Opposites Attract - Applying this concept to my workplace

I recently read an article written by Katharine Miezkowski (Dec 1997) about design teams at Nissan Design International or NDI.  The idea behind the article was how auto designer Jerry Hirshberg, created some of the most world-renowned vehicle design studios - not by hiring the single best designers, but instead hiring a pair of designers.  In addition he wouldn't just hire two designers that got along perfectly with each other; he made it his goal to employ a pair of engineer/designers that "clashed" so to say.  As Hirshberg explained, he "believed in creative abrasion and hiring divergent pairs."  In his mind this lead to the production of “wonderful creative sparks”.

The idea behind Hirshberg's theory is not a crazy one by any means; in fact it has lead to many great automobile designs which have won many awards over the past years.  I believe this concept would be successful if applied at my currently company (United Technologies).  I don't think that the engineering/design teams should be limited to two people, but I also am strongly against having such a large engineering/design team working on a single project - this just leads to people getting in their own way and never making a decision and moving in a forward direction.  Depending on the size of the project, placing 3 "opposites" with 3 "opposites", creating a team of 6 would be beneficial.  I feel that it is important to have engineers that live, eat and sleep engineering and care about every minute detail but I also feel (as did Hirshberg) that it is important and in the best interest of the final product to pair these "nerdy" engineers with people that have an engineering degree but are realistic, don't discourage tweaking on the fly and think "out of the box".  With a team of opposites the engineering aspect would be challenged with realism and style.  Laws and standards would be broken and decisions would get made.  When the product is going through its development and prototype stages, a team of opposite would flourish.... That said, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for a product that is in its final prototype and production stage due to the fact that procedures and standards must be followed and maintained to ensure repeatability, quality control and last but certainly not least; the all important customer satisfaction.