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  • 1.  Ineffective Top Management Teams

    Posted 01-05-2010 13:49
    Hello All and Happy New Year,

    A friend of mine who is working in a large corporation has asked me:

    "
    I need some guidance and advise on how to reach out the articles and research on a topic related to leadership models for senior teams.
     
    The issue is that the group that I am supporting right now has an ineffective leadership team - where the senior leaders work in silos, do not cooperate, do not teamwork and see the big picture. I would like to come up with some ideas and approaches to help make them more effective and cooperate, and am currently looking for some benchmarks, case sudies, or key research that you have come across with or potentially recommend."

    I would truly appreciate your suggestions.

    Best of all,
    Golchehreh


    Golchehreh Sohrab

    PhD Candidate, Organization Studies
    Schulich School of Business, York University
    Phone: 416-736-2100 Ext.20265
    E-mail: gsohrab07@schulich.yorku.ca




     

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  • 2.  Ineffective Top Management Teams

    Posted 01-05-2010 18:39

    Fixing something like this is the responsibility of the top leader who seems to be not doing his job--needs regular meetings, information sharing and adding the latter to the PA system. E.



    Edwin A. Locke

    Dean's Professor of Leadership and Motivation (Emeritus)
    Robert H. Smith School of Business
    32122 Canyon Ridge Drive
    Westlake Village, CA 91361
    818 706 9361 (in CA) TEL
    same FAX

    elocke@rhsmith.umd.edu
    http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu
    http://edwinlocke.com
    Golchehreh Sohrab <gsohrab07@SCHULICH.YORKU.CA>



    To

    OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU

    cc


    Subject

    [OB-LIST] Ineffective Top Management Teams

    Hello All and Happy New Year,

    A friend of mine who is working in a large corporation has asked me:

    "
    I need some guidance and advise on how to reach out the articles and research on a topic related to leadership models for senior teams.

    The issue is that the group that I am supporting right now has an ineffective leadership team - where the senior leaders work in silos, do not cooperate, do not teamwork and see the big picture. I would like to come up with some ideas and approaches to help make them more effective and cooperate, and am currently looking for some benchmarks, case sudies, or key research that you have come across with or potentially recommend."

    I would truly appreciate your suggestions.

    Best of all,
    Golchehreh


    Golchehreh Sohrab
    PhD Candidate, Organization Studies
    Schulich School of Business, York University
    Phone: 416-736-2100 Ext.20265
    E-mail: gsohrab07@schulich.yorku.ca



    Disclaimer: This email and any files transmitted with it are private and confidential
    and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
    If you are not the addressee, you are not authorized to copy or use the information or
    to place any reliance upon it, nor should you copy it or show it to anyone.
    If you have received this email in error, please notify
    postmaster@schulich.yorku.ca

    Schulich School of Business, York University




  • 3.  Ineffective Top Management Teams

    Posted 01-05-2010 21:53
    I have been doing some research on Top Management Teams as part of my PhD dissertation.  I am not aware of any benchmarks or case studies but some relevant research you may want to consider...  Hambrick, D. C. (1995). "Fragmentation and the other problems CEO's have with their top management teams." California Management Review 37(3): 110-127.  Hambrick, D. C. (1997). "Corporate coherence and the top management team." Strategy & Leadership 25(2): 24-29.  Hambrick, D. C. and R. D'Aveni (1988). "Large corporate failures and downward spirals." Administrative Science Quarterly 33(1): 1-23.  There are quite a few research articles by Hambrick, Finklestein and others.     A few more practitioner-oriented resources to consider:  Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't. New York, NY, HarperCollins Publishers.  Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass.   I am working on this PhD late in life   Professionally, I work on organizational turnarounds...operational improvements for organizations in distress...mostly in complex not-for-profit organizations.  In these organizations the silo effect is common.  If it is at the senior management team you need to at least consider the CEO or the Board as causing or facilitating this behavior. _____  John J. Schibler 194 Summit View Lane Wickford, RI  02852 jjschibler@me.com    On Tuesday, January 05, 2010, at 01:48PM, "Golchehreh Sohrab" <gsohrab07@SCHULICH.YORKU.CA> wrote: >
    Hello All and Happy New Year,

    A friend of mine who is working in a large corporation has asked me:

    "
    I need some guidance and advise on how to reach out the articles and research on a topic related to leadership models for senior teams.
     
    The issue is that the group that I am supporting right now has an ineffective leadership team - where the senior leaders work in silos, do not cooperate, do not teamwork and see the big picture. I would like to come up with some ideas and approaches to help make them more effective and cooperate, and am currently looking for some benchmarks, case sudies, or key research that you have come across with or potentially recommend."

    I would truly appreciate your suggestions.

    Best of all,
    Golchehreh


    Golchehreh Sohrab

    PhD Candidate, Organization Studies
    Schulich School of Business, York University
    Phone: 416-736-2100 Ext.20265
    E-mail: gsohrab07@schulich.yorku.ca




     

     Disclaimer: This email and any files transmitted with it are private and confidential
    and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
    If you are not the addressee, you are not authorized to copy or use the information or
    to place any reliance upon it, nor should you copy it or show it to anyone.
    If you have received this email in error, please notify postmaster@schulich.yorku.ca

    Schulich School of Business, York University




  • 4.  Ineffective Top Management Teams

    Posted 01-06-2010 06:40
    Hello: From a practitioners' standpoint,  I think Jon Katzenbach's work on teams is still some of the best.  His book "Teams at the Top" (1998) addresses senior leadership teams, and builds on his earlier  "The Wisdom of Teams" which has great insights about the differences between a team and a working group.  The senior leaders you describe sound like a working group - people who report up to the same top leader but who don't function interdependently for a common purpose, as a team does.  Even teaching them the differences between teams and working groups might help them make choices about how they want to move forward together.

    Yours,

    Heather Wishik
    Global Diversity and Inclusion Director
    The TJX Companies, Inc.
    Framingham, MA 01701 USA

    On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 9:53 PM, John J. Schibler <jjschibler@me.com> wrote:
    I have been doing some research on Top Management Teams as part of my PhD dissertation.  I am not aware of any benchmarks or case studies but some relevant research you may want to consider...  Hambrick, D. C. (1995). "Fragmentation and the other problems CEO's have with their top management teams." California Management Review 37(3): 110-127.  Hambrick, D. C. (1997). "Corporate coherence and the top management team." Strategy & Leadership 25(2): 24-29.  Hambrick, D. C. and R. D'Aveni (1988). "Large corporate failures and downward spirals." Administrative Science Quarterly 33(1): 1-23.  There are quite a few research articles by Hambrick, Finklestein and others.     A few more practitioner-oriented resources to consider:  Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't. New York, NY, HarperCollins Publishers.  Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass.   I am working on this PhD late in life   Professionally, I work on organizational turnarounds...operational improvements for organizations in distress...mostly in complex not-for-profit organizations.  In these organizations the silo effect is common.  If it is at the senior management team you need to at least consider the CEO or the Board as causing or facilitating this behavior. _____  John J. Schibler 194 Summit View Lane Wickford, RI  02852 jjschibler@me.com    On Tuesday, January 05, 2010, at 01:48PM, "Golchehreh Sohrab" <gsohrab07@SCHULICH.YORKU.CA> wrote: >
    Hello All and Happy New Year,

    A friend of mine who is working in a large corporation has asked me:

    "
    I need some guidance and advise on how to reach out the articles and research on a topic related to leadership models for senior teams.
     
    The issue is that the group that I am supporting right now has an ineffective leadership team - where the senior leaders work in silos, do not cooperate, do not teamwork and see the big picture. I would like to come up with some ideas and approaches to help make them more effective and cooperate, and am currently looking for some benchmarks, case sudies, or key research that you have come across with or potentially recommend."

    I would truly appreciate your suggestions.

    Best of all,
    Golchehreh


    Golchehreh Sohrab

    PhD Candidate, Organization Studies
    Schulich School of Business, York University
    Phone: 416-736-2100 Ext.20265
    E-mail: gsohrab07@schulich.yorku.ca




     

    Disclaimer: This email and any files transmitted with it are private and confidential
    and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
    If you are not the addressee, you are not authorized to copy or use the information or
    to place any reliance upon it, nor should you copy it or show it to anyone.
    If you have received this email in error, please notify postmaster@schulich.yorku.ca

    Schulich School of Business, York University





  • 5.  Ineffective Top Management Teams

    Posted 01-07-2010 11:15

    Golchehreh,

     

    The following research may be relevant to your quest:

     

    Barrick, Bradley, Kristof-Brown, & Colbert (2007).  The moderating role of top management team interdependence: Implications for real teams and working groups.  Academy of Management Journal, 50 (3): 544-557. 

     

    Despite the pervasive assumption that more teamwork is always better, the study finds that the best TMTs matched their level of teamwork with the level of interdependence within the TMT.  If task, goal &/or reward interdependencies required interaction among TMT members then teamwork was positively related to subsequent firm performance.  However, if interdependence was low then teamwork was actually negatively related to subsequent firm performance (see Figure 3 on page 552).  Thus, some TMTs din't need to work together to be effective. 

     

    Hambrick and colleagues have argued that many TMTs don't function as teams and could be thought of as "TMGs" (see for example Hambrick (1994) Top management groups: A conceptual integration and reconsideration of the "team" label.  Research in Organization Behavior, 16: 171-213).  The results in the Barrick, et al study imply that "TMGs" may not be a bad thing for firm performance.  A follow up question might be: in what way is this leadership team "ineffective?"  From a teamwork standpoint or from a firm performance standpoint?     

     

    Best of luck with the pursuit!

     

    Bret Bradley, Ph.D.

    University of Oklahoma

     

       

     

    From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv [mailto:OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Heather Wishik
    Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 5:40 AM
    To: OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: [OB-LIST] Ineffective Top Management Teams

     

    Hello: From a practitioners' standpoint,  I think Jon Katzenbach's work on teams is still some of the best.  His book "Teams at the Top" (1998) addresses senior leadership teams, and builds on his earlier  "The Wisdom of Teams" which has great insights about the differences between a team and a working group.  The senior leaders you describe sound like a working group - people who report up to the same top leader but who don't function interdependently for a common purpose, as a team does.  Even teaching them the differences between teams and working groups might help them make choices about how they want to move forward together.

     

    Yours,

     

    Heather Wishik

    Global Diversity and Inclusion Director

    The TJX Companies, Inc.

    Framingham, MA 01701 USA

    On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 9:53 PM, John J. Schibler <jjschibler@me.com> wrote:

    I have been doing some research on Top Management Teams as part of my PhD dissertation.  I am not aware of any benchmarks or case studies but some relevant research you may want to consider...
     
    Hambrick, D. C. (1995). "Fragmentation and the other problems CEO's have with their top management teams." California Management Review 37(3): 110-127.
     
    Hambrick, D. C. (1997). "Corporate coherence and the top management team." Strategy & Leadership 25(2): 24-29.
     
    Hambrick, D. C. and R. D'Aveni (1988). "Large corporate failures and downward spirals." Administrative Science Quarterly 33(1): 1-23.
     
    There are quite a few research articles by Hambrick, Finklestein and others.
      
     
    A few more practitioner-oriented resources to consider:
     
    Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't. New York, NY, HarperCollins Publishers.
     
    Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass.
     
     
    I am working on this PhD late in life   Professionally, I work on organizational turnarounds...operational improvements for organizations in distress...mostly in complex not-for-profit organizations.  In these organizations the silo effect is common.  If it is at the senior management team you need to at least consider the CEO or the Board as causing or facilitating this behavior.
    _____
     
    John J. Schibler
    194 Summit View Lane
    Wickford, RI  02852
    jjschibler@me.com
     
     
    On Tuesday, January 05, 2010, at 01:48PM, "Golchehreh Sohrab" <gsohrab07@SCHULICH.YORKU.CA> wrote:

    Hello All and Happy New Year,

    A friend of mine who is working in a large corporation has asked me:

    "
    I need some guidance and advise on how to reach out the articles and research on a topic related to leadership models for senior teams.

     

    The issue is that the group that I am supporting right now has an ineffective leadership team - where the senior leaders work in silos, do not cooperate, do not teamwork and see the big picture. I would like to come up with some ideas and approaches to help make them more effective and cooperate, and am currently looking for some benchmarks, case sudies, or key research that you have come across with or potentially recommend."


    I would truly appreciate your suggestions.

    Best of all,
    Golchehreh

    Golchehreh Sohrab

    PhD Candidate, Organization Studies
    Schulich School of Business, York University
    Phone: 416-736-2100 Ext.20265
    E-mail: gsohrab07@schulich.yorku.ca

     

     

    Disclaimer: This email and any files transmitted with it are private and confidential
    and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

    If you are not the addressee, you are not authorized to copy or use the information or
    to place any reliance upon it, nor should you copy it or show it to anyone.
    If you have received this email in error, please notify postmaster@schulich.yorku.ca

     


    Schulich School of Business, York University






     

     



  • 6.  Ineffective Top Management Teams

    Posted 01-08-2010 03:15

    Hi,

     

    To relate to ineffective teams you may better benchmark with effective teams - compare and contrust.

     

    Some of the following will surely be relevant:

     

    Carmeli, A. (2008). Top management team behavioral integration and the performance of service organizations. Group & Organization Management, 33, 6, 712-735.

     

    Barker, V., & Patterson, P. (1996). Top management team tenure and top manager causal attributions at declining firms attempting turnaround. Group & Organization Management, 21, 3, 304-337.

     

    Wally, S. & Becerra, M.(2001). Top Management Team Characteristics and Strategic Change in International Diversification, Group and Organization Management. 26, 2, 165-188.

     

    Bantel, K.A. (1993). Top Team, Environment, and Performance Effects on Strategic Planning Formality, Group & Organization Studies, 18, 436-458.

     

    Michalisin, M.D., Karau, S.J. & Tangpong, C. (2004). Top management team cohesion and superior industry returns: an empirical study of the resource-based view, Group and Organization Management, 29. 1, 125–140.

     

    Also, relating to gender and diversity within the top team, see:

     

    Welbourne, T. M. Cycyota, C. S. & Ferrante, C. J. (2007). Wall Street reaction to women in IPOs: An examination of gender diversity in top management teams, Group & Organization Management, 32, 5, 524-547.

     

    Roberson, Q. M. and Park, H. J. (2007). Examining the link between diversity and firm performance: The effects of diversity reputation and leader racial diversity. Group & Organization Management, 32, 548-568.

     

    Yours,

     

    Yehuda

     

    Yehuda Baruch

    Professor of Management

    Editor, Group & Organization Management

    Norwich Business School

    University of East Anglia

    Norwich NR4 7TJ

    UK



  • 7.  Ineffective Top Management Teams

    Posted 01-08-2010 13:53
    You may also find this to be a useful resource:

    Wageman, R., Nunes, D. A., Burruss, J. A., & Hackman, J. R. Senior leadership teams: What it take to
    make them great. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

    The book is based on empirical study of more than 100 senior teams and it combines quantitative
    findings with lots of concrete examples.

    Also, the authors have developed a research-based tool called the team diagnostic survey which can
    be used to identify individual teams' strengths and weaknesses. The survey can be accessed here: http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~tds/.


  • 8.  Ineffective Top Management Teams

    Posted 01-08-2010 16:17
    Here is an additional list of articles on the topic of Top Management Teams
    that may be useful:

    Yasemin Y. Kor and Chamu Sundaramurthy, Experience-Based Human Capital and
    Social Capital of Outside Directors,
    <http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/35/4/981> Journal of Management 2009
    vol. 35: pp. 981 - 1006.

    Deepak K. Datta, Martina Musteen, and Pol Herrmann, Board Characteristics,
    Managerial Incentives, and the Choice Between Foreign Acquisitions and
    International Joint Ventures, <http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/35/4/928>
    Journal of Management 2009 vol. 35: pp. 928 - 953.

    Shaker A. Zahra, Richard L. Priem, and Abdul A. Rasheed, Development The
    Antecedents and Consequences of Top Management Fraud,"
    <http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/31/6/803> Journal of Management 2005
    vol. 31: pp. 803 - 828.

    Mason A. Carpenter and Wm. Gerard Sanders, The Effects of Top Management
    Team Pay and Firm Internationalization on MNC Performance,"
    <http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/30/4/509> Journal of Management 2004
    vol. 30: pp. 509 - 528.

    Mason A. Carpenter, Marta A. Geletkanycz, and Wm. Gerard Sanders, Upper
    Echelons Research Revisited: Antecedents, Elements, and Consequences of Top
    Management Team Composition," <http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/30/6/749>
    Journal of Management 2004 vol. 30: pp. 749 - 778.

    Laszlo Tihanyi, Alan E. Ellstrand, Catherine M. Daily, and Dan R. Dalton,
    Composition of the Top Management Team and Firm International
    Diversification," <http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/26/6/1157> Journal
    of Management 2000 vol. 26: pp. 1157 - 1177.

    Richard L. Priem, Douglas W. Lyon, and Gregory G. Dess, Inherent
    Limitations of Demographic Proxies in Top Management Team Heterogeneity
    Research," <http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/25/6/935> Journal of
    Management 1999 vol. 25: pp. 935 - 953.

    Albert A. Cannella, Jr. and Martin J. Monroe, Contrasting Perspectives on
    Strategic Leaders: Toward a More Realistic View of Top Managers,"
    <http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/23/3/213> Journal of Management 1997
    vol. 23: pp. 213 - 237.

    Allen C. Amason and Harry J. Sapienza, The Effects of Top Management Team
    Size and interaction Norms on Cognitive and Affective Conflict,"
    <http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/23/4/495> Journal of Management, Aug
    1997; vol. 23: pp. 495 - 516.

    Catherine M. Daily and Charles Schwenk, Chief Executive Officers, Top
    Management Teams, and Boards of Directors: Congruent or Countervailing
    Forces?," <http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/22/2/185> Journal of
    Management 1996 vol. 22: pp. 185 - 208.



    On 1/8/10 10:52 AM, "Beth Proffitt" <juliabeth.proffitt@FANDM.EDU> wrote:

    > You may also find this to be a useful resource:
    >
    > Wageman, R., Nunes, D. A., Burruss, J. A., & Hackman, J. R. Senior leadership
    > teams: What it take to
    > make them great. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
    >
    > The book is based on empirical study of more than 100 senior teams and it
    > combines quantitative
    > findings with lots of concrete examples.
    >
    > Also, the authors have developed a research-based tool called the team
    > diagnostic survey which can
    > be used to identify individual teams' strengths and weaknesses. The survey
    > can be accessed here: http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~tds/.
    >