In this paper we report the results of three experimental studies designed to test how demographic characteristics affect outsiders' assessments of a firm's top managers. We draw on theories of evaluation, status characteristics, and social identity to examine the interactive effects of...

Today’s organizations have come to view and to use workplace teams as information processors, making the ability to manage knowledge and expertise an essential pre-requisite for effective group decisions. Consequently, an important mandate for leaders of information processing groups is to...

Recent research has revealed that the recognition of expertise within groups is essential for group performance. Nevertheless, groups often fail to recognize and capitalize on the expert resources that they contain. In part, such failures may be attributed to the differential manner in which...

Within the organizational literature, the emphasis on group performance has tended to overshadow issues of group composition and structure. In this chapter we urge group scholars to turn their attention to the topic of hierarchy in organizational groups. We focus on hierarchy as defined by both...

Interdisciplinary teams have the potential for greater creativity in organizations. Interdisciplinary teams draw on a variety of functional expertise and divergent perspectives to facilitate the production of creative ideas. However, interdisciplinary teams do not necessarily produce creative...