Reaping the rewards of diversity at a high-tech company

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to better understand the relationship of team diversity and the outcomes a team produces and the resultant performance. This is done in the context of software development teams operating in an agile framework. In particular the focus lies on identifying recommendations for practitioners to make better use of the diverse set of skills on their teams. The thesis is focused on the research question to identify the necessary strategies to harness a teams diversity to improve performance. This was studied using qualitative research methods of semi-structured interviews at a large international organisation that develops software for technical applications across architecture, engineering, manufacturing and film making. The findings of the research seem to support findings from prior studies of the diversity performance relationship, although take it deeper into the specific domain of software development. As a result, the thesis provides a number of concrete implementation strategies that practitioners can utilise to help with team cohesion and therefore harness the diverse skill set and points of view on their respective teams that can ultimately lead to increased performance. The qualitative research uncovered practical strategies, and also helped expand existing models of team process in this context. Further research could look at validating the hypothesised model also to get a better understanding of which elements have the strongest influence and should therefore become an area of focus for practitioners.