Top Management Team Composition And Views Of Viable Strategies

Organizational behavior-II Article Summary

Submitted By: M Vamshi Krishna,No.11135,Section-A
Research question: 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.
Importance of this research: For the top management teams, the results of this study
emphasize the importance of knowing the cognitive composition of the top management
team and especially taking it into consideration during strategic decision-making.
Summary:
According to Kilmann and Herden, they may fail to take environmental changes into
account in strategy formulation, in a similar way that a reactor strategy may be a result
of a failure to take environmental changes into consideration.According to Gallen,
sensing-feeling type managers may view a reactor strategy as a viable future strategy
more often than other managers.Based on the study of the relationship between the
cognitive styles and strategy types, a manager's type of perception was found to
inuence his or her view of viable future strategy.Intuitive managers were found to
prefer analyzer or prospector strategies and sensing types, analyzer or defender
strategies.TMT composition 329 TPM 15,7/8 330 TMTs and strategies Previous studies
of TMTs and strategy Since Hambrick and Mason presented the upper echelons
perspective, numerous studies have concentrated on the relationship between the top
management team and strategic issues.TMT composition 331 Cognitive composition of
the TMTs and the strategy types Hurst et al.Intuitive managers in particular have been
found to prefer an analyzer or a prospector strategy and sensing managers an analyzer
or a defender strategy.When we combine the cognitive composition of the TMT and
strategy, it is essential to clarify what we mean by the TMT and how we dene its
cognitive style.Most of the TMTs chose an analyzer strategy as being the most viable
future strategy for a company in the spa industry.Only two TMTs chose a defender
strategy and one chose a prospector strategy.
Finally, TMTs led by older CEOs chose an analyzer or a defender strategy but not a
prospector strategy.At the team level out of seven sensing-thinking teams chose an
analyzer strategy and two of them chose a defender strategy.To evaluate some of the
results of the earlier studies the paper uses information drawn from ten cases, and then
presents propositions about the relationship between the TMT's cognitive composition
and preferred strategy types according to the Miles and Snow typology.Two of the ten
teams chose a defender strategy and a prospector strategy was preferred by one
team.Neither the average age of the TMT, nor the age of the CEO nor the level of
education seemed to be promising factors in analyzing the relationship between the
composition of the TMT and the view of viable future strategy.