WHU Knowledge

About WHU Knowledge

WHU Knowledge is the online knowledge platform of WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, one of Germany’s leading business schools. It provides hands-on insights for business executives, journalists, politicians, associations, and fellow researchers on numerous economic and managerial subjects. WHU Knowledge bundles the expertise of the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management chairs and invites for a lively exchange.

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Choosing Your Own Team?

Why self-selected teams strongly differ from those composed randomly

Rainer Michael Rilke

Diverse teams bring certain advantages to the working world and produce better results. At least, that’s the predominant opinion. As a point of contrast, teams composed based on the members’ complementary characteristics tend to be more harmonious and united. But they are also prone to ignoring critical voices, even when paying attention to them could lead them to better solutions. Researchers from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management and the WZB Berlin Social Science Center analyzed these assumptions in an experiment that ran over multiple years, eventually determining that both randomly selected and self-selected teams each bring with them their own advantages.