show greater difficulties in coordinating their efforts and in showing adequate communication patterns due to the unique set of backgrounds and skillsets present. When functional diversity threatens the group's safety (see Psychological Safety), team creativity and the implementation of innovative ideas can suffer. As such, differing skills and various work-related backgrounds need to be adequately managed and integrated for teams to be able to work together effectively and create synergies from their wide range of backgrounds (see Leading Teams). To better understand functional diversity, it is important to consider the functional approach to decision-making. At its core, the functional perspective is defined as “a normative approach to describing and predicting group behavior and performance that focuses on the functions of inputs and/or processes.” This approach makes 4 basic assumptions about groups – namely, it assumes that groups are goal-oriented, group behavior / performance varies and can be evaluated, interaction processes have utility and can be regulated, and finally that various factors, both internal and external, impact behavior / performance via various methods of interaction. This fourth assumption is key in understanding the impacts of functional diversity, as these external attributes often dominate the way team members interact with one another. Over the last decade, corporations have tried to capitalize on this framework based on the assumption that diversity amongst teams leads to more creative solutions and accelerated innovation. Many large firms in traditional industries such as banking and finance go as far as having “Diversity Recruiting Programs,” where they recruit an increasingly sizable portion of their junior employees from a pool of exclusively under-represented minorities (URM). However, studies on the true benefits of diversity remain inconclusive – for example Ancona and Caldwell (1992) found a positive relationship between functional diversity and team innovation while Keller (2001) found a negative relationship, while Somech (2006) found no relationship at all. Theoretical perspectives on diversity Theoretical perspectives on diversity in teams have been a focus of organizational psychology since 1985. Many theories have been postulated and attempted to be tested. The fact remains that it is difficult to tease out exactly the effects of diversity in its various forms on team performance. There are few tenets that have garnered widespread consensus among researchers. One generally agreed upon phenomenon that increased diversity in national origin or ethnicity generally hinders information use, even when that information is accessible to the team. This is due to