How does this type of diversity affect creativity on work teams?
Educational specialization heterogeneity refers to the extent to which a team consists of members with different educational specializations. We found that a diverse composition is necessary on R&D teams because you want the benefit of a group of people with a wide range of expertise, information, and perspectives. Now, you might expect that this diversity would always lead to great creativity. However, the relationship between educational specialization heterogeneity and team creativity is more complex than previously thought. Heterogeneity doesnt guarantee results; it only provides teams with the potential to be creative. What are some of the roadblocks? Creativity imposes competing demands on a team. On one hand, you have the availability of a wide array of information and perspectives, and that can be very productive and invigorating. But on the other hand, creativity requires that team members actually share the information and perspectives they possess, provide one another with i
