Perceived Influence and Friendship as Antecedents of Cooperation in Top Management Teams: A Network Approach

Abstract

Using the relational dyad as unit of analysis this study examines the effects of perceived influence and friendship ties on the formation and maintenance of cooperative relationships between corporate top executives. Specifically, it is argued that perceived influence as well as friendship ties between any two managers will enhance the likelihood that these managers collaborate with each other. Additionally, a negative interaction effect between perceived influence and friendship on cooperation is proposed. The empirical analyses draw on network data that have been collected among all members of the top two organizational levels for the strategy-making process in two multinational firms headquartered in Germany. Applying logistic regression based on QAP the empirical results support our hypotheses on the direct effects between perceived influence, friendship ties, and cooperative relationships in both companies. In addition, we find at least partial support for our assumption that perceived influence and friendship interact negatively with respect to their effect on cooperation. Seemingly, perceived influence is partially substituted by managerial friendship ties.

Hanging Together, Together Hung? Career Implications of Interpersonal Ties Between CEOs and Top Managers

“…Drawing on the literature on the importance of social networks, in particular in TMTs (Cao, Maruping, and Takeuchi 2006;Collins and Clark 2003;Nahapiet and Ghoshal 1998;Rank and Tuschke 2010), we argued that under normal conditions, managers glean special protection and other benefits from a strong relationship with the CEO of their firm. Therefore, strong interpersonal ties increase the likelihood that individual TMT members stay in office.…”

“…From this perspective, close interpersonal ties between the CEO and other TMT members may facilitate collusion and weaken the mechanisms for mutual control among agents (Daily and Schwenk 1996;Ocasio 1994). Interpersonal ties may also make managers less able or inclined to assess proposals for strategic actions, investments, and the like from different, independent perspectives (Rank and Tuschke 2010;Wiersema and Bantel 1992). Overall, principal-agent theory takes a skeptical perspective on the benefits of interpersonal ties among managers.…”

O papel das redes sociais no processo de aprendizagem organizacional: um estudo de caso em sucursal de banco português

“…Para Rank & Tuschke (2010), os gestores, na exigência quotidiana de cumprirem as suas funções complexas, procuram colegas em todos os níveis hierárquicos a quem possam prestar determinados benefícios, tais como: aconselhamento, informação e apoio. Em concreto, argumenta-se que a influência percebida, bem como os laços de amizade entre dois gestores aumentará a probabilidade de eles colaborarem entre si.…”

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“…Na literatura de redes sociais, a amizade assume ter efeitos positivos sobre a inserção dos intervenientes em redes de aconselhamento, especialmente quando existe incerteza nos membros organizacionais (Rank & Tuschke, 2010). Aliás, Uzzi (1996) enfatizou os efeitos positivos que os laços de amizade podem ter na resolução conjunta de problemas.…”

“…A amizade tem sido considerada em vários estudos de redes organizacionais (e.g., Brass, 1984;Kilduff, 1992;Kilduff & Krackhardt, 1994;Mehra, Kilduff & Brass 2001;Rank & Tuschke, 2010) como uma dimensão que é definida como vínculos pessoais entre os gestores e que consiste em atividades conjuntas que não estão relacionadas com as suas atribuições normais relacionadas com o trabalho, i.e., a socialização fora do trabalho, os convites e visitas de casa. A amizade aumenta os comportamentos de procura de aconselhamento dos gestores (Westphal, 1999), como consequência, os laços de amizade entre os executivos podem promover a eficácia do processo de formulação deestratégias.…”