Does diversity in novice teams lead to greater innovation?

Design teams are commonly formed in engineering courses with the assumption that diversity leads to more innovative solutions. However, the literature indicates that this assumption is conditional, based on factors such as team effectiveness and how diversity is defined. Additionally, prior research has focused on expert teams, rather than the novice teams typical of many engineering courses. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between team diversity, as a function of gender and race, team effectiveness, and innovation within novice engineering teams. First, we examined the relationship between diversity and team effectiveness. We used an established peer evaluation system to measure the team effectiveness ratings of 275 four-person teams. Gender heterogeneous teams were more effective than gender homogenous teams, but there was no significant difference between racially homogenous and heterogeneous teams. Second, we analyzed student team project reports for innovative design solutions. There was no correlation between team effectiveness and innovativeness, nor did gender heterogeneous teams produce more innovative solutions than gender homogenous teams. These results suggest diversity, defined by gender or race alone, may not increase innovation within novice engineering teams.