Diversity = Productivity

Now there comes a mathematical model - to prove that diversity of people in an organization improves productivity - as if a proof was needed. The professor says - if you create a team of diverse minds - who think differently, whose backgrounds are different, whose experience sets are different, whose intellectual capabilities are different, you will produce more than a group of highly smart but similar minds.

I have seen it in many groups - how diversity increases value or output. However, it is difficult proposition to explain to enterprises, especially software services companies, who has been built upon the repeatable process designs a la six sigma or CMMI processes. After so much of process getting inside the organization, I call them process junkies - it is further amazing that the services organization want people to continue to follow standardized processes yet display innovation capability. However, they will not be allowed to deviate from process - experimentation mindset is typically discouraged ...

Also building an organization with diversity - with people who think differently - is also an important leadership trait - if all of us in the team think alike, it may happen that we become clone of each other - yet the organizers of teams should make it a point to bring in as much diversity as possible... as Diversty breeds creativity which leads to productivity...