Opposites Attract

Here is an interesting revelation about those with whom you work. Tony Ammeter, Ph.D, a University of Missouri-Rolla engineering management professor, surveyed diverse teams of MBA students for four months as they worked together on class assignments. He found that students with similar job backgrounds were significantly less likely to trust each other than those with differing backgrounds. The theory is professional jealousy causes us to feel threatened. Ammeter suggests that during team-building, workers "exchange information about individuals' abilities and convey that their intentions are good for the team."