3] A study of
272 projects at four companies found that gender diversity on technical work teams was
associated with superior adherence to project schedules, lower project costs, employee
performance ratings and higher employee pay bonuses.

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Gender diversity, group processes and performance
[4]

Does gender diversity matter for team processes and performance? This question has

been the subject of numerous empirical studies, meta-analyses and literature reviews (e.g.
Baugh and Graen 1997; Bowers et al 2000; Chatman and OReilly 2004; Ely and Thomas
2001; Jackson et al. 2003; Joshi and Roh 2009; Mannix and Neale 2005; Myaskovsky et
al. 2005; Pelled 1996; Stewart 2006; Webber and Donahue 2001). [5]Overall, existing
research suggests that gender diversity can have a positive effect on group process, while
its effect on performance is fairly ambiguous and dependent to some degree upon the
context of the work. In terms of group processes, the collective intelligence of a system
resides in the connections among the units and their patterns of behaviour (Losada and
Heaphy 2004).
It is essential to understand the factors that can have an impact on men and women which
may result in differences in behavior in mixed gender settings. Although member
heterogeneity improves decision quality, widely varying perspectives and opinions
among members can also make reaching decision consensus difficult and time consuming
(Nemeth & Straw, 1989). With presence of women in teams, the heterogeneity element
increases. This may increase difference in opinions and hence group processes may get
affected. These ultimately may have an impact on group decisions & team performance.
Topic of research:
Group processes such as trust between members of a team, cohesion levels amongst
them, coordination, inclusion and overall relationship with others in the team etc. are
essential ingredients for achieving team performance. The study undertaken will attempt
to examine the relationship between group processes and team performance caused
owing to presence of female gender in teams. Group processes that enable team
performance can be many. For the purpose of research, variables of Inclusion,
Coordination and Cohesion will be studied.
Definitions:
Group The definition of a group varies, but in the context of organizations, a group can
be defined as: a collection of individuals (1) who have significantly interdependent
relations with each other, (2) who perceive themselves as a group by reliably

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distinguishing members from nonmembers, (3) whose group identity is recognized by
nonmembers, (4) who, as group members acting alone or in concert, have significantly
interdependent relations with other groups, and (5) whose roles in the group are therefore
a function of expectations from themselves, from other group members, and from
nongroup members (Alderfer, 1982).
Diversity: Diversity is a characteristic of groups of two or more people and typically
refers to demographic differences of one sort or another among group members
(McGrath, Berdahl, and Arrow, 1995)
Inclusion: This can be simply defined as To be a part of something. It can be seen as a
way of acceptance of an individual within a group. As a fully documented policy
response, the concept of social inclusion to counteract social exclusion emerged toward
the end of the 1980s, when the European Community (EC) first used the term social
exclusion (Wilson, 2006). The appearance of the term social inclusion in the rhetoric of
the EC was in itself a key point of departure, in that exclusion was suddenly held to be a
reflection that poverty was no longer the right word to use to describe the plight of those
marginalized from mainstream society (Williams & White, 2003, p. 91).
Co-ordination: The organization of the different elements of a complex body or activity
so as to enable them to work together effectively. "an important managerial task is the
control and coordination of activities"
Cohesion: Group cohesiveness (also called group cohesion and social cohesion) arises
when bonds link members of a social group to one another and to the group as a whole.
Although cohesion is a multi-faceted process, it can be broken down into four main
components: social relations, task relations, perceived unity, and emotions. Members of
strongly cohesive groups are more inclined to participate readily and to stay with the
group. Attraction, task commitment and group pride are also said to cause group
cohesion. The forces that push group members together can be positive (group-based
rewards) or negative (things lost upon leaving the group). The main factors that influence
group cohesiveness are: members similarity, group size, entry difficulty, group success
and external competition and threats. Often, these factors work through enhancing the
identification of individuals with the group they belong to as well as their beliefs of how
the group can fulfill their personal needs.

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Team performance: It is a multidimensional construct that encompasses several outcome
measures such as quantitative production, qualitative team outcomes, and team cohesion.
Here the focus of our research remains on impact of group diversity on group processes
rather than teams performance.

Objectives of research
1. To evaluate the impact of team gender composition on variables (viz. Inclusion,
Coordination and Cohesion) that are considered important for the successful
performance of a team.
2. To project a relationship between presence of women at workplace and change in
such variables stated and hence team performance.

Research Method
Hypothesis:
H1: Presence of women has a significant impact on Inclusion levels in a team.
H2: Presence of women has a significant impact on Coordination within a team.
H3: Presence of women has a significant impact on Cohesion amongst team members.
H4: Impact on all the above variables eventually has a significant impact on Team
performance.
Sampling of the study:
The research is proposed to be conducted in organizations which have actively recruited
and have been including more women at their workplace. Hence, the sample will consist
of teams which have a proportion of at least a reasonable number of women vis--vis
men in the same team.
Measurement tool:
Structured questionnaire will be designed & sent to such organizations. Alternatively,
focused group discussions or interviews can be conducted with team members & their

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leaders. These tools will focus on the assessing the impact of gender composition on
group process variables identified.
Team performance inputs will be taken from organizational experts who have evaluated
performance of the teams. Performance dimensions that are considered crucial for the
teams will be gathered from the organizations.
The relationship between such variables could further be established between data
gathered from various sources & tools.

Scope of Study:
Since organizations across the world are increasing their emphasis on gender diversity at
workplace, the findings of this research could help organizations become more sensitive
towards gender inclusion & its observable impact on performance.
This study will be useful for managers of any organization of tomorrow which are having
more gender diverse teams and policies to support them. Managers today have to manage
achievement of task through effective management of their teams. The awareness of such
group processes in the case of mixed gender groups may help managers sensitize
towards, understand and manage their teams in a more effective way.

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References
[1] Rohner, U. and B. Dougan (2012). Gender diversity and corporate performance.
Technical report, Credit Suisse Research Institute, Zurich.
[2] Lehman Brothers Center for Women in Business. (2008). Innovative potential: Men
and women in teams,
[3] Turner, L. (2009). Gender diversity and innovative performance, Int. J. Innovation
and Sustainable Development, 4(2/3), 124.
[4] Anita Williams Woolleey (June 2011). Role of Gender in Team collaboration and
Performance. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, Vol. 36 No. 2, 2.
[5] Julie Christian, Lyman W. Porter, Graham Mo_tt. Workplace Diversity and Group
Relations: An Overview. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 2006, 9 (4), pp.459466.
Website references:
http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Clayton_Alderfer
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/the_global_gender_agenda
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/growth/how_advancing_womens_equality_can_add_1
2_trillion_to_global_growth
https://www.vodafone.com/content/sustainabilityreport/2014/index/operating_responsibly
/our_people/performance_in_2013-14.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_cohesiveness
Bibliography:
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, (1993) Men and Women of the Corporation.
Donelson R. Forsyth, (2009) Group Processes