Source: University of Michigan
Released: Tue 16-Nov-2004
A diverse group of problem solvers is more likely to outperform a
team of the best and brightest problem solvers, a new University of
Michigan study shows.
Individuals chosen from a diverse, randomly selected pool will offer different perspectives that could result in better solutions.
Conversely, a group comprised of the best problem solvers is likely
to take similar approaches, said Scott Page, a U-M political
science, economics and complex systems professor.
"If the best problem solvers tend to think about a problem
similarly, then it stands to reason that as a group, they may not be
very effective," he said.
Page conducted the research with Lu Hong, a visiting professor in U- M's Stephen M. Ross School of Business and a faculty member at
Loyola University in Chicago. The Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published the paper this month.
In the study, diversity wasn't necessarily meant to indicate identity diversity---differences in race, gender, age, or life experiences--- but differences in how problem solvers encode problems and attempt
to solve them. A person's value to solving problems depends on his
or her ability to improve the collective decision, the researchers
said.
"A person's expected contribution is contextual, depending on the perspectives and heuristics of others who work on the problem," said
Page, who is also a senior research scientist at the Institute for
Social Research at Michigan. Heuristics are the variations in how
people encode and search for solutions to problems.
Page and Hong tested their theory using computational and
mathematical models, with each determining the best performance
occurred when the problem-solving group was diverse.
Page noted that the collection of problem solvers could sit in a room together making a joint decision. These individuals might operate in
a hierarchy, where each person works on a problem and passes his/her
solution on to the next person, he said.
The researchers said the study's results have implications for organizational forms and management styles, especially for problem- solving firms and organizations.
"In an environment where competition depends on continuous
innovation and introduction of new products, firms ? that take
advantage of the power of functional diversity should perform well,"
Hong said.
Page teaches an undergraduate course, "Theories of Diversity," that
focuses on the many implications of diversity. His course touches on
topics ranging from the stability of political systems and
ecosystems to the collective wisdom of crowds.
