Cultural Diversity in Military Teams: Which Factors Influence Effectiveness

摘要

To investigate whether cultural diversity in military teams enhances or decreases team effectiveness, taking into account different measures of cultural diversity, and controlling for team factors such as leadership, involvement and social support. Military (N = 89) who were currently deployed in a multinational team completed an online questionnaire. The impact of cultural diversity on team effectiveness is very small. Different aspects of cultural diversity (e.g., differences in norms and values, or diversity in nationalities) do not affect team effectiveness. The only aspect of cultural diversity that influenced team effectiveness is diversity in religion. This effect disappears however, when controlled for relationship-related leadership and the team factors involvement and social support. Cultural diversity only plays a minor role in explaining team effectiveness. More important are team factors.