Top management team group factors, consensus, and firm performance

The results of recent consensus-performance research have been equivocal. Substantive and methodological issues are examined to suggest reasons for this equivocality. Top management team composition, structure, and decision processes are proposed as antecedents to the consensus-performance relationship. An argument is developed for a curvilinear aggregate consensus-performance relationship, moderated by environmental dynamism. A model and associated propositions are advanced to further descriptive and normative theory.

[1]  A. Thomas Does leadership make a difference to organizational performance , 1988 .

[2]  Gregory G. Dess,et al.  Corporate-Level Strategy, Business-Level Strategy, and Firm Performance , 1981 .

[3]  K. Andrews The Concept of Corporate Strategy , 1971 .

[4]  Charles R. Schwenk,et al.  Effects of the expert, devil's advocate, and dialectical inquiry methods on prediction performance , 1980 .

[5]  C. Nemeth Differential contributions of majority and minority influence , 1986 .

[6]  E. Paul Torrance,et al.  Group Decision-Making and Disagreement , 1957 .

[7]  C. B. Schoonhoven Problems with contingency theory: testing assumptions hidden within the language of contingency "theory.". , 1981, Administrative science quarterly.

[8]  L. Bourgeois STRATEGIC GOALS, PERCEIVED UNCERTAINTY, AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE IN VOLATILE ENVIRONMENTS , 1985 .

[9]  D. Pugh,et al.  The Context of Organization Structures , 1969 .

[10]  A. Gero Conflict Avoidance in Consensual Decision Processes , 1985 .

[11]  Ralph M. Stogdill,et al.  Individual Behavior and Group Achievement , 1960 .

[12]  T. Mitchell,et al.  Strategic Decision Processes: Comprehensiveness and Performance in an Industry with an Unstable Environment , 1984 .

[13]  J. Fredrickson The Strategic Decision Process and Organizational Structure , 1986 .

[14]  K. Weick The social psychology of organizing , 1969 .

[15]  Gregory G. Dess Consensus on strategy formulation and organizational performance: Competitors in a fragmented industry , 1987 .

[16]  L. J. Bourgeois,et al.  Five Steps to Strategic Action , 1984 .

[17]  Dean Tjosvold,et al.  Effect of Concurrence, Controversy, and Consensus on Group Decision Making , 1985 .

[18]  I. Nonaka,et al.  The Application of Organizational Learning Theory to Japanese and American Management , 1986 .

[19]  B. Fisher,et al.  Decision emergence: Phases in group decision‐making , 1970 .

[20]  L. Bourgeois Performance and consensus , 1980 .

[21]  Gregory G. Dess,et al.  Environment, Structure, and Consensus in Strategy Formulation: A Conceptual Integration , 1987 .

[22]  L. L. Cummings,et al.  Perceived Environmental Uncertainty: Effects of Information and Structure , 1975 .

[23]  D. Schweiger,et al.  The utilization of individual capabilities in group approaches to strategic decision‐making , 1989 .

[24]  D. Hambrick,et al.  Upper Echelons: The Organization as a Reflection of Its Top Managers , 1984 .

[25]  G. Allison,et al.  Essence of Decision , 1971 .

[26]  Rodney Clark,et al.  The Japanese Company , 1980 .

[27]  R. A. Cosier Methods for improving the strategic decisnio: Dialectic versus the Devil's advocate , 1982 .

[28]  J. Fredrickson The Comprehensiveness of Strategic Decision Processes: Extension, Observations, Future Directions , 1984 .

[29]  J. Sullivan,et al.  A critique of Theory Z. , 1983, Academy of management review. Academy of Management.

[30]  Barry M. Staw,et al.  Threat-rigidity effects in organizational behavior: A multilevel analysis. , 1981 .

[31]  Charles R. Schwenk,et al.  Agreement and thinking alike: ingredients for poor decisions , 1990 .

[32]  Kenneth J. Arrow,et al.  A Strategy of Decision, Policy Evaluation as a Social Process. , 1964 .

[33]  I. Mitroff Talking past one's colleagues in matters of policy , 1982 .

[34]  Kathryn Rudie Harrigan,et al.  Research Methodologies for Contingency Approaches to Business Strategy , 1983 .

[35]  I. Nonaka Toward Middle-Up-Down Management: Accelerating Information Creation , 1988 .

[36]  Michael C. White,et al.  Strategy, CEO Specialization, and Succession , 1987 .

[37]  Dialectical inquiry in strategic decision‐making: A comment on the continuing debate , 1982 .

[38]  Charles R. Schwenk,et al.  A meta‐analysis on the comparative effectiveness of devil's advocacy and dialectical inquiry , 1989 .

[39]  Jay R. Galbraith Designing Complex Organizations , 1973 .

[40]  Jeffrey Pfeffer,et al.  Organizational demography and turnover in top-management groups. , 1984 .

[41]  D. Norburn,et al.  Planning for Existing Markets: Perceptions of Executives and Financial Performance , 1975 .

[42]  S. Lieberson,et al.  Leadership and organizational performance: a study of large corporations. , 1972, American sociological review.

[43]  J. McCann Strategies for Change: Logical Incrementalism , 1980 .

[44]  Barbara W. Keats,et al.  Environmental Assessment and Organizational Performance: An Exploratory Field Study. , 1987 .

[45]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  The Structure of "Unstructured" Decision Processes , 1976 .

[46]  J. Kimberly Organizational size and the structuralist perspective: a review, critique, and proposal , 1976 .

[47]  P. Nystrom,et al.  Camping on Seesaws: Prescriptions for a Self-Designing Organization , 1976 .

[48]  Henry Mintzberg Patterns in Strategy Formation , 1978, International Studies of Management & Organization.

[49]  Joan C. Woodward Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice , 1966 .

[50]  Gregory G. Dess,et al.  Dimensions of Organizational Task Environments. , 1984 .

[51]  D. Hambrick Environment, strategy, and power within top management teams. , 1981, Administrative science quarterly.

[52]  Ezra F. Vogel,et al.  Japan as number one , 1979 .

[53]  D. Schweiger,et al.  Group Approaches for Improving Strategic Decision Making: A Comparative Analysis of Dialectical Inquiry, Devil's Advocacy, and Consensus , 1986 .

[54]  J. Prescott Environments as Moderators of the Relationship Between Strategy and Performance , 1986 .