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Is Two Always Better than One? Understanding Reactions to Minority Duos in Work Groups

Denise Loyd, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Description

Semester:

  • Winter 2012

Speakers:

Denise Lewin Loyd, Organization Studies, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Lecture Time:

Fri, January 20, 2012 @ 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm

Lecture Location:

Room K1310, Ross School of Business

Speaker Webpage(s):

http://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/detail.php?in_spseqno=41385&co_list=F

Introduced By:

No introduction available.

Abstract

Research and theory on diversity in organizations has tended to consider how group dynamics are affected by proportional rather than incremental changes in group membership. In this talk I explore the dynamics in groups with minority duos (i.e., where exactly two members share a social category that is still in the minority within the group). Although conventional wisdom and some empirical evidence suggests that people think it will be better to be part of a minority duo than to be a solo in a group, in two experimental studies I explore the case of female duos and show that being part of a minority duo can present challenges for the members of the duo. One study demonstrated that men evaluated a woman more stereotypically when there were two women in the group than when there were one or three. Another study showed that men rated a woman in their group as contributing less leadership and having fewer skills when there were two women in the group than when there were one or three. I discuss the implications of these effects for managing diverse teams.

Recording & Additional Notes

Introducer: Madeline Ong, Ross School