AFTER THE U.S. GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED THAT WOMEN WOULD BE PERMITTED TO WORK AS INFANTRY FRONT LINEMAN, QUESTIONS WERE RAISED ABOUT WOMEN'S CAPABILITIES IN BATTLE. STEPHANIE KUNST, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT, CONDUCTED A STUDY AT QUANITICO TO ANSWER WHAT DIFFERENCE HAVING A TOKEN FEMALE ON A MALE TEAM MADE ON TEAM PERFORMANCE.
“So we had a number of teams. Some of them were all men, and some of them had a token female, and they went through a series of different physical exercises that demanded a certain level of physical strength or physical ability, as well as cognitive ability. So some task the answer to this problem was not obvious and other activities the answer was very obvious. We looked at how teams performed. First did they succeed in the task that was presented and how quickly did they complete the task.”
KUNST FOUND THAT WHEN A TOKEN FEMALE SPOKE UP DURING HIGHLY COMPLEX TASKS, THE TEAM PERFORMED BETTER AND WERE ABLE TO EXECUTE FASTER VERSUS AN ALL-MALE TEAM. HOWEVER, THAT WAS NOT TRUE WHEN THE TASK SOLUTION WAS OBVIOUS.
“The findings of our study suggested that if what you are tackling is complex and difficult and the solution is not obvious, there is a benefit what what she has to say. But when the task is straightforward, encouragement of, oh, let's go around and listen to everyone's ideas, actually hurts the team's performance.”
“And so as a member of a team where you have a token female, it's to recognize the value that they bring from a different perspective and figuring out when is it appropriate to listen.”
BUSINESS REVIEW IS A PRODUCTION OF LIVINGSTON AND MCKAY AND THE HANKAMER SCHOOL OF BAYLOR UNIVERSITY.
