Top management team composition and views of viable strategies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to form propositions about the relationship between the cognitive composition of the top management team and its view of the viable strategy for a firm.Design/methodology/approach – The cognitive style of 58 members of ten top management teams were analyzed using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the strategy types based on Miles and Snow typology were defined using the paragraph approach. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis.Findings – Based on data from the ten top management teams in the spa industry, this study proposes that the cognitive composition of the top management team affects the strategies they prefer. Further, it is proposed that intuitive‐thinking top management teams prefer either a prospector or an analyzer strategy. A defender or an analyzer strategy is preferred by sensing‐thinking top management teams. Defining the composition of the top management team using the cognitive style is proposed to be a more promising way to expla...

[1]  Roderick E. White,et al.  Top management teams and organizational renewal , 1989 .

[2]  H. P. Sims,et al.  Top Management Team Demography and Process: The Role of Social Integration and Communication , 1994 .

[3]  R. Beekun,et al.  Business Strategy and Interorganizational Linkages Within the Acute Care Hospital Industry: An Expansion of the Miles and Snow Typology , 1993 .

[4]  S. Shortell,et al.  Perceptual and archival measures of Miles and Snow's strategic types: a comprehensive assessment of reliability and validity. , 1990, Academy of Management journal. Academy of Management.

[5]  Patricia Pitcher,et al.  Top Management Team Heterogeneity: Personality, Power, and Proxies , 2001 .

[6]  Stephen A. Stumpf,et al.  COGNITIVE TRAILS IN STRATEGIC DECISION‐MAKING: LINKING THEORIES OF PERSONALITIES AND COGNITIONS* , 1989 .

[7]  Maria Järlström.  Personality preferences and career expectations of Finnish business students , 2000 .

[8]  Mason A. Carpenter,et al.  The Implications of Strategy and Social Context for the Relationship Between Top , 2002 .

[9]  Maria Järlström.  Organizational Employment versus Entrepreneurship: The Personality Approach to Business Students' Career Aspirations , 2002 .

[10]  P. Barwise,et al.  How Much do CEOs and Top Managers Matter in Strategic Decision-Making? , 2002 .

[11]  Cognitive styles and managerial behaviour: a qualitative study , 2008 .

[12]  William H. Glick,et al.  Cognitive diversity among upper‐echelon executives: implications for strategic decision processes , 1998 .

[13]  W. DeSarbo,et al.  Revisiting the Miles and Snow Strategic Framework: Uncovering Interrelationships between Strategic Types, Capabilities, Environmental Uncertainty, and Firm Performance , 2005 .

[14]  Abby Ghobadian,et al.  Perceptions of generic strategies of small and medium sized engineering and electronics manufacturers in the UK: The applicability of the Miles and Snow typology , 2006 .

[15]  John G. Michel,et al.  DIVERSIFICATION POSTURE AND TOP MANAGEMENT TEAM CHARACTERISTICS , 1992 .

[16]  E. Clark,et al.  Understanding Top Management and Organizational Change Through Demographic and Processual Analysis , 2007 .

[17]  J. C. Henderson,et al.  The Influence of Decision Style on Decision Making Behavior , 1980 .

[18]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning , 1994 .

[19]  Mark J. Martinko,et al.  Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to Study Managers: A Literature Review and Research Agenda , 1996 .

[20]  B. Gillham.  Research Interviewing: The Range of Techniques , 2005 .

[21]  James W. Kolari,et al.  Marketing Strategy Implications of the Miles and Snow Strategic Typology , 1987 .

[22]  Ruzita Jusoh,et al.  Competitive strategy and performance measurement in the Malaysian context , 2008 .

[23]  PitcherPatricia,et al.  Top Management Team Heterogeneity , 2001 .

[24]  M. Wiersema,et al.  Top Management Team Demography and Corporate Strategic Change , 1992 .

[25]  I. B. Myers.  Manual: A Guide to the Development and Use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator , 1985 .

[26]  Anisya S. Thomas,et al.  THE PERFORMANCE IMPACT OF STRATEGY - MANAGER COALIGNMENT: AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION , 1991 .

[27]  Donald C. Hambrick,et al.  Strategic awareness within top management teams , 1981 .

[28]  S. Jackson,et al.  Top management and innovations in banking: Does the composition of the top team make a difference? , 1989 .

[29]  Utz Schäffer,et al.  Effects of top management team characteristics on strategic decision making: Shifting attention to team member personalities and mediating processes. , 2007 .

[30]  R. Volkema.  The Influence of Cognitive-based Group Composition on Decision-making Process and Outcome , 1998 .

[31]  Mason A. Carpenter,et al.  Upper Echelons Research Revisited: Antecedents, Elements, and Consequences of Top Management Team Composition , 2004 .

[32]  Boris Kabanoff,et al.  Knowledge Structures of Prospectors, Analyzers, and Defenders: Content, Structure, Stability, and Performance , 2008 .

[33]  R. Kilmann,et al.  Towards A Systemic Methodology For Evaluating The Impact Of Interventions On Organizational Effectiveness , 1976 .

[34]  J. Motwani,et al.  Top management team and corporate performance: a study of Greek firms , 2008 .

[35]  Louis Raymond,et al.  Enabling the business strategy of SMEs through e-business capabilities: A strategic alignment perspective , 2008, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[36]  Roger L. M. Dunbar,et al.  The Effects of Personality Type on Choices Made in Strategic Decision Situations , 1991 .

[37]  Nancy H. Leonard,et al.  A Multi-Level Model of Group Cognitive Style in Strategic Decision Making , 2005 .

[38]  dt ogilvie,et al.  An Empirical Test of Cognitive Style and Strategic Decision Outcomes , 2005 .

[39]  Sumantra Ghoshal,et al.  Miles and Snow: Enduring insights for managers , 2003 .

[40]  A. Lindblom,et al.  Cognitive styles of contractually integrated retail entrepreneurs: a survey study , 2008 .

[41]  R E Miles,et al.  Organizational strategy, structure, and process. , 1978, Academy of management review. Academy of Management.

[42]  R. Hooijberg,et al.  Strategic leadership research: Moving on , 2000 .

[43]  Frank G. H. Hartmann,et al.  Management accounting systems, top management team heterogeneity and strategic change , 2007 .

[44]  The cognitive style and strategic decisions of managers , 1997 .

[45]  K. Hatten,et al.  Further evidence on the validity of the self typing paragraph approach: Miles and snow strategic , 1995 .

[46]  M. Onken,et al.  Top management team, international risk management factor and firm performance , 2006 .

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

[48]  E. Segev.  A systematic comparative analysis and synthesis of two business-level strategic typologies , 1989 .

[49]  Tiina Gallén,et al.  Managers and strategic decisions: does the cognitive style matter? , 2006 .

[50]  Theresa S. Cho,et al.  The Influence of Top Management Team Heterogeneity on Firms' Competitive Moves , 1996 .

[51]  Daniel Robey,et al.  Minds and Managers: On the Dual Nature Of Human Information Processing And Management , 1981 .

[52]  Vincent L. Barker,et al.  Top Management Team Tenure and Top Manager Causal Attributions at Declining Firms Attempting Turnarounds , 1996 .

[53]  P. Varadarajan,et al.  Strategic types, distinctive marketing competencies and organizational performance: A multiple measures‐based study , 1990 .

[54]  D. Hambrick.  Upper Echelons Theory: An Update , 2007 .

[55]  D. Hambrick,et al.  TOP EXECUTIVE COMMITMENT TO THE STATUS QUO: SOME TESTS OF ITS DETERMINANTS , 1993 .

[56]  Catherine M. Dalton,et al.  Top Management Teams, Strategy and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analytic Examination , 2006 .

[57]  D. Jennings,et al.  Designing the strategic planning process: does psychological type matter? , 2006 .

[58]  A. Rasheed,et al.  Top management team demographic characteristics, business strategy, and firm performance in the US airline industry: The role of managerial discretion , 2008 .

[59]  P. Jarzabkowski,et al.  Harnessing diversity and collective action in the top management team , 2004 .

[60]  Hema A. Krishnan,et al.  DIVERSIFICATION AND TOP MANAGEMENT TEAM COMPLEMENTARITY: IS PERFORMANCE IMPROVED BY MERGING SIMILAR OR DISSIMILAR TEAMS? , 1997 .