Agree to disagree: The relationship of heterogeneity in team culture with integrated patient care

Organizational culture is considered critical for improving health system outcomes. Yet, empirical evidence confirming this relationship is limited. This may be due to the prevailing way that studies conceptualize culture using a consensus perspective, which assumes that more agreement among members is better. However, to meet multiple healthcare needs of patients with complex conditions, diverse providers with various disciplinary backgrounds increasingly must work together. Given the need for multidisciplinary collaboration, using what Chan (1998) calls a dispersion model may be more suitable to explain variations in team performance. A dispersion model conceptualizes organizational culture through heterogeneity among groups instead of within group agreement. To recognize the heterogeneity in values and skills that different healthcare professionals introduce to multidisciplinary teams, we assess whether heterogeneity in team cultures is associated with the degree to which patients perceive care to be m...