1.

What is an ‘homogenous team’ and what are the pitfalls of having one?

Answer»

A homogenous TEAM is one where the members are all similar in background, gender, age and culture; we are not talking about similar skill-sets but general life experience.

Homogenous teams have been shown to suffer from the following drawbacks:

  • Stifling of creativity – homogeneous team members have a similar WORLD view and so find it difficult to ‘think out of the box’
  • Communication – Although homogeneous team members may think they UNDERSTAND what is meant by a colleague’s jargon, they may have misinterpreted which may lead to mistakes; in Teams with members from diverse backgrounds it is more likely that such jargon will be challenged and a GREATER understanding is OBTAINED by all Team members
  • Minorities – People not of the same background as the homogeneous Team members may have feelings of exclusion and/or discrimination.


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