Diversity and recategorization: Examining the effects of cooperation on bias and work outcomes

Abstract

According to Williams and O'Reilly (1998), the negative effects of diversity in workgroups can be attributed, at least in part, to self-categorization—a process that leads to bias between ingroups and outgroups. Therefore, efforts to reduce intergroup bias could mitigate the negative impact of diversity. In drawing from the Common Ingroup Identity Model (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000; Gaertner et al., 1993), the purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which a reduction in intergroup bias, through recategorization, was related to more positive affective work attitudes. Students (N = 325) in physical activity classes participated in the experiment. Participants were assigned to 3-person groups, where they worked on the Winter Survival Problem (Johnson & Johnson, 1975), thereby creating ingroup membership. After completing the task, two 3-person groups worked with one another. It was during this time that the manipulation took place. In following Gaertner et al. (1989, 1990), cooperation was used to recategorize group members, such that the two groups of the three merged to form a common group—one group where they interacted, had a common problem (the Winter Survival Problem) requiring a consensus solution, and common fate. In the no-cooperation condition, two groups shared their answers to the Winter Survival Problem with one another. As expected, cooperation served to transform cognitive representations of the aggregate to one group; further, as a result of pro-ingroup bias, persons with cognitive representations of the aggregate as one group had less intergroup bias than did persons with cognitive representations of the aggregate as two groups. Unexpectedly, the reduction in bias was not related to satisfaction with or preference to work with the group as a whole. However, consistent with the predictions, a reduction in intergroup bias was significantly related to satisfaction with the performance of and preference to work with outgroup members. The results indicate that recategorization (a) can mitigate or reverse the possible negative effects of diversity in the workplace and (b) is a strategy for managing diversity in workgroups.