Diversity Faultlines

Found a very interesting article [1] introducing a concept of group faultline, which is defined as a feature, which can potentially divide a group into subgroups. Potentially it can be any feature: age, sex, profession, educational background, physical characteristics, intellectual features etc. In general, the probability of the division and forming of stable subgroups depends on alignment of several faultlines, i.e. if a group consists of 2 20-year old males and 3 40-year-old females - they will probably form subgroups.
Another important thing - physical, easily-visible characteristics (gender, age, race, language spoken etc) tend to create subgroups faster and can stay on the way of the formation of subgroups based on interests and intellectual preferences. "Although group members can categorize themselves in many different ways, they typically have a harder time denying their demographic attributes." (1). This, I believe, is usually undesirable if we are seeking intellectual contact and compatibility (and we are seeking it, aren't we?)

1)Lau, D. C. and Murnighan, J. K. (1998) Demographic Diversity and Faultlines: The Compositional Dynamics of Organizational Groups, The Academy of Management Review, 23(2), pp. 325-340.