Reflections on Qualitative Interviewing by Karan Shah

Reflections on Qualitative Interviewing SPD Research Methodology (ID4360)

March 29, 2013 Q3 2012/13: Strategic Product Design, TU Delft Karan Shah - 4239733

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………...…………… 3 CHAPTER 1: REFLECTIONS ON INTERVIEWING ………...……………...…………. 4 The Role of An Interviewer ...………………….…………………………………. 4 Reflection on the Interview Guide …………………………………………..…… 6 CHAPTER 2: QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS ………………………………………. 8 REFERENCES ……………...……………………………………………………………. 11 APPENDICES …………………………………………………………………………..… 12 Appendix A: Interview Guide …………………………………………………… 12 Appendix B: Interview Transcript ………………………………………………. 15 Appendix C: Codebook …………………………………………………….…… 30 Appendix D: Justification for developed codes ……………………………….. 41

INTRODUCTION This essay demonstrates my learning in qualitative interviewing by presenting my understanding of what constitutes good interview and analysis practice. It is based on the course literature on Qualitative research methods for the course SPD Research methodology (ID 4360), and uses excerpts from transcripts and examples of codes that were developed for an interview that was conducted as a part of this assignment. Interviewing is a prominent method of qualitative research that is used very commonly by designers. As students of SPD, it is important for us to be able to use qualitative interview techniques efficiently for research and design projects, to be able to gauge the reliability and validity of qualitative analysis drawn from interviews by third parties and identify research requirements and situations in which qualitative interviewing fits best. This part of the course is concerned with giving the students of SPD a strong understanding of planning and conducting qualitative interviews, and efficiently analyzing the gained data by experiencing the entire process themselves. As a part of this assignment, we first composed an interview guide that focuses on the role of gender dynamics in teamwork in groups of four. Based on that, each one of us conducted a semi-structured interview and transcribed it. We then performed initial coding on the transcribed interviews followed by focused coding in groups with the use of Atlas.ti. As Silverman puts it: “The main strength of qualitative research is its ability to study phenomena which are simply unavailable elsewhere.” (Silverman, 2006, p. 34). Depending on the nature of information that the researcher seeks, qualitative methods of research can have several advantages over the quantitative ones. Interviewing in particular lets the researcher access people’s deeper feelings, thoughts, intentions and past behaviors which cannot always be observed (Patton, 2002). These deeper layers of information can never be gained under the constrained circumstances of quantitative methods. On the other hand, “it is the responsibility of the evaluator to provide a framework within which people can respond comfortably, accurately and honestly to questions.” (Patton, 2002, p. 341). “The quality of the information obtained during an interview depends largely on the skills and capabilities of the interviewer.” (Patton, 2002, p. 341). This makes it quite clear that good training in interviewing is quintessential to conducting qualitative research successfully.

CHAPTER 1: REFLECTIONS ON INTERVIEWING I begin this chapter by critically evaluating my performance as an interviewer and a qualitative researcher in the first part. I gauge the way in which I conducted the interview and its results against the tactics and criteria for exemplary interviewing as suggested in relevant literature. The second part gives a justification for the interview guide based on the guideline for qualitative interviewing by Patton (2002). I explain the extent to which it worked as was intended, outcomes that were unexpected and suggest several reasoned improvements in wording and sequencing that can make it better.

The Role of an Interviewer Of the several skills and capabilities that are characteristic of a skillful interviewer, what I found the most challenging while practicing interviewing was the continuous act of maintaining a reasonable amount of control over the interview process. This required constant vigilance and mental multi-tasking by always knowing what exactly needs to be found out, attentive listening to filter and distinguish appropriate responses, and asking focused and singular questions that elicit relevant answers. This is one of the crucial aspects of interviewing that has been emphasized at several points in theory, but seems difficult to achieve in practice. To focus on gathering the most relevant information while maintaining the smooth flow of communication requires a great deal of concentration and experience (Patton, 2002). “A good interview feels like a connection has been established in which communication is flowing two ways.” (Patton, 2002, p. 374). During the interview, I was able to establish a good rapport with the interviewee and comfort him from the beginning itself, despite the intrusiveness of the issue that was being discussed. Post the initial few questions that sensitized him to the delicacy of the topic, his enthusiasm to provide descriptive information and openness to discuss intimate personal matters proved the neutrality that existed between us. I provided appropriate reinforcement and feedback from time to time, to make him realize that I acknowledged his perspective on intimate matters (often relating to the sub-conscious) as being “meaningful, knowing and able to be made explicit.” (Patton, 2002, p. 341). I tried to capture the complexity of his individual experiences and perceptions with detail-oriented probes and successfully provided a framework in which he was free to honestly express his understandings in his own terms (Patton, 2002). From time to time, I attempted to use presuppositions (often ineffectively) to build rapport by using shared knowledge to enhance the richness of his opinions, especially for questions that seemed intrusive or embarrassing in nature. For example: “So, once something like this happens in the group, then other group members too get affected in indirect ways. It's just human; these things are inevitable at times. Umnn... so how would you think you'll behave differently if you feel sexually attracted towards a team member?” I feel I should have done this more often, but in the flow of the discussion, it seemed difficult to articulate the right words spontaneously without prior preparation. Also, I quite often used prefatory statements as a transition format to soften the prying nature of certain questions. For example, before transitioning to the last topic that dealt with sexual attraction in teamwork, I said “Ok, so I shall finally head to the most interesting part of the survey now.” This helped ease up the

conversation and alerted him by focusing his attention to the nature of the question that was to come (Patton, 2002). There were a few instances during phases of deep questioning where I attempted to use clarification probes, but eventually had to give up to avoid making the interviewee feel inarticulate or confused. There were also several instances where I tried to bring closure to a topic by summarizing the findings and transitioning to the next, but failed in doing so effectively most of the times. I wanted to let the interviewee know that I was actively listening and wanted his final comments before I moved to the next subject (Patton, 2002). But instead of summarizing the real findings from that section, I usually ended up just asking if he had anything else to add, as it was difficult to recall and rearticulate everything that he had said. For example, towards the end of the interview, I ended up asking “But, in this whole context of teamwork and multi-gender teamwork and gender and attraction, do you have anything else to add to this context?” This was a significant moment in the interview, which demanded a better summary and proper closure. Towards the end of topic one, I ended up asking “Ok. So…umm… these things that we discussed till now, social influence and levels of motivation, participation and competition in the teams; if you think of all of them together, then overall how do you think these factors affect the collective performance, the collective outcome of the group? Like if you imagine for a long, like a four months project.” In both of these scenarios, I wanted to summarize his opinions on the discussed topics to bring closure to them, but instead I ended up just mentioning the issues covered and not really his personal opinion on them. Although most of the questions in our interview guide were genuinely open-ended, there were few instances where the way in which I rephrased them made them comparatively closed or even dichotomous at times. The following example illustrates this: Interviewer: So do you think it will affect the… umn.. how dedicated they are towards the project? Interviewee: Umnn… no I don't think so actually. Interviewer: No? Interviewee: No. Interviewer: No direct link between the dedication and the guy's presence..? Interviewee: No. no no no. I don't think so. It's only within decision-making etc. but. Motivation and dedication is so big… This question was originally articulated in the interview guide as “How do you feel it will influence the level of participation and dedication in the team?” In the flow of the conversation, I lost my focus and I wasn’t always conscious about the “commitment to ask genuinely open-ended questions”. (Patton, 2002, p. 348). It’s clear that this limited the expression of my interviewee by programming him to be binary. As I read the transcripts again, I realized that this might also have created a dilemma for him regarding whether I was expecting a yes/no response or a descriptive one (Patton, 2002). The skill of staying conscious about the genuine openness, singularity and clarity of the questions while interviewing is something that I definitely need to improve. What I also need to improve is to refrain from predetermining categories or suggesting phrases that can lead respondents as they express themselves (Patton, 2002). For example, “ So in this situation, how do you think that the guy will encourage or intimidate the team members, like not consciously..”. This was clearly a leading question that constrained the interviewee to think within the framework of the subconscious.

Theory suggests that dichotomous response questions constrain the interviewee and limit their expression with a grammatical structure suggesting a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ (Patton, 2002). In practice however, I noticed several instances where I was able to elicit rich descriptive answers to dichotomous questions with appropriate probing as I managed to get my interviewee actively involved and didn’t let him get conditioned to giving routine responses to “uninteresting categorical questions.” (Patton, 2002, p. 353).

Reflection on the Interview Guide As a part of this course, we were asked to conduct a semi-structured qualitative interview based on an interview guide, which falls within the combined approaches of interviewing that is described by Patton (2002). It combines the standardized open-ended interview method, which involves fully articulating all key questions with probes and sequencing beforehand to ensure that every interviewee is asked similar questions in the same sequence with the same stimuli, with the informal conversational interview method; an opposite extreme which is completely open-ended, unstructured and the least standardized (Patton, 2002). This gave us the freedom to probe deeper into originally unanticipated areas of enquiry, and break the structure of the guide (if required) to explore relevant subjects in greater depth. The interview guide was developed in a workshop setup in groups of four, to be used by each group member to conduct individual interviews which would later form a theoretical basis for comparison between interviewees (Charmaz, 2006). This framework intended to facilitate the enhancement of the collective qualitative data by means of comparing findings from the individual interviews (Eisenhardt, 1989). To address the main research question (How does gender diversity affect group dynamics in teamwork?), four factors that define and affect group dynamics in teamwork were covered under four sub-topics in the following sequence: Social influence, performance, leadership & attraction. As Patton (2002) suggests, we began with the least controversial and straightforward issue (social influence) leading to the issue of attraction towards the end, which we felt was the most intrusive and discomforting. Most of our questions within each sub-topic were opinion questions, followed by experience and behavior questions and a few knowledge questions. There was no conscious attempt to sequence the opinion and behavior questions after the experience and behavior questions as Patton (2002) suggests. In hindsight, I feel that following this logic where possible could have significantly enhanced the quality of responses. The only logic in the current sequencing of questions within each sub-topic was a broad opening question followed by relatively narrow questions that focused on a specific aspect of the sub-topic. There were several close and dichotomous questions, which were clubbed with a ‘Why’ probe intended to elicit open responses. For example, “Do you feel it will affect the level of motivation in the team? How? Why? Why not?” (Sub-topic 1: sub-question 2). Quite a few questions were not well formulated. For example, the first sub-question of the first sub-topic “How do you think the guy will encourage or intimidate the team members?” clearly lacks singularity. It muddled the interviewee from the beginning itself. The question “How do you feel it will influence the level of participation?” (Subtopic 1: sub-question 3) is not a genuinely open question as described by Patton (2002), as it assumes and implies the affect of gender on participation levels. In the beginning, most of these questions appeared to us to be unique, distinguishable and addressing distinct issues. But during the interview, I found it very difficult to avoid the overlap

of responses. The answers to the four questions in the first sub-topic covered several issues that were meant to be addressed in the later parts. For example, upon asking how a guy joining would encourage or intimidate the team members (sub-topic 1: sub-question 1), I got the following response: “I think definitely it will be like the guy, if it's like a all girl group and then this guy… umnn… but I think we're living in a society where it's, you know on one side we have respect for each other and there's no real diversion I would say. But on the other side, I think, umm… he would be more uhhh… feeling that his opinion actually is something that would contribute I would say. Because if there's like if he's in a team with all guys, then I think, they would respect every opinion as much. But now he's the only guy so then I think he would feel like the leader. He would say that ok well, I think it's this way and... I don't know. I do think there's a difference.” This answer is haywire, irrelevant to the intended sub-topic, and brings in the issue of leadership which was to be covered in the third sub-topic. There were several instances like these, which made two things very clear: Firstly, there was a clear clack of distinctness and clarity not only within the sub-questions but also the sub-topics. Secondly, the chosen sub-topics were too narrow and inter-related which left very less scope for probing. I also realized that conventional probing with the repeated use of ‘why’ questions (which presuppose things happening for knowable reasons) doesn’t often yield reliable insights and gets redundant after a while (Patton, 2002). As suggested by Patton (2002), we incorporated role-playing and simulation in the opening question of the first sub-topic to provide a context for a few difficult questions in this way: “Imagine you are working in a team of only girls. If a guy would join your team, how do you think would the behavior of the team members change?” This provided a good framework for some of the deeper and difficult questions that followed. It made it easier for the interviewee to elicit intimate opinions by relating the simulated situation to real life examples that he had witnessed in person. Nevertheless, the interviewee was bemused by the nature of most of the questions, and was grappling to relate them to real life situations to explicate meaningful answers. A lot of the questions were closed, lacked clarity and singularity, and probed sub-conscious aspects of human behavior that are difficult to explicate based on knowledge, feeling and experiences. After collating the data acquired by the other interviewers based on the same interview guide and comparing it, we noticed that most of the data though related to the sub-questions was not directly addressing the core issue. In general, I feel doubtful about the validity of the data that was generated.

CHAPTER 2: QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS In this chapter I critically reflect on my skills as a qualitative data analyst by evaluating my performance during the stages of analyzing the data that was gathered from the interview. After imbibing the principles on grounded theory practice as described in the SPD research methodology literature, we were supposed to deduce a theory pertaining to our research question that provides insight into a deeper understanding of it, and is grounded in reality (Locke, 2001). This theory should constitute several conceptual categories that arise from the interview findings, unlike “quantitative logic that applies preconceived categories to the data.” (Charmaz, 2006). After transcribing the interview as accurately as I could, I started the first round of initial coding to get acquainted with the gathered data. As Charmaz (2006) puts it, initial coding requires openness to exploring unanticipated theoretical possibilities that may lie in the data. Initial codes should trace actions in every segment of the data and remain very closely grounded in it. They should capture the essence of the meanings, and condense the actions without “applying preexisting categories to the data” (Charmaz, 2006, p. 47). While I tried my best to apply all these principles as I coded, I was unable to maintain “speed and spontaneity”, this being my first time at it. I attempted word-by-word coding in the beginning, but found the data too uncomplicated for that. I then switched to line-by-line coding for the first round, followed by several instances of incident-by-incident coding where required. “Concrete behavioristic descriptions of people’s mundane actions may not be amenable to line-by-line coding” (Charmaz, 2006, p. 53). This applied to most of the parts of my transcript. These stages helped me discover tacit assumptions in several statements and emerging gaps in the data became apparent. I tried to cluster the codes into categories like attraction, atmosphere, effectiveness, group dynamics, diversity etc. The following code illustrates an example of this:

Koen:

Quote

Code

Category

Koen: definitely

Diversity in groups being a bonus

Different mindsets/ perspectives being a bonus

Gender diversity improves teamwork by getting multiple perspectives, mindsets, points of view and complimentary attitudes.

Diversity

a bonus if there's not a lot of similarity between team members because if actually everyone has different views etc, it might become, in terms of description then we might get more insight on different topics etc. Koen: Umn…

ya.. I think I think so. Because you have different ways of looking at a project you know…umm, yeah… the diversity, it brings more insight, more umm… perspectives.. and that would be better right?

Diversity resulting in more insights.

Diversity resulting in multiple perspectives to a project

Charmaz (2006) states that focused codes should nicely condense the relevant information in the quotes and give a good handle on the data. While this can be seen happening well in the example above, this was difficult to achieve in several codes that were less clear, required more interpretation and were inconsistent across the data.

The focused codes in the codebook relate strongly to the assumptions (Appendix D) based on which the four sub-topics for the interview guide were determined. Thus, they contribute to the construction of a theory grounded in data by relating significantly to the research questions. The following table shows the categories into which the focused codes were clustered, and how they relate to the four sub-topics: Social Influence Performance Leadership Attraction

Atmosphere, group dynamics, minority/majority, behavioral change, diversity Effectiveness, distraction, task distribution, creativity, decision making, diversity, differences Competition, leadership, minority/majority, differences Attraction, behavioral change

Some of the codes contribute to more than one category, and some categories relate to more than one sub-topic. These codes define the inter-relations within categories and imply possible overlaps between the sub-topics. Not all codes within each category contain consistent findings. Having chosen four very different interviewees as the subjects for our research, it is understandable that experiences and opinions related to the topic differ. Thus, codes within categories reflect the different experiences of our interviewees, who mentioned both positive and negative aspects of gender diversity. These differences enhance the richness of our data and add to a deeper understanding of the multifaceted nature of the research topic. Our stages of focused coding resulted in filtering out several snippets of enlightening information relating to the research question that wasn’t found to be occurring multiple times. This is one thing that we did wrong as Charmaz (2006) clearly warns the qualitative data analyst against this by emphasizing that quantity can not always be the only indicator of relevance. Most of our final codes are thoroughly grounded in multiple incidents across the data, with very few single incidents with reasonably relevant data. This makes me question the validity of the theory that we derived from our data. Also, “a useful theory will tell an enlightening story about some aspect of the world, providing insight into a broader understanding of it.” (Locke, 2001, p. 36). Most of the insights that emerge from our codes seem obvious and not very enlightening to me, per se. I think we might have fallen victims to some extent of ‘anecdotalism’, as Silverman (2006) puts it, which occurs when researchers get diverted by the few obvious examples of apparent phenomena with less attempts to analyze the contradictory and unclear data.

REFERENCES

Silverman, D. (2006). What is qualitative research? In Interpreting qualitative data: methods for analyzing talk, text and interaction (Third ed., pp 33-56). London, Sage Publications Ltd. Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative interviewing. In Qualitative research & evaluation methods (Third ed., pp. 339-380). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Charmaz, K. (2006). Coding in grounded theory practice. In Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis (pp. 42-66). Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14(4), pp. 532-550. Locke, K. D. (2001). Grounded theory in management research. SAGE Publications Limited.

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APPENDIX A Interview Guide Research Question: How does gender diversity affect group dynamics in teamwork? Checklist for Start: - Hi i’m …...................... - This interview will be transcribed and used for qualitative analysis as a part of course work, but all the information will remain confidential. - It will take approximately 40 minutes. - I’ll need your permission to record as you talk. Opening Question: In your opinion, how does diversity among the team members affect team work? And what role does gender diversity have to play in this?

Subtopic 1: Social Influence Opening Question: Imagine you are working in a team of only guys/girls. If a girl/guy would join your team, how do you think would the behavior of the team members change? Subquestion 1: How do you think a girl/guy will encourage or intimidate the team members? Probing: Why do you think so? Do you have any example in mind? Subquestion 2: Do you feel it will affect the level of motivation in the team? Probing: How? Why (not)? Subquestion 3: How do you feel it will influence the level of participation and dedication? Probing: Why? Can you give an example? Subquestion 4: Do you think it would increase or decrease competition? Probing: Why? Why not?

Subtopic 2: Performance Opening Question: [Sum up first topic] How do you think will these factors influence the collective performance of the team?

Subquestion 1: Do you think mixed teams would perform better than teams of only one gender? Probing: Why? Why not? Subquestion 2: How does gender diversity influence the quality of the results? Probing: Subquestion 3: Do you think men and women working together can inspire each other to be more creative? Probing: Do you have any examples in mind? Subquestion 4: Have you ever received surprsing feedback by a man/woman that encouraged your motivation? Probing: How did it feel?

Subtopic 3: Leadership Opening Question: If I ask you to think of leadership in teamwork and gender, what thoughts come to your mind? Subquestion 1: How does the mix of genders in a team affect power struggles? Probing: Subquestion 2: Do you think men or women are more likely to take leadership in a team? Probing: Why? Subquestion 3: How is it that one team member takes a leading role in a team of equal members? Probing: What role does gender play in this process? Subquestion 4: How does leadership style differ on gender? Probing: Can you give an example?

Subtopic 4: Sexual Attraction Opening Question: Have you experienced a situation in which attraction between group members has influenced behavior in working? Subquestion 1: How does it affect the team work? Probing: Does it affect results? Or atmosphere? Subquestion 2: How does it change the attitude of the remaining team members?

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Probing: Examples. Subquestion 3: How would you behave differently if you feel attracted to a team member? Probing: Do you think this is good or bad? Subquestion 4: Do attraction and productive teamwork conflict? Probing: Why (not)?

Checklist for Closure: - Summarize key points. - Steer the interviewee back to questions not addressed yet. - Do you have any other thoughts relating to this topic? - Check your understanding - Thank you!

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APPENDIX B Interview Transcription

Karan: Ok. So, it'll take approximately 40 to 50 minutes, and I hope you're fine i'm recording it. #00:00:11-9# Koen: Yes, sure. No problem. #00:00:17-8# Karan: Ok. #00:00:19-5# Koen: Sure #00:00:19-5# Karan: So, the interview is about team work, but it focuses on multigender teamwork. It focuses on the role that gender plays in team work. So, in your opinion, how does diversity among the team members effect team work? #00:00:37-9# Koen: So, diversity.. in gender, you mean? #00:00:40-7# Karan: Diversity in general. #00:00:40-7# Koen: In general… ok..umnn… well I think it could be definitely a bonus if there's not a lot of similarity between team members because if actually everyone has different views etc, it might become, in terms of description then we might get more insight on different topics etc. Like I mean, if you're from different cultural backgrounds for eg. you have to make vision for let's put some products in 2020, then the other people are thinking of other cultural parts, some more important so then when you, when you get into a discussion which finally is some more insight than just people whoa re on the same level, so that's why it's more important. #00:01:34-0# Karan: So in a way the diversity in the group members literally reflects in the diversity of the ideas, the concepts. #00:01:37-9# Koen: yeah, I think so, yeah. WHich I think is really valuable in group work. #00:01:44-9# Karan: And, do you think gender diversity also has a role to play in that. #00:01:51-5# Koen: You mean like females and males? #00:01:55-2# Karan: Ya like females and males.

#00:01:56-5# Koen: Umn, ya. I really do as well. I had some groups before with only males, and, well, it's just you, it's another way of making decisions and it's another way of saying ok we need to move on.. because girls tend to… ummn.. go on and on about this topic.. (laughs).. where as males are more well, this is how I felt in this group work, no we should choose and we should go this way and that way and that's why I think it's also nice if there's a group that mixes both sides. #00:02:30-2# Karan: That's interesting. I thought only I felt that way.. #00:02:39-5# Koen: Ok no, I really do think like this as well. #00:02:35-3# Karan: Ok. Imagine that you are working in a team of only girls #00:02:42-8# Koen: Hmn.. #00:02:45-9# Karan: And if a guy would join your team, let's say you're a five member team with only four other girls, and if another guy joins the team, then how do you think would the behavior of the team members change? Will it affect the behavior of the team members. #00:03:01-9# Koen: So then I consider myself as a girl in this group? Or… #00:03:08-7# Karan: It's open. #00:03:08-7# Koen: Ok. But i'm also in this group.. #00:03:12-5# Karan: Yes you're also in this group. Like your behavior and also the other people's behavior, the dynamic.. #00:03:17-8# Koen: Ok, ya I think.. umnn… well, depends a bit. I'm personally more in the feminine group I would say. And that is because I always listen a lot to other people. I don't reflect a direct meaning to that. It's just the way some body says something and then, I can reflect on it or something like that and that's something I think comes more to girls most of the time. But then if I'm only with girls, then it would be more like … that I don't know how to explain it… I want to be like…. I hate when there's a male inside then it's it's, there's a difference vibe amongst the girls I would say… because they would say… I don't know… he would be the only one you know… so some kind of fun object in a way… and… yeah I don't know… It's an interesting question because I'm not sure if they would value his opinion more than the other girls.. then on the other side he's the male you know in this case.. yeah well, but.. umnn… #00:04:32-9# Karan: So you feel it will definitely change the dynamic. #00:04:32-9# Koen: Ya I think so..

#00:04:32-9# Karan: In some subtle way.. #00:04:34-1# Koen: Ya, I think so. definitely. But if I was a girl it would be even more, because now there are two guys. #00:04:43-6# Karan: Can you think of any example? #00:04:47-3# Koen: that I experienced myself? #00:04:51-1# Karan: Something that leads to this, may be that will help you.. #00:04:54-2# Koen: Ya, ok.. but that wasn't really group work I would say.. because..umnn.. when I was little.. (laughs).. most of the time I played with girls.. like when we were playing games etc. or when I had my birthday I only invited girls most of the time because those were my friends. And then there was this one time when I also invited a guy, and then it was all about HIM. the whole party. he was really the joker, you know…(laughs).. #00:05:23-1# Karan: He became the centre of attention. #00:05:24-1# Koen: Yeah! So that was something interesting I would say. #00:05:30-0# Karan: So in this situation, that same situation where you're with four girls and the guy joins, how do you think that guy will encourage or intimidate the team members. like not consciously.. #00:05:46-8# Koen: No it won't be consciously.. #00:05:46-8# Karan: Even sub-consciously without doing anything, just by being there.. How do you think will encourage, or intimidate, or what do you think the repercussions of that would be? #00:05:59-4# Koen: I think definitely it will be like the guy, if it's like a all girl group and then this guy… umnn… but I think we're living in a society where it's, you know on one side we have respect for each other and there's no real diversion I would say. But on the other side, I think, umm… he would be more uhhh… feeling that his opinion actually is something that would contribute I would say. Because if there's like if he's in a team with all guys, then I think, they would respect every opinion as much. But now he's the only guy so then I think he would say that ok well, I think it's this way and then there are two girls over him, then you know… they would try to get on with the guy. I don't know. I do think there's a difference. #00:06:47-7# Karan: So you're trying to say that he will feel that he'll be heard to more. Like the other group members, the girls will listen to him more than the other group of guys.

#00:07:03-6# Koen: Ya, I think so. I think thats the way. #00:07:03-6# Karan: Ok. And do you think it will effect the level of motivation in the team? #00:07:12-0# Koen: Umnn…. let me think… the motivation… what do you mean then that they have to live up to this guy? #00:07:19-0# Karan: Umn, yeah.. like.. #00:07:23-4# Koen: Like they have to convince this guy? #00:07:23-4# Karan: Probably, that could be one of the things. #00:07:23-4# Koen: Oh ok ok.. #00:07:26-1# Karan: So do you think it will effect the… umn.. how dedicated they are towards the project. #00:07:33-8# Koen: Umnn… no I don't think so actually. #00:07:37-5# Karan: No. #00:07:39-6# Koen: No. #00:07:40-4# Karan: No direct link between the motivation and the guy's presence..? #00:07:43-4# Koen: No. no no no. I don't think so. It's only within decision making etc. but. Motivation is so big… but… I do believe the synergy that more people is…. 1 + 1 is not 2 but 3…. but… umm… thats all only… motivation is something that has to come out of yourself. of course it's more fun if the group is fun, but besides that... #00:08:07-4# Karan: Hmnn… and.. the previous question like whether the guy will encourage or intimidate the group where you said that the guy will feel like he's getting more attention… why do you think so? Is it out of some personal experience where you witnessed it or? #00:08:30-7# Koen: Ummn… yeah.. well there was the birthday party but umnn… teamwork in university umnn... #00:08:33-6# Karan: Yeah it's a bit difficult #00:08:33-5# Koen: Yeah.. well.. I've had a lot of teams for the courses but… well.. why would it be? I'm not really sure. I'm sorry… I think it's….umnn... #00:08:59-8# Karan: yeah there can be deeper reasons.. it's very psychological..

#00:08:59-8# Koen: Yeah.. well may be it's something..umn… like just in your… how do you say it… like the guy is in rule or something like that (chuckles).. and then, it's not intentionally I would say but it's something that… I don't know… may be it's a joke or... #00:09:23-3# Koen: Hmn… hmn... #00:09:23-3# Koen: Like, does it make sense? #00:09:23-3# Karan: Ya it does, it does. But, something like this is very difficult to articulate. #00:09:30-2# Koen: Ya. #00:09:33-3# Karan: Umn, and.. another interesting dimensions to it. Since this is teamwork, and since you have to deliver something by the end of it… do you think this guy coming in will increase or decrease the amount of competition? #00:09:51-5# Koen: Oh. That's an interesting one. Between the girls.. (laughs)?.. or the guy (laughs again).. could be the case.. #00:09:56-3# Karan: Any which way.. #00:09:56-3# Koen: Umn..umn… the competition.. in the sense… umm.. depends on this guy I guess. If he's really one who's really bringing a lot to the table.. then, but yeah then, I don't think that's actually something to do with gender. That's something like, if you see a team member is doing a lot of effort and it's really good then you're already competitive but i'm not sure if gender is something to do we do it. No, I wouldn't say so. #00:10:39-3# Koen: You know, in IO, you're for yourself of course, so, if you see somebody and whether it's a girl or guy performing better than you, then well if it's me i'd like to go up station you know..? But… yeah i'm not sure if this guy would change the competition, Karan: don't think so. #00:11:03-2# Karan: Ok. Sure? #00:11:03-2# Koen: Yeah i'm sure.. #00:11:03-2# Karan: But why do you think it won't? #00:11:04-8# Koen: Umn.. well. it could be.. f there's some other personal…umm… if you're really attracted to him or something like that.. if for eg. the girls are realy into the guy then, you know, they might fight for him.. (laughs)… bu showing that they are

perfect.. (laughs).. look at me I delivered this! (laughs).. but I don't think it's on a professional level. #00:11:27-6# Karan: Ya, but ultimately we're all, umm.. we're talking at a human level. #00:11:33-2# Koen: Yeah.. #00:11:33-2# Karan: And eventually when gender comes into play then these kind of matters sometimes are inevitable. #00:11:39-3# Koen: Yeah that's true. That's true.. #00:11:39-3# Karan: So in that context thinking that all those things are possible. those things can happen, the fact that the scope of that happening increases when it's a multi-gender group. #00:11:50-4# Koen: Yeah yeah, I get where you're at... #00:11:50-4# Karan: Then do you think that things like the amount of competition and motivation and.. #00:12:00-5# Koen: Then then it might increase, yeah that's true.. #00:12:00-5# Karan: It might increase..? #00:12:06-8# Koen: Yeah as you said the scope for that is bigger than if it's only girls.. I would say… yeah.. ok. (laughs). #00:12:13-6# Karan: Ok, so in that case you feel that the gender difference does sort of change the dynamic in the group in those respects. #00:12:28-6# Koen: Yeah, I do. #00:12:28-6# Karan: Ok. So…umm… these things that we discussed till now, if you think of all of them together, then overall how do you think these factors effect the collective performance, the collective outcome of the group? like if you imagine like a long, like a four months project. #00:12:53-6# Koen: Yes. Hmn.. yeah… if the motivation would eventually make the project more better or something like that.. #00:13:07-6# Karan: Hmn.. #00:13:07-6# Koen: Or…umm… well.. like..

#00:13:19-6# Karan: Like if you have a team that's more diverse than a monogender team, then the possibility for competition, and probably motivation might be more… so in those respects do you think as a group overall the performance will improve or decrease or….? #00:13:39-9# Koen: I think it would improve, out of experience then I would say. As i've worked with only males and teams like the first, and I saw that as for decision making it really depends on how good the discussion was and etc., and if there's only guys there then there's usually a separate vibe than when it's more diverse. Then that's also because of the gender then I would say… ohh…. wait… I need to think about this.. #00:14:13-5# Karan: Yeah sure, please take your time.. #00:14:13-5# Koen: I do think it's better as it improves results… i'd say so.. #00:14:17-7# Karan: Ok. You feel the possibility for improvement is more.. #00:14:17-7# Koen: Yeah, because there's more diverse input.. but umm.. that's only on a… like a personal level, not interactive I would say… and if you would think about the interaction between these people if there are some (incomprehensible) … in group work then, of course it has to make some difference… but I don't think gender difference would make too much competition. In that case it would be, umm, it would add some value. #00:15:01-4# Karan: Ok. So would it be fair to say that you think that mixed teams would perform better than mono-gender teams..? #00:15:15-6# Koen: yes. Definitely. #00:15:19-0# Karan: And how do you think this diversity in gender effect the quality of the work? #00:15:28-5# Koen: Quality? #00:15:30-8# Karan: Yes. I know this can depend a lot on the nature of the people you're working with, but in general, like, do you think it can have an effect? #00:15:34-4# Koen: Umn… ya.. I think I think so. Because you have different ways of looking at a project you know… umm, yeah… the diversity, it brings more insight, more umm… (incomprehensible) .. and that would be better right? #00:15:57-7# Karan: Hmn.. #00:15:57-7# Koen: So then, yeah I think it will effect.

#00:16:06-5# Karan: And do you think it will also somehow, like men and men versus men and women, they can inspire each other and that's why the creativity might increase… you think so? #00:16:23-2# Koen: If there are two males you mean, or men and women? #00:16:23-2# Karan: Well, ideally I would ask men and women but in your case I would ask men and men. #00:16:30-9# Koen: Yeah, ok. (laughing) #00:16:30-9# Karan: Whatever works fine.. (laughing) but do you think it will umnn… it will inspire creativity, more? #00:16:35-8# Koen: Umn… umn… #00:16:40-1# Karan: Than if you're with a group of people with a gender you're not attracted to. #00:16:44-6# Koen: Oh ok like that. Umn.. no not really.. inspire.. no I don't think it would inspire.. it would only be a distraction.. (laughing) .. if it's really an attractive guy yes… but… yeah, I don't know. It's just the diversity that I think can be inspiring, you know.. so it doesn't really matter you know.. (laughing) in teams you don't wanna hook up with somebody. (laughing) #00:17:19-6# Karan: Ok. #00:17:19-6# Karan: Have you ever received a surprising feedback by a guy in your team, that really boosted/encouraged your motivation . #00:17:35-9# Koen: Feedback… oh! No, I can't remember, no. but the thing is in teams, most of the times I'm the leader of the team. So, i'm not really often the one who receives the feedback (laughing), so I just deliver the comments… so… I don't know (laughing) #00:17:56-9# Karan: Ok.. ok so you can't think of any such experience where, a feedback or comment, something that boosted you to do more. Or you were demotivated earlier and suddenly because this person said something it got you back on track.. #00:18:20-2# Koen: On a personal level, no. I don't think so. #00:18:21-7# Karan: No? #00:18:21-7# Koen: No.

#00:18:21-7# Karan: Have you seen it happen to someone else in your group? #00:18:21-7# Koen: Oh… ummn… let me think about that. Yeah, I think so. But then it was at a personal level that this girl int hat case was attracted to this guy, and then, it was really my first project here at TU Delft .. (laughing) .. there was a team and we had to make products or something like that… and then… she was working with me on this product, and then this guy came along and well I don't know what he said or was it me or anything, but then he said some things and I was like ok, yeah interesting, but she said the same thing. And she said (animated) yeah we have to do this and we must do this… you know.. (laughing) .. to match his taste.. (laughing). So int hat case it boosted her to do something, but more in this manner. #00:19:20-3# Karan: So you have witnessed it happen. #00:19:20-3# Koen: Yeah yeah, I think so. But if I would say that to her she would say no, but I know it's true. (laughing) #00:19:29-3# Karan: Ya because a lot of these things are often sub-conscious, you often don't even realize that another person is altering your behavior. #00:19:29-9# Koen: Yeah #00:19:31-8# Karan: Ok. If I ask you to think of leadership in teamwork and gender, and sort of how they affect each other.. #00:19:51-5# Koen: That's pretty interesting actually. #00:19:51-5# Karan: Then, what thoughts come to your mind? #00:19:51-5# Koen: Umn.. I think i'm a really good leader. this sounds a bit egocentric, but it's mostly because I really can communicate well with both genders I would say, and there's no real division in my mind, so umm.. yeah, I don't know, I really adapt to what people are saying to me or how to interact with these people. #00:20:23-0# Karan: Ok. That's very interesting. #00:20:23-0# Koen: Yeah, I think so too.. #00:20:23-0# Karan: So that in a way, would it be right if I imply from what you just said, that in a way for straight guys and straight girls, their gender can become sort of a barrier. #00:20:44-7# Koen: May be in accepting what the leader might say, yes. I think so. Definitely in other environments like this with more hierarchy… yeah… I don't know. But also in team work, the guys are always clipping together and the girls are always chatting together and then they might split up you know, and I never saw that before

because i'mmost of the times collecting them together.. it's really weird and that really happens. #00:21:34-5# Karan: Yeah that happens.. #00:21:34-5# Koen: And in my groups usually, if i'm the leader, there's always gossiping among each other you know, and then this goes wrong and you have to tell that to the other group members. But then most of the time these people come to me… so the guys are gossiping to me about the girls but the girls are also gossiping to me about the guys (laughing) … and so I can fix it.. (laughing) so then they'd... #00:21:52-4# Karan: It's a clear advantage.. (laughing) #00:21:52-4# Koen: Yeah it's a clear advantage.. yes. (laughing) So then it works. #00:21:06-7# Karan: So that's in your case. But in general, thinking of leadership and the role that gender has to play with that.. #00:22:10-3# Koen: It's not by accident that a lot of girls say "woman's should rule because we too have a thing to say".. but they do have a thing to say now but they don't feel in a position to feel as valued, as valuable as a guy. So their are some boundaries there, else they won't want to manifest themselves the way they do now.. #00:22:38-5# Karan: Umn.. How in your opinion does the mix of gender effect power struggle in a team, of let's say 5 or 6? #00:22:53-5# Koen: Power struggle, umm.. what do you mean by that? #00:23:01-3# Karan: The struggle for leadership.. #00:23:08-6# Koen: Oh ok. #00:22:59-4# Karan: Because in the forming stage in the group, when you're just figuring out each other, that's when you really get to know who eventually will take lead. So, during that stage, do you think the gender comes into play? Like men, women and their probability of being leaders? #00:23:11-8# Koen: Yeah well, I just came from a team meeting where we are four guys and one girl. And this one girl, she's muslim, and she's really for women's rights etc., so she really wanted to be the manager. We had to decide roles etc., and she said "I want to be the manager", and we said ok ok, it's ok.. you can be the manager. So there was really some fighting for power, but we thought it's ok, since she was so into this we thought it should be ok. #00:24:03-9# Karan: So when she was so assertive, how did the other four guys react? Did they even pay any heed to her? Or were they just like..

#00:24:09-0# Koen: No no, not at all. It was actually like, ok, that should be fine. #00:24:15-4# Karan: So did they actually mean it or did they just say it to quite her. #00:24:15-4# Koen: No, I think they also meant it in a way thats like..umnn.. I don't know, it's just… what's interesting is that it just happened. She was really assertive, but then we could also trust her in this way… I don't know what happened… I think… I don't know. #00:24:42-9# Karan: Like you guys felt she could be a good manager.. #00:24:49-4# Koen: Ya, we had some trust in her. #00:25:00-9# Karan: And, in general, from all the experiences you've had till now, what do you think, are men or women more likely to take leadership in a team? #00:25:19-0# Koen: Umnn… umnn... #00:25:22-7# Karan: Do you have an opinion on that? #00:25:17-5# Koen: No, I don't. I think there are some people who are really fighting for leadership, and you feel already in the first meeting.. that some people take lead in a situation, and then ..umn.. it could be a guy or a girl. I don't think there should be.. #00:25:46-2# Karan: Ok, so gender is not.. umm.. #00:25:47-4# Koen: It's not that in a group of 3 guys and 3 girls, one of the guys should be the leader, no. I don't think so. #00:25:54-5# Karan: Gender doesn't play a role in that ? #00:26:02-2# Koen: No. Not in making decisions about that and assigning roles. #00:26:06-3# Karan: And how do you think the style of leadership differs with gender. Like a male leader vs. a female leader. Do you think there's a noticeable difference? #00:26:29-6# Koen: Umnn… There's always this, there are always some tasks which are always there in leadership. You need to be tough, you've to make strict decisions, you have to be clear about things. So there are values that both men and women have, and umn.. I think the values you would normally associate to woman and guys are less important. So for eg. the girls before they are more likely to talk about a specific subject, but if she's a leader then she also feels a responsibility to make the decision. So I think in that case there won't be a really big difference. But, if this girl is ruling over four guys, umnn… well then I'm not, I can only think of film characters, role etc. She would also be, like, umm, want to be desired etc., and she

would use that power to control them. But i'm not sure if that happens in real.. (laughing) #00:27:53-5# Karan: But that's interesting. So, in that context, do you think it's easier for one of the genders to assume a role of leadership? #00:28:11-2# Koen: Umn… so if there's only one girl in a team then, yeah it's happened before today with me (laughing) yeah, I think so then. We just let her be the leader. However there are some guys who are also really forced on saying a lot of things.. and push their ideas forward. #00:28:33-9# Karan: Ya, like when she just said that I want to be the leader, was it easier for you guys to just accept it compared to had it been a guy behaving like that? #00:28:46-4# Koen: In this context yes, I think so. Because she's already outnumbered or something like that (laughing) #00:28:51-0# Karan: Oh ok. #00:28:51-0# Koen: Ya I think that would differ. I don't know if that really answers your question but.. (laughing) #00:28:55-7# Karan: Umn, yeah but, getting back to the leadership style, like the way in which you command leadership, do you think it varies with gender? Or is it independent of it? #00:29:17-8# Koen: Well.. umn.. in the end I don't really think it would really be a difference. #00:29:27-9# Karan: Ok. So I shall finally head to the most interesting part of the survey now.. #00:29:42-1# Koen: Ok. (laughing) #00:29:42-1# Karan: Have you ever experienced a situation in which attraction within group members has influenced the behavior in working. #00:29:47-7# Koen: In a group? #00:29:50-5# Karan: Yeah #00:29:52-1# Koen: Yeah besides the thing i'd just said about this girl and the guy in the first meeting, I never, wait ill have to think about the groups i've had before… no.. umm… No. I don't really think so.

#00:30:13-6# Karan: Never #00:30:14-7# Koen: No, never. But I think if I imagine if there would be a situation like this then it would be all about impressing. #00:30:32-2# Karan: Ya, the next question I was going to ask you was how does it effect team work. #00:30:30-4# Koen: Yeah well then, there will probably be one member who wants to impress another member, something really animalistic (laughing) you know, it's normal. So then I think yeah there would definitely be… but it's impressing, so it's not about them being better. It's about knowing that this other member approves your ideas. So it's not to do with the quality of the work.. #00:31:06-1# Karan: But you think that might end up effecting the results of the work? #00:31:06-6# Koen: In specific decisions it could be, like this girl who wanted to adapt this product of the vision this guy had and it was not something she envisioned or something like that, but it was what he said that we should do it this way and she said 'oh yeah lets do it that way', because… #00:31:24-4# Karan: And how do you think something like that effects the atmosphere in the group, like the other people. #00:31:30-6# Koen: Oh.. depends on if you notice it then I would say (laughing) , then umm… yeah depends also on how serious your group is, how serious the work is.. umm… in the university it would become some kind of joke.. ah ok funny.. and in real life it would be something to, hopefully it shouldn't happen in your group, because then you can't trust gut feelings any more, you know.. as that's what you're hoping for in design I think so.. and then if there are people who are making decisions for each other, or because of each other, then, yeah, not sure if the value of this member is still the same. #00:32:24-8# Karan: Hmn.. So, once something like this happens in the group, then other group members too get effected in indirect ways. As one person's work changes, that effects the rest of the group too. It's just human, these things are inevitable at times. Umnn.. so how would you think you'll behave differently if you feel sexually attracted towards a team member? #00:33:03-6# Koen: Oh towards them.. #00:33:03-6# Karan: Yeah #00:33:03-6# Koen: Umn.. it depends on the quality of the work of this person which is changing.

#00:33:14-7# Karan: Let's say if the quality of the work is good. #00:33:14-7# Koen: Then I think there's no problem. But if you see that her work is less …umnn.. #00:33:25-9# Karan: If it's bad #00:33:25-9# Koen: Not if it's bad I think because then most designs won't be bad but it won't be hers. So, I think that's why its also so hard to find out in the end, like what's hers and whats not hers. She would say its my work, but on the other side, his ideas are inside. But umn.. yeah, I don't know… as a team member how would I react to… umm… I think it's not that I should really blame her but I think there are some questions to be asked to her… I think I would give her a good interview (laughing) #00:34:07-5# Karan: Would it effect your level of motivation towards the project or the group or your dedication towards the group. Reduce or increase it? #00:34:19-0# Koen: Umn.. if Karan: would be the person myself, who would be attracted to another person, then I think of course you'd go for this person instead of the group. In that case it would change. And I know this as a group member that if it happens in a group, then you really should question if for eg. in brainstorming or decison-making, umm.. how much value these answers have.. so then it would change the motivation in a way that… that… yeah… I don't think you can trust each other as much as you did before in this manner. In making decisions while design etc., so then yeah, that isn't very good for the team. #00:35:19-7# Karan: Ok. So, you think that this possibility of attraction to one of the team members and doing productive team work, are they conflicting? or... #00:35:38-3# Koen: Umn, they are not, I think, wait… no they don't necessarily need to conflict, but they can… for e.g.. if you have to choose between two colors, red and white, and you want red but this guy says white and so you also say white then it would be white, but you don't really question why it isn't red, you know. You really have to be careful with that..It's about the decision making again, so, yeah.. #00:36:22-9# Karan: Ya, I get what you're saying. Ok, I think actually i've gotten quite a lot. #00:36:32-6# Koen: Ya, I think, i'm really wondering how much how often I said things and then often said things that are contrasting (laughing) #00:36:38-8# Karan: Yeah, it's ok. As these are the kind of things you never think about usually, so it's difficult to answer these questions.

#00:36:51-6# Koen: Yeah probably. #00:36:51-6# Karan: But, in this whole context of teamwork and multi-gender teamwork and gender and attraction, do you have anything else to add to this context? #00:37:02-1# Koen: I think, it's a really interesting topic, and I would definitely support multi-gender teams.. (laughing) and i'm not sure I have anything else to add or any experience.. The interesting one was about me as a leader that as a connection between all these different members who most of the times come to me which I think is really interesting. And which I think is because of that, because I relate to both sides, well.. I think so. But then no research has been done on that. (laughing) so.. #00:37:38-9# Karan: Ok. thanks a lot! That was it.

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APPENDIX C Codebook CODE Attraction having negative effects on atmospher e and effectivene ss

QUOTES Yes. It could. It culd be like in a group of 5,6,7 people that 2 people are attracting themselves, but in a group of 3 people it can become quite awkward sometimes. it could work in a negative way that they stick together and then it could become -‐ they could kind of subtract themselves from the team and get a little bit away from the group. Oh ok like that. Umn.. no not really.. inspire.. no I don't think it would inspire.. it would only be a distraction.. (laughing) .. if it's really an attractive guy yes… but… yeah, I don't know. It's just the diversity that I think can be inspiring, you know.. so it doesn't really matter you know.. (laughing) in teams you don't wanna hook up with somebody. (laughing) The Distraction, Attraction so that they feel uncomfortable, or they don't negtive atmosphere between know how track anymore, that kind creates some impact team-‐ awkwardness or uncomforting from members has " I think that indirectly influences the working... I distracting negtive gues when we are attracted to someone... it just teamwork influence on happens.. working some people are really emotional and they ... fall environment in love... and when a colleague walks by they... are thinking about them...and... I guess it might have some effect probably hard to tell... These emotions really overwhelm, so it might be they're ... totaly distracted while working and just doing other stuff... Probably more like a generation thing... I guess for our generation, I'd say its nice for them that they found each other... but I it might be for other people distracting... Kissing each other and ... ohhhh -‐ can you please come to the point and come back to work? wor would go in the background a little bit Different group Gender mix Ya I think so genders dynamics affects group In some subtle way..

CATEGORY Atmosphere Attraction

DEFINITION Sexual attraction to other team members causes distraction and effects the atmosphere Attraction Effectivenes and effectiveness s of team work in a negative way.

having effect on group dynamics

team dynamics in atmosphere subtle unexplicable ways.

Gender Group affects dynamic team roles and structure

Multi-‐gender teams bring a different working style results in the change of team structure

Different Diversity mindsets/p erspectives being a bonus Diversity

Gender diversity improves teamwork by getting multiple perspectives, mindsets, points of view and complimentar y attitudes.

Diversity Diversity

Effectivenes s Group dynamics Minority/Ma jority Effectivenes s Task distribution

I think it would improve, out of experience then I would say. As i've worked with only males and teams like the first, and I saw that as for decision making it really depends on how good the discussion was and etc., and if there's only guys there then there's usually a separate vibe than when it's more diverse. Then that's also because of the gender then I would say… ohh…. wait… I need to think about this.. I think in that case, the entire work structure would be different because…I don't know...I think guy tend to care less about stuff when you have like women in team, there is not much .. roles get maybe more.. softer, and less of a clear leader who is like doing like... somebody finishing their work ... maybe they are a bit more thoughtful ... or .. which is I don't know, sometimes, in the begining especially needs some time to get going... definitely a bonus if there's not a lot of similarity between team members because if actually everyone has different views etc, it might become, in terms of description then we might get more insight on different topics etc. Umn… ya.. I think I think so. Because you have different ways of looking at a project you know…umm, yeah… the diversity, it brings more insight, more umm… (incomprehensible) .. and that would be better right? biologically they wire differently It seemed that men are more clinched to mechanical , linear machinistic operations, (uhum) while the women try and accommodate a lot of what is emotive in a design. I think it usually works out very well. m and w having a complementary understanding But it also depends on diversity is like if there are six members in a team, everybody coming from different places, equal ration of people coming from different places or almost the majority is coming from one place and the minority from another. So the girls took on a lot of simulation and the guys took on a lot of prototyping work.

Effectivenes s

Performance Performance Diverse Effectivenes approache s, s performance Multi-‐ Effectivenes Gender gender s, diversity can team can performance improve the improve overall performan performance ce by means of diversity Opposite Creativity Opposite Poles genders Differences working together can be more creative. Attraction Atmosphere Sexual having Attraction attraction to negative other team effects on members atmospher Attraction causes e and distraction effectivene Atmosphere and effects ss the atmosphere Attraction and effectiveness of team work Effectivenes in a negetive way. s

It’s not that the girlsmcould not understand this or the guys could not comprehend that, but there was quite a, it was very subtle, but if you do care to observe you’d be able to see that there is a pattern. I do think it's better as it improves results… i'd say so.. but often it depends on the kind of work it is. Well, genders, umm…generally, I think it's good to mix it…to always have different approaches I think it's a very positive outcome…for the entire process as well

opposite poles being able to generate a creative outcome Of course I’m sure that it’s like a polarity situation. Yes. It could. It culd be like in a group of 5,6,7 people that 2 people are attracting themselves, but in a group of 3 people it can become quite awkward sometimes. it could work in a negative way that they stick together and then it could become -‐ they could kind of subtract themselves from the team and get a little bit away from the group. Oh ok like that. Umn.. no not really.. inspire.. no I don't think it would inspire.. it would only be a distraction.. (laughing) .. if it's really an attractive guy yes… but… yeah, I don't know. It's just the diversity that I think can be inspiring, you know.. so it doesn't really matter you know.. (laughing) in teams you don't wanna hook up with somebody. (laughing)

Reaction to Attraction attraction being unde-‐ sireable

Umn.. well. It could be.. f there's some other personal…umm… if you're really attracted to him or something like that.. if for eg. the girls are realy into the guy then, you know, they might fight for him.. (laughs)… bu showing that they are perfect.. (laughs).. look at me I delivered this! (laughs).. but I don't think it's on a professional level. The Distraction, Attraction so that they feel uncomfortable, or they don't negtive atmosphere between know how track anymore, that kind creates some impact team-‐ awkwardness or uncomforting from members h as " I think that indirectly influences the working... I distracting negtive gues when we are attracted to someone... it just teamwork influence on happens.. working environment some people are really emotional and they ... fall in love... and when a colleague walks by they... are thinking about them...and... I guess it might have some effect" probably hard to tell... These emotions really overwhelm, so it might be they're ... totaly distracted while working and just doing other stuff... Probably more like a generation thing... I guess for our generation, I'd say its nice for them that they found each other... but I it might be for other people distracting... Kissing each other and ... ohhhh -‐ can you please come to the point and come back to work? work would go in the background a little bit Attraction Decision So their decisions will be adapted. leading to Making Sometimes it’s really difficult for 5, 6 people to a change in Attraction reach a consensus. And then there are 2 people behavior who are really consent, could come up with good during suggestions decision making It usually has to do with the fact of decision and in making. perfor-‐ Attraction might change their behaviour mance

Behavioral Change

In such a case you might probably just subconsciously adapt your behavior. You’ll become a bit more agreeable

Usually in a more amicable way. Umn.. well. it could be.. f there's some other personal…umm… if you're really attracted to him or something like that.. if for eg. the girls are realy into the guy then, you know, they might fight for him.. (laughs)… bu showing that they are perfect.. (laughs).. look at me I delivered this! (laughs).. but I don't think it's on a professional level. One's Attraction One may try but I could image that it would happen among desire of to impress the males that they try to draw for more attention and getting other by stand out more from their teammates as soon as attention showing the girl arrives occurs with his/her skills and kind of trying to impress each other, might be attraction in order to get even beneficial... you might make a nicer more powerpoint if you think it might impress them, attention that's what I said In the begining could be also that you have your own boss that tries really be inspirational to you... and to say .. he's really critical and I'll do this and that... Competitio Competition, The I think it will decrease the competition n is atmosphere competition hard to say, to say there's more competitions influencial occurs among between male and females I don't really know, I on working a team and guess in general it's always good to mix with environme induce genders nt changes in ... I mean if you have a group of men that they are working working in underwear, in a dirty place and they're environment just doing the project, if there is an attractive Competitio Competition Gender n not being doesn't play influenced as crucial a by gender Competition role in competitive dynamics in teamwork as Competition other personality traits.

woman in the team they might clean up, wear like a nice sweater and be more properly. if you see somebody and whether it's a girl or guy performing better than you, then well if it's me i'd like to go up station you know..? It’s possible. It may or may not. Okay and it depends on … I think at the end of the day it comes down to what kind of person you are. (Uhum) Generally yes. Umn..umn… the competition.. in the sense… umm.. depends on this guy I guess. If he's really one who's really bringing a lot to the table.. then, but yeah then, I don't think that's actually something to do with gender. That's something like, if you see a team member is doing a lot of effort and it's really good then you're already

competitive but i'm not sure if gender is something to do we do it. No, I wouldn't say so.

Men having different leadership style than woman Female leadership has positive effect on harmonizat ion Female leadership has positive effect on organizing

Leadership

Leadership, effectivenes s

Females show capability of harmonizing the teams along with the leadership style Leadership, Females has a performance better , performance effectivenes on leading s group with their abilities of organizing and managing

Reaction to Attraction attraction being undesireab le The balance between

men I think men approach things in a more formal, addressing straightforward way than women. issues more straightforwar d than women

Balance

And I think the female versions are usually a bit more tolerant and open-‐minded towards to new approaches compare to others Maybe it helps if you have like a women in the team then makes it more feel like a family, or just perceive the team as much more harmony than only with guys... but at the same time I think the females have might even better leading quality to project like that

women have more feedback than men, men are more like... distribute tasks , more just working on it and putting it at the end together, while women is more determined ... depends on the leadership style and on the project, on the scale of the project Well, I guess women... in a smaller group you can have a more mixed role set-‐up, room is small and you can communicate over the table and you don't need much structure to do your work efficiently. And I think in this communication the women are pretty good in that, doing this parallel communication and spreading the information at the same time... Umn.. well. It could be.. f there's some other personal…umm… if you're really attracted to him or something like that.. if for eg. the girls are realy into the guy then, you know, they might fight for him.. (laughs)… bu showing that they are perfect.. (laughs).. look at me I delivered this! (laughs).. but I don't think it's on a professional level. Relationships And I think as long as you clearly have separation can be between the professional and the private, and it's managed on a not an issue

work and private

Diversity Diversity leading to understand ing problems

Attraction leading to a change in behavior during decicion making and in performan ce

Decision Making Attraction Behavioral Change

personal level which is separated from public issue Different mindsets between genders

not really, I think you should manage yourself ... not to be the one that sleeps with every girl in the company... (laugh) I mean if there's like really serious about it... then... yes, I think it's good ... And I think a lot of people are getting merried because they met during work. they have a set pattern of thinking and this might be hard to understand.

So their decisions will be adapted.

Sometimes it’s really difficult for 5, 6 people to reach a consensus. And then there are 2 people who are really consent, could come up with good suggestions It usually has to do with the fact of decision making. might change their behaviour In such a case you might probably just subconsciously adapt your behavior.

You’ll become a bit more agreeable Usually in a more amicable way.

Opposite Poles

Creativity

Opposite genders working

Umn.. well. it could be.. f there's some other personal…umm… if you're really attracted to him or something like that.. if for e.g. the girls are realy into the guy then, you know, they might fight for him.. (laughs)… but showing that they are perfect.. (laughs).. look at me I delivered this! (laughs).. but I don't think it's on a professional level. opposite poles being able to generate a creative outcome 36

Opposite Poles Opposite Poles

Differences

Creativity

Different Leadership communic ation styles being required for different genders

Different Leadership communic ation styles being required for different genders Leadership

together can be more creative. Opposite genders working together can be more creative. Opposite genders working together can be more creative Genders have different understanding and communicatio n styles that have to be incorporated in order to be a good leader Genders have different understanding and communicatio n styles that have to be incorporated in order to be a good leader

Of course I’m sure that it’s like a polarity situation.

opposite poles being able to generate a creative outcome

May be in accepting what the leader might say, yes. I think so. Definitely in other environments like this with more hierarchy… yeah… I don't know. But also in team work, the guys are always clipping together and the girls are always chatting together and then they might split up you know, and I never saw that before because i'mmost of the times collecting them together.. it's really weird and that really happens. May be in accepting what the leader might say, yes. I think so. Definitely in other environments like this with more hierarchy… yeah… I don't know. But also in team work, the guys are always clipping together and the girls are always chatting together and then they might split up you know, and I never saw that before because i'mmost of the times collecting them together.. it's really weird and that really happens. There's always this, there are always some tasks which are always there in leadership. […] So there are values that both men and women have, and umn.. I think the values you would normally associate to woman and guys are less important. So for eg. the girls before they are more likely to talk about a specific subject, but if she's a leader then she also feels a responsibility to make the decision. So I think in that case there won't be a really big difference. But, if this girl is ruling over four guys, umnn… well then I'm not, I can only

think of film characters, role etc. She would also be, like, umm, want to be desired etc., and she would use that power to control them. But i'm not sure if that happens in real.. (laughing)

Leadership

Umn.. I think i'm a really good leader. this sounds a bit ego-‐centric, but it's mostly because I really can communicate well with both genders I would say, and there's no real division in my mind, so umm.. yeah, I don't know, I really adapt to what people are saying to me or how to interact with these people.

Gender Leadership minority being treated favorably in the context of Leadership leadership

Gender minority being treated favorably in the context of leadership

Men Leadership having different leadership style than woman

men addressing issues more straightforwar d than women chosen leadership style depending more on other factors than on gender behavior towards a leader does

Not seing Leadership gender affecting leadership style Not seing gender affecting

Leadership

so if there's only one girl in a team then, yeah it's happened before today with me (laughing) yeah, I think so then. We just let her be the leader. However there are some guys who are also really forced on saying a lot of things.. and push their ideas forward. Yeah well, I just came from a team meeting where we are four guys and one girl. And this one girl, she's muslim, and she's really for women's rights etc., so she really wanted to be the manager. We had to decide roles etc., and she said "I want to be the manager", and we said ok ok, it's ok.. you can be the manager. So there was really some fighting for power, but we thought it's ok, since she was so into this we thought it should be ok. I think men approach things in a more formal, straightforward way than women.

in the end I don't really think it would really be a difference.

There's always this, there are always some tasks which are always there in leadership. You need to be tough, you've to make strict decisions, you

leadership style

Behavior toward a leader not being affected by gender Gender minority being treated favorably

not differ on gender

Leadership

have to be clear about things. So there are values that both men and women have, and umn.. I think the values you would normally associate to woman and guys are less important. So for eg. the girls before they are more likely to talk about a specific subject, but if she's a leader then she also feels a responsibility to make the decision. So I think in that case there won't be a really big difference. Ehm .. not necessarily.

Leadership

behavior Leadership towards a leader does not differ on Majority/Mi gender nority

we had some trust in her.

Minority/Ma Gender jority majority tending to treat the minority more favorable Minority/Ma than in an equal gender jority distribution Minority/Ma jority Competition

Because if there's like if he's in a team with all guys, then I think, they would respect every opinion as much. But now he's the only guy so then I think he would say that ok well, I think it's this way and then there are two girls over him, then you know… In this context yes, I think so. Because she's already outnumbered or something like that (laughing) so some kind of fun object in a way… and

team atmosphere, behavioral change Minority/Ma jority

It can happen between two of the same gender, within gender, whatever might occur. Ya, I think so. definitely. But if I was a girl it would be even more, because now there are two guys

I hate when there's a male inside then it's it's, there's a difference vibe amongst the girls I would say… because they would say… I don't know… he would be the only one you know… so if there's only one girl in a team then, yeah it's happened before today with me (laughing) yeah, I think so then. We just let her be the leader. However there are some guys who are also really forced on saying a lot of things.. and push their ideas forward. I hate when there's a male inside then it's it's, there's a difference vibe amongst the girls I would say… because they would say… I don't know… he would be the only one you know…

gender diversity not effecting creativity

Creativity

Gender effecting decision making

Decision-‐ making

Diversity Diversity leading to understand ing problems Experience Limitations d gender dynamics not being generalizab le

Showing Limitations awareness for gender diversity issue Limits of Gender Effects

Oh ok like that. Umn.. no not really.. inspire.. no I don't think it would inspire.. it would only be a distraction.. (laughing) .. if it's really an attractive guy yes… but… yeah, I don't know. It's just the diversity that I think can be inspiring, you know.. so it doesn't really matter you know.. (laughing) in teams you don't wanna hook up with somebody. (laughing) Gender-‐ No. no no no. I don't think so. It's only within dynamics and decision making etc. but. Motivation is so big… attraction can but… lead to bias in decision-‐ making in teamwork. Different they have a set pattern of thinking and this might mindsets be hard to understand. between genders statements cannot be generalized

statements cannot be generalized gender but I think we're living in a society where it's, you diversity know on one side we have respect for each other being an issue and there's no real diversion I would say. of awareness for respondents

APPENDIX D Justification for Developed Codes The codebook contains codes in several categories which we developed in order to match our main and sub research questions. Our interview guide contains the following four sub-topics: Social influence, performance, leadership and attraction. These sub-topics were determined based on the following assumptions: (1) Gender diversity will have an impact on the dynamics in the team and thus affect the social dimension of team work. (2) These social factors of group dynamics are known to influence overall performance of the team. (3) Gender dynamics affect leadership styles and attitude towards leadership in teamwork. (4) Gender diversity affects the dimension of attraction that causes these influences on group dynamics. The codes chosen are strongly related to these assumptions and thus add to the overall construction of a theory grounded in the data. The following table shows the categories used to cluster the codes and how these relate to the four sub-topics: Social Influence Performance Leadership Attraction

The selected codes point at the relation in-between the areas we defined, such as the influence that attraction has on team performance. These relations contribute to constructing a base theoretical framework on which overarching theories could be formulated. Some of the codes seem to contribute to more than one category, and some categories relate to more than one sub-topic. These codes define the inter-relations within families and imply possible overlaps between the sub-topics. Not all codes within one family contain consistent findings. Having chosen four very different interviewees as the subjects for our research, it is understandable that experiences and opinions related to the topic differ. Thus, codes within families reflect the different experiences of our interviewees, as they mentioned both positive and negative aspects of gender diversity. We conclude that these differences enhance the richness of our data and add to a deeper understanding of the multifaceted nature of the research topic.

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