Making Use of Difference: Diversity, Debate, and Decision Comprehensiveness in Top Management Teams

Simons, Tony; Pelled, Lisa Hope; Smith, Kenneth

doi:10.5465/256987

Cited by 459 publications

(709 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

664

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Overall, our results show that: (i) Board performance in both control and advisory tasks predict firm financial performance measured as Return On Assets in year t þ 1; and (ii) the positive effects of board task performance (both control and advice) remain significant even after introducing board processes in the regression equations 2 . Overall, these results provide evidence that there is a relationship between self-reported performance measures of board tasks and firm performance, and that this relationship is robust (Simons, Pelled, & Smith, 1999). The different sets of regressions above provide support for hypotheses 1 and 3, respectively, on effort norms and the use of knowledge and skills, while they do not provide supporting evidence for Hypothesis 2.…”

Section: Validity Of Measuresmentioning

confidence: 71%

Board task performance: An exploration of micro‐ and macro‐level determinants of board effectiveness

et al. 2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper addresses recent calls to narrow the micro–macro gap in management research (Bamberger, 2008), by incorporating a macro-level context variable (country) in exploring micro-level determinants of board effectiveness. Following the integrated model proposed by Forbes and Milliken (1999), we identify three board processes as micro-level determinants of board effectiveness. Specifically, we focus on effort norms, cognitive conflicts and the use of knowledge and skills as determinants of board control and advisory task performance. Further, we consider how two different institutional settings influence board tasks, and how the context moderates the relationship between processes and tasks. Our hypotheses are tested on a survey-based dataset of 535 medium-sized and large industrial firms in Italy and Norway, which are considered to substantially differ along legal and cultural dimensions. The findings show that: (i) Board processes have a larger potential than demographic variables to explain board task performance; (ii) board task performance differs significantly between boards operating in different contexts; and (iii) national context moderates the relationships between board processes and board task performance. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

show abstract

Section: Validity Of Measuresmentioning

confidence: 71%

Board task performance: An exploration of micro‐ and macro‐level determinants of board effectiveness

et al. 2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition, processes act as mediators of the relationship between team diversity and performance in seven of the reviewed studies on TMT heterogeneity. For instance, debate was discovered to mediate the interactive effects of diversity and decision comprehensiveness (Simons et al 1999). Similarly, collaborative effort was identified to mediate the link between TMT diversity and decision quality, while consensus among group members on organizational goals was found to be a moderator in this relationship (Michie et al 2002).…”

Section: Team Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Top Management Team Diversity: A Review of Theories and Methodologies

Nielsen

2010

Int J Management Reviews

331

274

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper reviews empirical research on top management team (TMT) diversity. A number of scholars have concluded that upper echelons findings, in particular in terms of the consequences of TMT heterogeneity, have been inconclusive. This review conducts an in-depth analysis of conceptual and methodological issues related to upper echelons diversity studies and offers some directions for future research. Sixty journal articles, published in ten top international journals over a 22-year period (1984-2005), were analyzed. The results suggest that upper echelons research is increasingly multidisciplinary in nature; however, in-depth inquiries into the antecedents of TMT composition and the multilevel contextual influences on the implications of TMT heterogeneity are still needed. This review finds that clarity about level of analysis, both theoretically and empirically, remains an important issue in the field and thus a multilevel approach is strongly encouraged. Moreover, the complexity of diversity as a theoretical construct needs to be acknowledged and operationalized accordingly in upper echelons studies.

show abstract

“…In addition to a lack of decision speed, a second causal argument against consensus orientation is that it tends to restrict diversity of thought and the discovery of novel solutions (Hambrick & Chen, 1996;Hoffman & Maier, 1961). In dynamic and change-driven settings, however, considering a broader set of issues and alternatives tends to enhance decision quality (Amason, 1996) and firm performance (Bourgeois, 1985;Simons, Pelled, & Smith, 1999).…”

Section: Turnaround Strategies In Established Small Family Firmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turnaround Strategies in Established Small Family Firms

Cater

Schwab

2008

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study employs a case-study approach to identify unique characteristics of established small family firms that affect their ability to initiate turnaround strategies when encountering an organizational crisis. In our case studies, we found evidence for family firms employing the standard strategies of top-management changes, infusion of external management expertise, and retrenchment that have been proposed in the general turnaround literature. The implementation of these strategies was, however, moderated by eight characteristics generally associated with family firms, including strong ties to the family firm, internal orientation, altruistic motives, and long-term goal orientation. The introduced framework contributes to a more fine-grained understanding of the turnaround challenges of established family firms and how they can be addressed. This is a topic of substantial practitioner interest considering the high failure rates of family firms.

show abstract

Making Use of Difference: Diversity, Debate, and Decision Comprehensiveness in Top Management Teams

Cited by 459 publications

References 32 publications

Board task performance: An exploration of micro‐ and macro‐level determinants of board effectiveness

Board task performance: An exploration of micro‐ and macro‐level determinants of board effectiveness

Top Management Team Diversity: A Review of Theories and Methodologies

Turnaround Strategies in Established Small Family Firms

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About