Investigating the Relationship between Team Role Diversity and Team Performance in Information Systems Teams

Teams are used extensively in the field of Information Systems (IS) to perform complex and varied tasks required by IS projects. A solution often touted to the problem of failed IS projects has been diversifying the composition of the team. This diversity of team composition can be either personality type, role or both. Personality type, in this paper, is tested with the Myers-Briggs personality trait instrument, while role diversity is tested with Belbin’s SPI instrument. The Francis and Young instrument is used to measure team effectiveness. This paper explores role and personality diversity in IS teams, and finds that diversity in teams does not necessarily contribute to increased effectiveness. However, it is found that teams consisting of people fulfilling the Belbin roles of Chairman, Shaper and Completer-finisher can expect increased effectiveness, which in turn can lead to improved performance.