Fragmentation and the other Problems CEOs Have with Their Top Management Teams

See Bower J.L. , Managing the Resource Allocation Process (Boston, MA: Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, 1970); Mintzberg H. , The Nature of Managerial Work (New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1973); Kotter J.P. , The General Managers (New York, NY: Free Press, 1982); Hambrick D.C. Mason P.A. , “Upper Echelons: The Organization as a Reflection of its Top Managers,” Academy of Management Review, 9 (1984): 195–206; Eisenhardt K.M. Bourgeois L.J. , “Politics of Strategic Decision Making in High-Velocity Environments: Toward a Midrange Theory,” Academy of Management Journal, 31 (1988): 737–770.

Very little research has been done on “problem executives,” perhaps because scholars consider these to be idiosyncratic cases, not amenable to generalizable theory. An interesting paper that does address this domain is by Longenecker C.O. Gioia D.A. , “The Executive Appraisal Paradox,” Academy of Management Executive, 6/2 (1992): 18–28.

See Hambrick D.C. , “Top Management Teams: Key to Strategic Success,” California Management Review, 30 (1987): 88–108; Hurst D.K. Rush J.C. White R.E. , “Top Management Teams and Organizational Renewal,” Strategic Management Journal, 10(1989): 87–105.

Lazear E. Rosen S. , “Rank-order Tournaments as Optimum Labor Contracts,” Journal of Political Economy, 89 (1981): 841–864.

Eisenhardt Bourgeois , op. cit., present a very interesting analysis of political dynamics within TMTs.

For a discussion of TMT tensions that can arise from an impending CEO departure, sec Vancil R.F. , Passing the Baton: Managing the Process of CEO Succession (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1987).

See Janis I.L. , Victims of Groupthink (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1972).

Katzenbach J.R. Smith D.K. , The Wisdom of Teams (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1993).

Hambrick D.C. , “Top Management Groups: A Conceptual Integration and Reconsideration of the ‘Team’ Label,” in Staw B.M. Cummings L.L. , eds., Research in Organizational Behavior, Volume 16 (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1994), pp. 171–213. This paper presents a more complete discussion of behavioral integration.

Pitts R.A. , “Toward a Contingency Theory of Multibusiness Organization Design,” Academy of Management Review, 5 (1980): 203–210; Michel J. Hambrick D.C. , “Diversification Posture and Top Management Team Characteristics,” Academy of Management Journal, 35 (1992): 9–37.

Miles R.E. Snow C.C. , Organizational Strategy, Structure and Process (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1978).

Virany B. Tushman M. Romanelli E. , “Executive Succession and Organization Outcomes in Turbulent Environments: An Organization Learning Approach,” Organization Science, 3 (1992): 72–91.

See Gabarro J.J. , The Dynamics of Taking Charge (Boston. MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1987). Also, Hambrick D.C. Fukutomi G.D.S. , “The Seasons of a CEO's Tenure,” Academy of Management Review, 16 (1991): 719–742.

See Gersick C.J.G. , “Marking Time: Predictable Transitions in Task Groups,” Academy of Management Journal, 32 (1989): 274–309.

As noted, the tenure of a CEO does not necessarily correspond with the tenures of other team members, although from abundant research, we know a great deal of executive turnover occurs in the first two years of a CEO's tenure. See Helmich D.L. Brown W.B. , “Succession Type and Organizational Change in the Corporate Enterprise,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 17 (1972): 371–381; Gabarro , op. cit. In the companies studied, there was a strong association between CEO tenure and TMT (excluding the CEO) tenure. Data grouped by CEO tenure reveal these patterns: CEO's Year of TenureNumber of CasesMean Characteristics of Teams Mean TenureStandard Deviation of TenureCoefficient of Variation in Tenure 1-274.56.41.42 3-456.46.71.05 5-646.86.91.01 667.57.2.96 Again, this pattern probably reflects the general tendency toward executive turnover early in a CEO's tenure, although I did not collect data on prior inflows and outflows of executives.

Katz R. , “The Effects of Group Longevity on Communication and Performance,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 27 (1982): 81–104.

Hambrick (1994), op. cit.

Virany , op. cit.; Wagner G.L. Pfeffer J. O'Reilly C.A. , “Organizational Demography and Turnover in Top Management Groups,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 29 (1984): 74–92; Keck S. Tushman M.L. , “Environmental and Organizational Context and Executive Team Structure,” Academy of Management Journal, 36 (1993): 1314–1344; Michel Hambrick , op. cit.

Finkelstein S. Hambrick D.C. , “Top-Management-Team Tenure and Organizational Outcomes: The Moderating Role of Managerial Discretion,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 35 (1990): 484–503; Weirsema M.F. Bantel K.A. , “TMT Demography and Corporate Strategic Change”, Academy of Management Journal, 35 (1992): 91–121.

Katzenbach Smith , op. cit.

Tichy N.M. Sherman S. , Control Your Destiny Or Someone Else Will (New York, NY: Currency Doubleday, 1993).

Witherspoon P.D. , Within These Walls: A Study of Communication Between Presidents and Their Senior Staffs (New York, NY: Praeger, 1991).

Ibid.

Tichy Sherman , op. cit.