Suchergebnisse

SYMLOG was used for a content analysis of in-depth interviews, obtained from Scandinavian visitors to the United States. The 21 sojourners were interviewed shortly after arrival, one year later prior to departure, and a year after they returned home. Subjects' values for self (PRO-in-SELF) and society (PRO-in-SOCIETY) and perceptions of home and host country (Scandinavian Society, American Society) and people (Scandinavian People, American People) were coded and represented in field diagrams. In addition, t tests were performed to examine significant differences between subjects' perceptions of each country and between subjects' values and perceptions. SYMLOG proved to be a useful tool for preserving the richness of the in-depth interview and for measuring effects of the sojourn upon the visitors' attitudes and values.

There is a growing belief among managers that ethnic diversity, when well managed, can provide organizations with certain competitive advantages. But the belief in this value-inl diversity hypothesis rests largely on anecdotal rather than empirical evidence. Results are reported ofa controlled experimental study that compares the performance on a brainstorm ing task between groups composed of all Anglo-Americans with groups composed ofAnglo-, Asian, African, and Hispanic Americans. The particular brainstorming task used-The Tourist Problem-was chosenfor its relevancefordiversity along the dimension of ethnicity. The ideas produced by the ethnically diverse groups were judged to be of higher quality-more effective andfeasible-than the ideas produced by the homogeneous groups. Members of homogeneous groups reported marginally more attraction to their groups than did members of diverse oroups. Directions for future research with respect to the degree of diversity, the nature of the task, and group process are discussed.