Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mending The Gaps: An Exercise In Identifying And Understanding Diverse And Multicultural Team Faultlines, Susan D. Baker, Samina M. Saifuddin, Susan Stites-Doe

Organization Management Journal

The Faultlines Exercise, an experiential activity, introduces students to concepts of diversity attributes (surface and deep levels), social identity, and team faultlines. Through individual reflection and team discussion, students apply these concepts to their own diverse multicultural class teams with the goals of (a) preventing negative outcomes that may develop from faultlines and (b) improving team performance. Plenary class discussions reinforce key learning points that can be applied to teamwork throughout the course. Students in both face-to-face and online classes report that the exercise helps improve team performance and helps to identify and resolve problems. Instructions for facilitating classroom discussion …