Management Team Composition Research Articles

УПРАВЛЕНИЕ КОМАНДОЙ ВНУТРИКОРПОРАТИВНОГО СТАРТАПА: ПРОЦЕССНОЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ДИНАМИКИ РАЗВИТИЯ

Innovative development of the Russian economy is impossible without increasing the efficiency of small innovative enterprises (startups), including those created within companies. The problems of managing internal startups and especially startup teams have been relatively poorly studied by modern science. The high dynamics of startups causes high variability and intensive transformations in team management practices. To create a highper formance startup team, it is necessary to understand the internal logic of change in the parameters of teams and team management. The article studies the dynamics of changes in team characteristics and team management within the startup development process. The research methodology is based on process research and case studies. The work investigates the dynamics of the startup team a cloud gaming service. The startup was organized within one company but was then sold to a large IT corporation. The article examines certain characteristics of the team in their development including management methodologies, team composition, communications, culture, motivation, operational and strategic planning pro cedures.

Research on the Impact of Executive Characteristics on Enterprise Digital Transformation：Moderating Effects Based on the Level of Enterprise Risk-taking

Using a sample of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2013 to 2019 and based on upper echelons theory, this paper explores the impact of executives' overseas background, academic background and financial background on enterprise digital transformation, and also examines the moderating effects of enterprise risk-taking. It finds that executives' overseas background, academic background and financial background are all positively associated with enterprise digital transformation. Furthermore, enterprise risk-taking can enhance the positive relationship between executives' overseas background, academic background and enterprise digital transformation, but weaken the positive impact of executives' financial background on enterprise digital transformation. These findings possess theoretical significance in enriching studies in related domains, so as to offer important practical insights into optimizing top management team composition and facilitating the digital transformation of companies.

The firm is dead; long live the firm: Classifying firm survival after mergers and acquisitions

AbstractIdentifying the surviving firms following mergers and acquisitions (M&A) presents challenges in organizational research. The paper offers a solution to this issue by examining prior research on M&A and firm survival to identify three empirically‐relevant criteria—strategic intent, corporate name retention, and top management team composition—and integrate them into a process‐driven typology of firm survival following M&A. To demonstrate the utility of this method, we apply this typology to an industry rich with M&A activity: the United States telecommunications industry.

Sustaining Higher Education Institutions: Enhancing School Climate, Leadership, and Faculty-Efficacy

The study sought to analyze school climate, leadership, and faculty efficacy towards sustaining effectiveness in the private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the City of Meycauayan, Bulacan for the School Year 2015-2016 using descriptive methods and questionnaires as specific techniques. The study was geared to describe the school climate of the HEIs as perceived by the faculty and school heads. It investigated the leadership of the heads in terms of School Management Team (SMT) composition, significant responsibility, and involvement in school tasks. It was undertaken to find out the faculty’s efficacy level in student engagement, classroom management, and instructional practice. It intended to explore the significant difference between the perceptions of school heads and faculty in school climate as to school staff’s relationship, capacity to provide quality instruction and school climate issues. Major findings revealed that HEIs fostered good relationship status. Heads and the faculty perceived that HEIs’ capacity in providing quality instruction is only “moderately good.” The findings showed that HEIs utilized SMT composition and a School Governing Board (SGB). Heads’ major tasks include determining course content both national and regional curricula, appointing, or hiring teachers, and establishing student disciplinary policies and procedures. Heads allocated most of their time to administrative duties, like curriculum and teaching-related tasks while the least of their time was spent on interactions with students, parents, and local, regional, and business industries. On faculty efficacy, the data confirmed that teachers were “highly efficacious” in student engagement and “very highly efficacious” in instructional practice and classroom management. The perceptions of the heads and faculty on the school climate as to relationships among school staff do not differ significantly. In contrast, the perceptions of heads and faculty differ significantly on the school climate in terms of the school’s capacity to provide quality instruction and school climate issues. Keywords: perceptions, climate, efficacy, leadership, school effectiveness

Do top management team diversity and chief sustainability officer make firms greener? Moderating role of top management team behavioral integration

AbstractAchieving green innovation goals is a challenging task. Several scholars have tried to explore the important determinants of green innovation; however, this concept needs further exploration from the corporate governance perspective. Hence, this study aims at determining the role of a firm's top management team (TMT) composition regarding green innovation. Specifically, we explore the impact of TMT diversity and the presence of a chief sustainability officer (CSO) on green innovation with moderating role of TMT behavioral integration. Data was collected from the hotels' top management in Pakistan. The findings reveal that TMT diversity, CSO, and TMT behavioral integration positively impact green innovation. However, the impact of TMT diversity on green innovation will be stronger with TMT behavioral integration. This study adds value to the upper echelon theory and the literature on green innovation. That is followed by the managerial implications.

Women in top management teams and their impact on innovation

In this study, we integrate insights from the literature on top management team (TMT) composition, gender diversity, and cumulative innovation, and examine how TMT gender diversity (or women in TMTs) impacts firm innovation. We analyze a panel of U.S. firms over the period 2005–2019, exploiting U.S. state-level variation in support policies protecting the rights of female workers. We find that greater TMT gender diversity increases the number of innovations but decreases their impact. Furthermore, greater TMT gender diversity narrows the breadth of search (search becomes more local). We illuminate the multifaceted innovation outcomes of gender-diverse TMTs and highlight the risk-reducing effects of female TMT members in innovation contexts. Our study provides opportune innovation insights that are much needed in the current era, with the increasing presence of female executives in TMTs.

The Impact of Top Management Team Composition on Product Recall Risk

Removing faulty products from the market can have major financial and non-financial damages for firms. Nevertheless, it is still unknown how firms can prevent such product recalls. Drawing on the upper echelons theory, stating that firm outcomes are reflections of its top executives, our study examines the impact of top management team composition on the risk of a firm having a product recall for medical devices. Analyzing a large longitudinal dataset of S&P 500 firms, our results indicate that firms have a reduced risk to have a product recall if they have a senior executive that is responsible for operations, i.e., chief operations officer (COO), and increased risk if they have a senior executive responsible for innovation, i.e., chief technology officer (CTO). In addition, we show that the risk of a product recall decreases even further when the COO has a long tenure with the firm. Our findings contribute to theory and practice in several ways: Theoretically, we advance the product recall literature by giving insights about the importance of top management team composition for the likelihood for firms to experience product recalls. Furthermore, we contribute to upper echelons research by showing that functional managers can influence non-financial outcomes. For practitioners, we advance the understanding of the reasons for product recalls and possible prevention strategies.

Human Resources in Start-Ups: Expert Interviews with Managers on the Transition of Start-Ups from Academic to Private

This study investigates the changes in team composition in four academic high-tech start-ups and spin-offs. These companies were initiated on academic grounds and had to undergo transition in order to act as private companies. For human resources of all kinds this goes along with a change in the requirements of their skills and their work. This pilot study focused on four high-tech start-ups from Germany and Slovakia that are active and still in transition in the year 2021. Data was obtained with qualitative research methods from managers that were in charge during the transition of the company. During expert interviews, the researchers used semi-structured questionnaires in order to gather data from the managers on particular aspects of spin-off team member skills and requirements. The qualitative results obtained from the managers were compared, showing that with fundamental changes in the business objectives of the company the required management skills and team composition changes from an academic skills portfolio towards a private-sector portfolio. Likewise, a change in the human resource hiring strategy of the spin-offs was found in that stage. However, research also showed that spin-offs seem to undergo two transition phases during their way from an academic research group towards a company based on free market principles.

Attracting talent through diversity at the top: The impact of TMT diversity and firms' efforts to promote diversity on employer attractiveness

At a time where firms encounter a “race for talent”, it is crucial for many MNCs to present themselves as attractive employers. Failing to position themselves in the international labor market can reduce firms' ability to acquire valuable international human capital, thereby generating disadvantageous organizational effects. Against this backdrop, drawing on signaling theory and employer branding literature, our paper aims to shed light on the association between nationality diversity in the executive suite and MNCs' employer attractiveness. Our lines of argument build on the notion that top management team composition can affect MNCs' efforts to promote diversity among their employees. This focus on diversity, in turn, can affect MNCs' employer attractiveness. Examining firms from various European countries, we find that top management team nationality diversity is positively associated with firms' employer attractiveness for foreign job seekers. We also show that a firm's efforts to promote diversity mediate the relationship between TMT nationality diversity and employer attractiveness. We therefore advance the academic debate on diversity as an employer branding tool and a means to enhance employer attractiveness. In practical terms, we also provide valuable insights for firms wishing to transform into (more) diverse entities.

The Impact of Human Critical Success Factor on ERP System Implementation

<p><em>Many researchers have investigated the critical success factors in ERP system implementation. The previous study has examined four primary human critical success factors (competence, behavior, team composition, and communication) and based on study literature performed by the author, there were many studies found that top management support also has crucial role in ERP implementation. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of top management support, competence, behavior, team composition, and communication in ERP implementation.</em><em>This study was conducted in three stages. First, review sources and scientific literature relevant to this research. Second, analyze the findings and recommendations of previous research to determine the component of variable x. Third, conduct research using a quantitative approach through a questionnaire survey. </em><em>Questionnaires were distributed to employees from various company that involved directly in ERP implementation. </em><em>This study found that all five variables positively correlated to project success and only team composition variable that significantly positively correlated to project success. This study offers ERP project managers the crucial factors needed to be concerned for the project success.</em></p><p><strong><em>Keywords: </em></strong><em>ERP, Human Critical Success Factors.</em></p><p><em><br /></em></p>

Sustaining Higher Education Institutions: Enhancing School Climate, Leadership and Faculty-Efficacy

The study sought to analyze school climate, leadership, and faculty-efficacy towards sustaining effectiveness in the private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the City of Meycauayan, Bulacan for the School Year 2015-2016 using descriptive method and questionnaires as specific techniques.The study was geared to describe the school climate of the HEIs as perceived by the faculty and school heads. It investigated the leadership of the heads in terms of School Management Team (SMT) composition, significant responsibility, and involvement in school tasks. It was undertaken to find out the faculty’s efficacy level in student engagement, classroom management, and instructional practice. It intended to explore the significant difference between the perceptions of school heads and faculty in school climate as to school staff’s relationship, capacity to provide quality instruction, and school climate issues. Major findings revealed that HEIs fostered good relationship status. Heads and the faculty perceived that HEIs’ capacity in providing quality instruction is only “moderately good.” The findings showed that HEIs utilized SMT composition and a School Governing Board (SGB). Heads’ major tasks include determining course content both national and regional curricula, appointing, or hiring teacher, and establishing student disciplinary policies and procedures. Heads allocated most of their time in administrative duties, like curriculum and teaching-related tasks while least of their time was spent on interactions with students, parents, local, regional, and business industries. On faculty-efficacy, the data confirmed that teachers were “highly efficacious” in student engagement and “very highly efficacious” in instructional practice and classroom management. The perceptions of the heads and faculty on school climate as to relationships among school staff do not differ significantly. In contrast, the perceptions of heads and faculty differ significantly on the school climate in terms of school’s capacity to provide quality instruction school climate issues.

Inclusiveness in the Top Management Team: Facilitation or Obstruction to Enterprise Performance?

In recent years, with the deepening of Chinese enterprises’ participation in the global value chain, their top management teams pay more and more attention to improving their own diversification level. The number of executives with foreign nationalities and overseas study experiences in the top management team of listed companies is increasing. This is not only related to the pressure of institutional legitimacy faced by Chinese enterprises entering other countries, but also an important way for enterprises to obtain diversified knowledge and experience of other countries. Inclusiveness in the top management team is a follow-up study based on the diversity and heterogeneity of top management team composition, which provides a deeper explanation for the internal mechanism of strategic decision-making and formulation of diversified teams. However, heterogeneity is still the dimension of considering the characteristics of the top management team, and it does not involve the psychological or cultural categories such as team atmosphere, which is an important defect for the Chinese situation that emphasizes Confucian culture. Therefore, in the context of western scholars trying to expand the research of diversity management by introducing inclusiveness, Chinese scholars are also actively introducing inclusiveness into the field of organizational research. Most of the existing studies use methods such as questionnaire survey, which restricts the research on the samples of the top management team of listed companies. By constructing a variable that can reflect the inclusiveness in the top management team, this paper uses the second-hand data based on the annual reports of listed companies to measure the level of inclusiveness in the top management team, which provides a useful exploration for the research of inclusiveness in the top management team of listed companies, and finds the nonlinear influence（U-shaped relationship）of inclusiveness in the top management team on organizational performance, which means that there is a so-called “inclusiveness trap” in the top management team. Only when the top management team continues to increase the degree of inclusiveness and cross the trap, can it promote enterprise performance to rise. This paper expands the understanding of the relationship between inclusiveness in the top management team and organizational performance, and analyzes the two possible mechanisms of this phenomenon, so as to deepen the practical significance of relevant research. It also suggests that Chinese enterprises in the process of internationalization should strengthen their confidence and make efforts to push forward when their performance inevitably declines due to the improvement of inclusiveness. After crossing the “inclusiveness trap”, a win-win situation of both inclusiveness and enterprise performance is forthcoming.

Does TMT composition matter to environmental policy and firm performance? The role of organizational slack

AbstractThis study examines the relationship between the heterogeneity of top management team (TMT) composition and firm performance by focusing on the mediating role of environmental policy: a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission strategy. Organizational slack is viewed as a moderating variable that influences the above mediated relationship. Based on data from Taiwanese public firms with CSR reports, it is found that TMT educational background heterogeneity and tenure heterogeneity negatively influence firm performance, and the GHG emission strategy mediates this relationship. Moreover, this study finds that unabsorbed slack significantly strengthens the influence of TMT educational background heterogeneity on the GHG emission strategy, and unabsorbed slack also moderates the mediation effect of the GHG emission strategy on the relationship between TMT educational background heterogeneity and firm performance. The theoretical and managerial implications of the results are discussed in the discussion section and conclusions of the study.

Digital Transformation Through Exploratory and Exploitative Internet of Things Innovations: The Impact of Family Management and Technological Diversification*

This study examines the impact of family management on digital transformation with specific regard to the firm’s development of Internet of Things (IoT) innovations. Drawing on the distinctive characteristics of firms with family managers, such as the focus on family‐centered noneconomic goals, long tenure, emotional ties to existing assets, and rigid mental models, it hypothesizes that increasing family involvement in the top management team is negatively related to the development of IoT innovations that are distant from a firm’s existing technology base (i.e., exploratory IoT innovations) compared to exploitative IoT innovations. Further, the study proposes that the firm’s degree of technological diversification, especially in unrelated forms, reinforces this relationship. The longitudinal analysis between 2002 and 2013 on a sample of publicly traded German firms allows us to test our hypotheses from the beginning of the emergence of the IoT concept. Our findings show that due to the particular characteristics of their managers, family‐managed firms do not welcome the risks related to exploratory IoT innovations, and the benefit of risk diversification from technological diversification is lower than the cost of abandoning family‐centered goals. As our results imply that the involvement of family managers constrains the development of exploratory IoT innovation, the top management team composition in firms that intend to be at the forefront of the digital transformation should be accurately designed by avoiding a high proportion of family members.

Leadership Style and Gender: A Study of Spanish Cooperatives

The growing global need for social cohesion and sustainable development gives visibility to cooperatives because their principles help to achieve these objectives and the adoption of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Among them, gender equality policies are in the forefront. This paper explains how cooperatives contribute to women’s professional opportunities and to balancing the presence of women in management positions. It analyzes the predominant leadership styles and gender differences in cooperatives with a sample of 114 cooperative firms. The results show that: (a) Both transformational and transactional leadership styles are widely used; (b) no significant differences in leadership styles between men and women exist; and (c) the composition of management teams results in significant leadership style differences. The transformational style is less often used in mixed teams with a male majority and a woman president, and most often used in homogeneous teams (made up of only men or only women). Transactional leadership is more frequently implemented in teams made up only of women than in mixed masculine teams with a female president. These findings identify women’s leadership styles in cooperatives, pointing out their difficulties and introducing innovative proposals for contributing to their success and the achievement of SDGs in cooperatives.

Management Accounting Systems, Top Management Teams, and Sustainable Knowledge Acquisition: Effects on Performance

Organizations are increasingly aware of the importance of managing the acquisition processes of new and sustainable knowledge, which allows them to increase performance. These knowledge-acquisition processes require top management teams to focus on the external environment to search for sustainable opportunities and initiatives. This spurs top teams to make strategic decisions that require more comprehensive managerial information, which is provided by management accounting systems. Our research analyzes how top management team composition facilitates the acquisition of new knowledge. Our management accounting paper also analyzes the mediating effect of the interactive use of management accounting systems (MASs) and their impact on sustainable firm performance. A survey was conducted among the main manufacturer firms in the Republic of Ecuador. Results were analyzed by using the partial least squares methodology, and they showed a positive effect for the interactive use of management accounting systems on sustainable knowledge-acquisition processes. Results also showed that knowledge acquisition increased firm performance through an interactive use of MASs.

A meta-analytic examination of the relationship between family firm generational involvement and performance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between family firm generational involvement and performance. Although researchers have studied this relationship extensively, a complete understanding of its true magnitude and sign is still lacking.Design/methodology/approachThis meta-analysis sheds new light on this relationship, integrating the findings of 43 studies with 51 independent samples and 18,802 family firms.FindingsThe results reveal a small and negative relationship indicating that later-generation family firms perform worse compared to first-generation ones. The authors also show that the relationship is stronger for younger than older and for private than public firms. Finally, the measurements of both variables influence the relationship yielding critical research implications.Research limitations/implicationsThis study suggests that future researchers examining the effects of generational involvement on family firm performance should conduct their analysis using multiple measures of both variables to ensure the accuracy of their results. It also highlights the need of family business scholars to converge to the use of a universal family firm definition, as findings differ significantly in strength and direction depending on which definition is used.Practical implicationsFrom a practitioners’ perspective, the findings imply that owners of young and private family firms should consider professionalizing and adopting a balanced top management team composition consisting of both family and non-family members as a way to mitigate the negative effects of “familiness” on performance.Originality/valueThis study empirically demonstrates the importance of adopting a generational perspective when examining differences in family firm performance.

Top Management Team Composition and New Ventures’ IPO Performance: A Fuzzy Set Approach

Prior research on the relationship between top management team (TMT) composition and firm performance has not been able to fully capture the joint influence of simultanously present TMT characteris...

Female CEOs and Top Management Team Composition: A Quasi-Experiment of the One-Child Policy in China

Does the presence of a female CEO facilitate or impede the promotion of other women into top management team? To address this theoretical puzzle, we apply a quasi-experiment design by using the one-child policy in China as an external shock to compare two birth cohorts of CEOs who were born before and after the implementation year. Results show that in general, female CEOs have a female preference in selecting and hiring members in TMT compared to their male counterparts. But this preference decreases dramatically after the implementation of the one-child policy. This study contributes to the literature on the antecedents of TMT composition and the effects of female CEOs. Furthermore, we emphasize and call attention to the importance of social contexts when discussing issues on TMT composition.

Configurations of home-country experience, leapfrog strategy, and management team composition for acceleration of international expansion: Evidence from Asian multinational enterprises

Asian multinational enterprises (MNEs) are latecomers in the world economy, but some have accelerated their international expansion pace and become significant players in the twenty-first century globalization. This study adopts the set-theoretic approach to explain the acceleration of international expansion among latecomer MNEs. Specifically, this study explores configurations of home-country experience, leapfrog strategy, and management team composition that contribute to some latecomer MNEs’ high acceleration of international expansion. The results suggest seven applicable configurations, reflecting three archetypes of latecomer MNEs that achieve high acceleration of international expansion. We named the three archetypes by employing metaphors of fast-moving animals: (1) newborn tigers, (2) safari lions, and (3) savannah cheetahs, which represent distinctive sub-breeds of latecomer MNEs in the new zoology of the present globalized world. The results offer unique insights into theoretical debates regarding the sufficiency of conventional international business theories for explaining the international expansion of latecomer MNEs.