A Multi‐level Dialectical–Paradox Lens for Top Management Team Strategic Decision‐Making in a Corporate Venture

This paper aims to critique the process of corporate‐owned, high‐tech start‐up strategizing through an inductive, longitudinal, case study of ‘UK‐Research‐Tech’. Insights are given through the combined ‘dialectical–paradox’ concept, thereby focusing on where ‘dialectic’ and ‘paradox’ theorizing overlap. This linked iterative, ‘dialogical–dialectic’ research approach also reflects chief executive officer/top management team (CEO/TMT) start‐up dynamics over time. These foci fill important gaps that impede better understanding of dialectical, dialogical and paradoxical forces within strategic decision‐making. As an interpretative tool, they illuminate CEO/TMT strategizing and changing interrelationships affected by broader, volatile, techno‐economic contexts and parent‐company influences on ventures. In this case study, it was found that the CEO's relatively autocratic, parent‐framed approach combined with TMT members' contradictory reactions to create ‘dialectical–paradox’ oppositional forces, eventually only resolved through ‘eleventh hour’ business strategy changes to rescue the venture. This research contributes to more nuanced understandings of corporate‐constrained ventures during early business development from start‐up strategic decisions at parent‐company level to subsequent conditions of more independent dynamic equilibrium. The ‘dialectical–paradox’ conceptual lens contributes an innovative critique of processes affecting strategic decision‐making dynamics. Another important contribution is the empirically inspired conceptual model, developed for use both to guide subsequent case‐study research analyses and as a reflective tool for CEO/TMT strategic decision‐making, especially within corporate‐inspired start‐ups.     

Top management team constellations and their implications for strategic decision making

Two major themes in the upper echelon decision making literature are the efficacy of the CEO and the composition of the top management team (TMT). Little research has examined their intersection. This study addresses the call to reveal the social processes within TMTs, by focusing on CEO-TMT member interaction in decision making. Drawing on video ethnographic data of two TMTs, we explore the patterns of interactions between CEOs and TMT members in their strategic decision making meetings. Through an analysis of 20 issue discussions, we identify five “constellations”, a team level construct capturing the core relational dynamics that are created through mutual CEO-TMT member influence during a team's discussion of a strategic issue. We explain how these constellations unfold and their implications for the processes and outcomes of TMT strategic decision making. We then elaborate how our findings contribute to the TMT and upper echelon literatures, as well as our understanding of team politics.     

CEO–TMT exchange,TMT personality composition,and decision quality: The mediating role of TMT psychological empowerment

This research draws on the upper-echelons perspective to examine the effects of CEO–top management team (TMT) exchange quality and TMT personality composition on decision quality through the mediation of TMT psychological empowerment. Using survey data from more than 700 executives in 210 firms in a Middle Eastern country and adopting a split-data approach, we find that CEO–TMT exchange quality can advance TMT psychological empowerment. We also find that TMT neuroticism has a negative effect on TMT psychological empowerment, while TMT conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and openness have positive effects. Moreover, TMT psychological empowerment plays a mediating role in linking CEO–TMT exchange quality and TMT personality composition with decision quality. Our research contributes to the upper-echelons, leader–member exchange (LMX), and decision-making literature by drawing attention to the social dynamics between CEO and TMT members, as well as the psychological characteristics and psychological states of TMT members, and their implications for strategic decisions.     

家长式领导对高管团队有效性的影响机制研究:以团队凝聚力为中介变量

本文通过对108家中国企业的高管团队问卷调查所获得的数据的分析,探讨了CEO的家长式领导对高管团队有效性的影响机制,结果表明:仁慈领导和德行领导对团队有效性有显著的积极影响,威权领导对团队有效性有显著的消极影响;团队凝聚力起到了部分中介的作用,威权领导通过降低团队凝聚力对团队有效性产生负面影响.     

The influence of top management corporate networks on CEO succession

We analyze empirically how supervisory board members with multiple directorships affect the decision to hire an inside or outside CEO successor. While a growing number of both theoretical and empirical studies analyze the influence of corporate performance and size or the ownership structure on this decision, the role of multiple board memberships within the CEO recruitment process has been widely neglected so far. The present study is based on panel data of the largest German companies covering the period from 1996 to 2008. Applying competing risk estimations we find a weak and positive association between the number of external directorships of the supervisory board members and internal CEO replacements. Distinguishing between different groups of external board positions, we find that external executives on the supervisory board increase the likelihood of external CEO replacements. In line with empirical findings for the US we argue that external executives improve the assessment of potential CEO successors leading to more outside CEO replacements. In contrast, we find evidence that external supervisory board mandates of the supervisory board members cause more internal CEO replacements. This finding indicates a substitution of external expertise of the executives by multiple supervisory board mandates but could also reflect a reduction of the monitoring intensity of the supervisory board.     

How Much do CEOs and Top Managers Matter in Strategic Decision‐Making?

This research note explores the influence of both CEO and top-management team (TMT) characteristics on the process of making strategic decisions (SDs). Empirical testing is based on a sample of 70 SDs in industrial enterprises operating in Greece, using a combination of interviews, questionnaires and archival data. The results suggest that (a) the characteristics of both the TMT and the CEO influenced the strategic decision-making process, but the former had more influence, (b) the TMT and CEO influenced different dimensions of the process, and (c) the broader context of SDs is more influential than either the CEO or the TMT. Among the most important factors was the TMT's 'aggressiveness' (commitment to beating the competition, attitude to innovation, willingness to take risks). The results lend support to the 'upper echelons' perspective, but suggest that in studying strategic decision-making processes both CEO and TMT characteristics should be considered, in conjunction with the broader context. Such an approach should provide a more reliable view of strategic processes and their evolving dynamics.     

Benefiting from CEO's empowerment of TMTs: Does CEO–TMT dissimilarity matter?

This study examines empowering leadership from an upper echelons perspective by focusing on top management teams (TMTs) and considering the demographic dissimilarities between the CEO and other TMT members. Data from a multisource survey of 129 Chinese firms demonstrate the importance of the fit between the backgrounds of the leader and the TMT members. Although empowerment of TMTs by CEOs predicts superior organizational performance in general, the findings show that this practice is most beneficial when the CEO and the TMT members differ in their informational demographics but have a longer tenure overlap. If either dissimilarity in informational demographics or tenure overlap is lacking, the CEO's empowerment of the TMT has a less positive effect on firm performance. Essentially, a three-way interaction is demonstrated. Introducing boundary conditions for the empowerment of TMTs by CEOs and testing their interactive influence broadens our understanding of how CEO leadership style can affect organizational performance, and refines the guidance for practitioners on TMT management.     

An Analysis of Strategic Determinants,Learning and Decision‐Making in Sino‐British Joint Ventures

This paper examines how partners’ strategic objectives, inputs and competencies affect the learning they achieve in joint ventures and their ability to influence decision‐making in such ventures. Quantitative and qualitative research in 20 Sino‐British joint ventures permits an investigation of these factors for both British and Chinese joint venture partners. Findings indicate that the transfer by British partners of technology and managerial expertise to joint ventures enhances their ability to achieve their strategic objectives by influencing decisions in such ventures. The learning achieved by British partners depends on their commitment of strategic inputs to joint ventures and is therefore associated with their influence. The case of Chinese partners is different, because they look to learn from the knowledge and resource inputs provided by the British partners. They therefore rely more on legal ownership rights to retain an influence over joint venture decision‐making. The achievement of Chinese partners’ strategic objectives depends more critically on the quality of the partnership itself.     

The personality factor: how top management teams make decisions. A literature review

Past research has increasingly suggested that CEO/TMT personality can play a relevant role in influencing various external (e.g. firm performance) and internal (e.g. firm organizational structure) management outcomes. These promising results need appropriate systematization and discussion, which we aim at providing through a literature review based on rigorous inclusion/exclusion criteria. Our analysis shows great heterogeneity in regard to both the personality traits and the personality based management outcomes explored by the investigated population of studies. Thus, we specifically use the framework provided by the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality to codify the publications and this framework allows us to identify some possible theoretical trajectories. These trajectories mainly regard the empirical testing of the highlighted associations between CEO emotional stability, extraversion and conscientiousness with bureaucratization, strategic pro-activity and firm performance. Our article is primarily intended for those scholars and practitioners who want to improve their knowledge about psychology-based decision making and behavioural corporate governance through the understanding of how CEO/TMT personality can affect their strategic decisions.     

The Influence of Top Management Teams in the Strategic Orientation and Performance of Small and Medium‐sized Enterprises

Identifying which factors affect firms' performance is a critical issue in strategic management research. This paper addresses the influence of managerial team over the behaviour and performance of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). By treating top management team (TMT) characteristics as predictors of a firm's strategic orientation, we seek to provide a more complete understanding of how the characteristics of managerial teams shape decision‐making processes and SMEs' behaviours in order to successfully compete in low munificent environments. Based on primary data regarding managerial characteristics and firms' behaviours of a sample of 295 SMEs, our results confirm that a firm's strategic orientation plays a mediating role in explaining how TMT characteristics determine SMEs' performance.     

Emotionally intelligent top management and high family firm performance: Evidence from Germany

Executives in family firms are often confronted with emotionally loaded issues, in part due to the need to include the interests of the owning family. Given this context, we hypothesize how high family-firm performance is affected by the emotional intelligence (EI) of a family-based CEO and top-management team (TMT), in addition to the CEO's transformational leadership (TFL) and TMT's behavioral integration. Survey measures were taken from a random sample of 72 CEOs of German family firms and 245 members of their TMTs. We found that TMT behavioral integration mediates between CEO TFL and objective firm performance while CEO EI is significantly related to both CEO TFL and TMT EI. Implications are discussed for future research thereby suggesting an extension to upper-echelon theory.     

新创企业高管团队的团队过程与战略决策绩效 ——认知的调节作用

新创企业的成败很大程度上取决于战略决策绩效,具有决策权力的高管团队在创业情境下的认知和行为过程对战略决策绩效具有重要影响。本文结合创业研究和高管团队研究的现有成果,以122家新创企业为研究对象,从内部团队过程和外部团队过程两个维度考察高管团队的团队过程对战略决策绩效的影响,并从认知的视角分析新创企业高管团队认知需要和认知能力对团队过程与决策绩效关系的调节作用。研究结果表明,新创企业高管团队的内部团队过程和外部团队过程与决策的质量和满意度均有显著的正相关关系,且认知需要和认知能力对这种关系具有调节作用,在认知需要和认知能力较高的情况下,内、外部团队过程对决策质量和满意度的正向影响更强。     

Managing C-suite conflict: The unique impact of internal and external governance interfaces on top management team reflexivity

The ability of Top Management Teams (TMTs) to reflect critically on their own actions represents an important element of effective TMT decision making and governance effectiveness. This paper therefore examines how the TMT-board interface internal to the organization, as well as the TMT interface with the external supervisory authority, shape TMT reflexivity. Drawing from governance and psychological theories, we posit that cognitive conflict at the TMT-board interface can escalate by increasing levels of affective TMT-board conflict, and hereby, harm TMT reflexivity if not managed well. This proposition was tested in a multisource team-level data set collected in the field among TMTs (N = 111 TMT members) and their supervisory boards (N = 152 board members) of 56 Dutch insurance companies. The findings demonstrate that the link between cognitive and affective TMT-board conflict is mitigated by board membership influx. Yet in cases where conflict escalation does occur, its subsequent impact on TMT reflexivity hinges on the degree to which an external supervisory authority monitored TMT actions. The results illustrate that TMT decision making processes can be effectively influenced by internal and external TMT-governance interfaces, yet at different conflict stages, and through different governance actions.     

家长式领导、冲突与高管团队战略决策效果的关系研究

本文以四川省78家企业371名高管团队成员为实证研究对象,探讨了CEO的家长式领导行为对高管团队战略决策效果的影响,以及团队冲突在其中的中介作用.同时,构建了包括家长式领导、认知冲突、情绪冲突和决策效果四个变量的概念模型,并提出相应的理论假设.通过结构方程模型的检验,表明CEO的德行领导和威权领导分别从正反两个方向对决策效果产生显著的影响,仁慈领导对决策效果没有显著的直接影响.德行领导主要通过认知冲突作用于决策效果,仁慈、威权领导则通过情绪冲突作用于决策效果.     

Culminating events and time working together in top management teams: Insights from private equity

In some managerial contexts, performance is measured by the results of a rare event that is itself the culmination of a long and ongoing process of daily decision making. In the private equity (PE) industry, for example, a firm makes a limited number of investments throughout its life. However, selecting these few investments requires the firm to engage in a large number of decision-making activities to evaluate the much larger array of potential investments. This raises the interesting possibility that the performance of each culminating event is not a function of the number of previously completed tasks, as it has been conceived previously, but is in fact a function of the accumulation of daily decision making that may or may not culminate in actual buyouts. To understand performance drivers in this and similar contexts, we examine and test the performance effect of the time that members of a PE top management team (TMT) spend working together to evaluate potential investments, and untangle this effect from the number of investments the TMT has bought and sold previously. Our data reveal a U-shaped relationship between time working together (TWT) and buyout performance, and a moderation effect of TMT heterogeneity and TMT support staff size. These findings extend our knowledge of executive decision making in PE firms, and in all managerial contexts where rare decision events are the culmination of an extended process of daily decision making.     

CEO grandiose narcissism and firm performance: The role of organizational identification

This study reconciles the positive and negative sides of CEO grandiose narcissism by examining the role that CEO organizational identification plays in moderating the effect of CEO grandiose narcissism on top management team (TMT) behavioral integration. We first distinguish between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and we then draw on upper echelons theory and executive personality research to hypothesize and test a model in which CEO grandiose narcissism is positively related to TMT behavioral integration when CEOs are high in organizational identification. The relationship is expected to be negative when CEOs do not identify strongly with their organizations. TMT behavioral integration, in turn, predicts subsequent firm performance. Findings based on multi-source data from a sample of 97 CEOs and their firms supported the hypotheses. These results highlight the complex nature of CEO grandiose narcissism – namely, that the construct has both positive and negative aspects as it relates to top management team dynamics and firm performance and that the relationship is affected by CEOs' identification with their organizations.     

高层管理团队内部社会资本、团队冲突和决策效果的关系——研究综述与理论分析框架

反映在结构因素、关系因素和认知因素三个维度上的高管团队内部社会资本为决策信息的交换和共享提供了机会、意愿和能力,有利于团队内部形成建设性的冲突模式,促进决策效果的提高.本文以团队冲突为中介变量,建立了高管团队内部社会资本与决策效果的关系的理论框架,提出了研究命题,并对企业高管团队内部社会资本的培育提出建议.     

高层管理团队多样性与组织创新:外部社会网络与内部决策模式的作用

为进一步揭示高层管理团队(TMT)特征对组织创新产生的影响,引入并检验了TMT的外部网络联系和内部合作型决策这2个要素在TMT多样性与组织创新关系中的作用。研究结果表明,关注创新的组织过程的重要性,对TMT的相关研究具有重要的理论延伸,对于管理企业在复杂的环境中竞争和进行战略变革具有重要的借鉴意义。     

新任CEO特征、管理团队调整与企业绩效——基于ST上市公司的数据实证

本文基于高阶梯队理论,针对以往CEO更换研究的关键问题,探讨ST公司新任CEO特征、高管团队调整以及企业绩效提升之间的关系。本研究选择了沪深两市2000-2010期间被ST特殊处理后更换CEO的110个样本进行实证研究,研究结果表明,ST公司新任CEO的继任年龄、受教育水平对企业短期绩效变化有显著正向影响,过去未担任过CEO的新任CEO继任后企业短期绩效的提升明显好于过去担任过CEO的,内部继任的新任CEO继任后企业长期绩效的改善明显好于外部继任的,高管团队调整对企业短期绩效变化有显著正向影响,新任CEO特征对高管团队调整没有显著影响。本研究为绩效下滑企业转型战略研究提供了一个新的视角,也为中国企业选择和更换CEO提供了决策的依据。     

Flash Flood Risks and Warning Decisions: A Mental Models Study of Forecasters,Public Officials,and Media Broadcasters in Boulder,Colorado

Timely warning communication and decision making are critical for reducing harm from flash flooding. To help understand and improve extreme weather risk communication and management, this study uses a mental models research approach to investigate the flash flood warning system and its risk decision context. Data were collected in the Boulder, Colorado area from mental models interviews with forecasters, public officials, and media broadcasters, who each make important interacting decisions in the warning system, and from a group modeling session with forecasters. Analysis of the data informed development of a decision‐focused model of the flash flood warning system that integrates the professionals’ perspectives. Comparative analysis of individual and group data with this model characterizes how these professionals conceptualize flash flood risks and associated uncertainty; create and disseminate flash flood warning information; and perceive how warning information is (and should be) used in their own and others’ decisions. The analysis indicates that warning system functioning would benefit from professionals developing a clearer, shared understanding of flash flood risks and the warning system, across their areas of expertise and job roles. Given the challenges in risk communication and decision making for complex, rapidly evolving hazards such as flash floods, another priority is development of improved warning content to help members of the public protect themselves when needed. Also important is professional communication with members of the public about allocation of responsibilities for managing flash flood risks, as well as improved system‐wide management of uncertainty in decisions.