Political polarization in the United States and around the world is on the rise. Voting patterns, surveys, and discussions on Twitter all indicate that we now agree on fewer and fewer issues and like each other less and less. A 2015 study revealed that Americans were more comfortable having children marry into a family of another race than another political party. Moreover, U.S. politicians from the political right and left have become more polarized in how they vote and how they talk on the floor of Congress, resulting in fewer compromises and more insurmountable conflicts. Political ideology has thus become a growing faultline across teams and organizations with which today’s managers must contend and yet, research findings suggests that we tend to not handle these divisions well.
Are Politically Diverse Teams More Effective?
Political ideology has thus become a growing fault-line across teams and organizations with which today’s managers must contend and yet, research findings suggests that we tend to not handle these divisions well. Nevertheless, decades of social science research has found that the presence of diverse perspectives is beneficial for creative companies and teams. Diverse perspectives enable groups to search a wider space of solutions to their problems, even if that creative process can be uncomfortable and taxing. A study recently published in Nature Human Behaviour, sought to discover whether these potential benefits of diversity could be realized in practice. The researchers found that higher political polarization among a team of Wikipedia editors was strongly associated with higher quality encyclopedia entries. This was especially true for political articles, but also those on social issues and science. Political polarization is typically regarded as negative, but the study suggests that if the power of diverse, polarized perspectives can be unleashed, it can positively influence quality productivity.