The participation of women in multidisciplinary action teams

This paper argues the case for increasing the participation of women in multidisciplinary action teams as a means for making better use of gender diversity. We argue that conventional diversity management practices involve a narrow approach towards increasing women’s participation in employment. We suggest it is imperative that organisations and multidisciplinary action teams learn to integrate skilled and talented women and men into a single, cohesive work culture that enhances teams’ performing capacities. Based on recent work by the authors, we then build on the belief that women are a key resource for improving the integrative and interpretive abilities of teams, including the capacity of the team generally to deal with difficult and complex scenarios. The paper builds a relationship between feminine values, team-member diversity, and communication skills such as listening and speaking up. In particular, we examine some evidence relating to the communication patterns of women and how they may assist multi-disciplinary action teams.