Dr. Warren Watson is receiving a great deal of attention lately for his research on teams. Of special interest to many organizations is his research on cultural diversity and its impact on team productivity. Dr. Watson and his colleagues found that in the first few months of a group's existence, diverse groups have more interpersonal processing problems and usually score somewhat lower on group projects than do culturally nondiverse groups. As teams receive feedback regarding their processing, however, they begin to use their cultural diversity to their advantage. By the fifth month, the diverse teams usually surpass the nondiverse teams in their interpersonal processing capabilities, and some of the diverse teams outperform the nondiverse teams. As workplaces become more diverse and as more and more organizations use a team approach to work design, insights into techniques for enhancing team performance increase in importance for organizations.

Dr. Watson is currently working on a project that looks at methods that companies can use to decrease the time that it takes for companies to successfully make the transition from traditionally structured to team-based orgazations.