Doing it Right or Doing the Right it? Uncertainty, Innovation, and Group Composition

Though theoretical links have been established between group diversity and performance on creative tasks, researchers have had difficulties confirming this view. In this inductive study we argue that part of this difficulty stems from a failure to fully account for the effects of uncertainty on task performance groups. Using qualitative and quantitative data from an RD and, therefore, has a direct effect on task and relational processes in the group. We suggest that the value in diversity for a group is likely to decrease as uncertainty increases, and that only relatively bounded and certain tasks (in particular brainstorming and other forms of creative problem solving) are likely to derive the benefits associated with compositional diversity in groups.