E-Book, Englisch, 244 Seiten, eBook
Waldeck The Effect of Team Composition on Strategic Sensemaking
2007
ISBN: 978-3-8350-5402-8
Verlag: Deutscher Universitätsverlag
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark
E-Book, Englisch, 244 Seiten, eBook
Reihe: Research in Management Accounting & Control
ISBN: 978-3-8350-5402-8
Verlag: Deutscher Universitätsverlag
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark
Tanja Prinzessin zu Waldeck analyzes the effects of the composition of top management teams on their strategic sensemaking process. Based on the results of ten case studies, she shows that the diversity of experiences of team members supports the team to pick up strategically relevant environmental changes early and to develop a wide range of strategic alternatives. The author also indicates that the diversity of a team does not affect the speed with which teams come up with strategic decisions, but that speed appears to be influenced more by the personalities, leadership style, and culture in a top management team.
Dr. Tanja Prinzessin zu Waldeck promovierte bei Prof. Dr. Utz Schäffer am Lehrstuhl für Controlling der European Business School, Oestrich-Winkel. Sie war fünf Jahre als Beraterin bei McKinsey & Company tätig. Seit Mai 2007 hat sie sich mit NetMoms.de selbständig gemacht - einer Internetplattform für Mütter.
Zielgruppe
Research
Weitere Infos & Material
1;Foreword;6
2;Preface;8
3;Contents;10
4;Figures;14
5;Tables;16
6;A Introduction;18
6.1;1. Research Topic and Objectives;18
6.2;2. Plan of the Study;20
7;B The Cognitive Theory of Strategic Sensemaking;22
7.1;1. Strategy Theory from Economic, Behavioral and Cognitive Perspectives;22
7.2;2. Economic Perspectives on Strategy;23
7.3;3. Behavioral Perspectives on Strategy;24
7.4;4. Cognitive Perspectives on Strategy ;28
7.4.1;4.1 Expanding Economic and Behavioral Theories;28
7.4.2;4.2 The Interpretive Perspective of Cognitive Theories;30
7.4.3;4.3 Five Cognitive Perspectives on Strategy;34
7.5;5. The Cognitive Theory of Strategic Sensemaking;37
7.5.1;5.1 Individual Strategic Sensemaking;38
7.5.2;5.2 Collective Strategic Sensemaking;41
7.5.3;5.3 Strategic Sensemaking of Top Management Teams;43
7.6;6. Assumptions of the Study;48
8;C Empirical Research on Strategic Sensemaking of Top Management Teams;50
8.1;1. Research on the Effects of Environmental and Organizational Factors on Strategic Sensemaking;51
8.1.1;1.1 Environmental Factors;51
8.1.2;1.2 Organizational Factors;54
8.2;2. Research on the Effects of Top Management Team Composition;56
8.2.1;2.1 Characteristics of Team Members;57
8.2.2;2.2 Leadership;70
8.2.3;2.3 Team Culture;73
8.3;3. Research Question of the Following Study;77
9;D Research Design;82
9.1;1. Overall Research Design;82
9.2;2. Choosing a Case Study Design ;83
9.2.1;2.1 Introducing Case Study Research;83
9.2.2;2.2 Choosing a Case Study Design;86
9.2.3;2.3 Choosing a Multiple-Case Study Design;88
9.3;3. Selecting Cases and the Level of Analysis;89
9.3.1;3.1 Case Selection;89
9.3.2;3.2 Top Management Teams and Managers as Units of Analysis;91
9.4;4. Data Collection;93
9.4.1;4.1 Semi-Structured Interview;95
9.4.2;4.2 Questionnaire;96
9.5;5. Data Analysis;103
9.5.1;5.1 Analyzing the Interviews;104
9.5.2;5.2 Analyzing the Questionnaires;105
9.5.3;5.3 Within-Case Analyses;109
9.5.4;5.4 Cross-Case Analyses;110
9.5.5;5.5 Explanation Building;111
9.6;6. Quality Ensuring Measures;112
9.6.1;6.1 Ensuring Construct Validity;113
9.6.2;6.2 Ensuring Internal Validity;114
9.6.3;6.3 Ensuring External Validity;116
9.6.4;6.4 Ensuring Reliability;117
10;E Ten Management Teams and Their Strategic Sensemaking;118
10.1;1. Presenting the Ten Top Management Teams;118
10.1.1;1.1 Team M1: The Family Patriarchs Determine Strategy;118
10.1.2;1.2 Team M2: A New and Diverse Team;123
10.1.3;1.3 Team M3: Facing New Markets;127
10.1.4;1.4 Team M4: A New Team Changing Sensemaking;131
10.1.5;1.5 Team M5: A Team of Friends, no Time for Strategy;135
10.1.6;1.6 Team M6: Politics Determining Strategy;139
10.1.7;1.7 Team M7: Politics and Hierarchy Determining Strategy;142
10.1.8;1.8 Team F1: Different Levels of Achievement Motivation;144
10.1.9;1.9 Team F2: The Founders with Clear Strategic Objectives;148
10.1.10;1.10 Team F3: A Diverse Team Making Fast Decisions;152
10.2;2. Comparing the Ten Top Management Teams;155
10.2.1;2.1 Associations Suggested by Interview Partners;155
10.2.2;2.2 Comparing the Team Compositions;158
10.2.3;2.3 Matching Team Compositions and Strategic Sensemaking;168
10.2.4;2.4 Controlling for Organizational Factors;171
11;F Propositions on Strategic Sensemaking of Top Management Teams;176
11.1;1. Effects of Top Management Team Composition;176
11.1.1;1.1 Team Member Characteristics;178
11.1.2;1.2 Leadership;191
11.1.3;1.3 Team Culture;196
11.2;2. Effects of Organizational Factors;204
11.3;3. Summary of Propositions;209
12;G Implications and Outlook;216
12.1;1. Theoretical Implications;216
12.2;2. Managerial Implications;220
12.3;3. Limitations and Outlook;222
13;Appendix;228
13.1;1. Interview Guideline;228
13.2;2. Coding Tree;240
13.3;A. Evaluation of team sensemaking;240
13.4;B. Root causes team composition;241
13.5;C. Leadership;243
13.6;D. Cultural Factors ;243
13.7;E. Description of sensemaking;243
13.8;F. Control factors;244
13.9;G. Additional codes;245
14;References;246
The Cognitive Theory of Strategic Sensemaking.- Empirical Research on Strategic Sensemaking of Top Management Teams.- Research Design.- Ten Management Teams and Their Strategic Sensemaking.- Propositions on Strategic Sensemaking of Top Management Teams.- Implications and Outlook.
B The Cognitive Theory of Strategic Sensemaking (p. 5)
1. Strategy Theory from Economic, Behavioral and Cognitive Perspectives
For a long time strategy research has grounded its theories on the assumptions of traditional economic theories. They have based their research and recommendations on the assumptions that managers observe an objective environment and make rational decisions, at least in the context of their own utility optimization. In the light of these assumptions, their work has focused on developing concepts and recommendations for managers on what strategic actions they should take and analyzed the impact of these decisions on firm performance. Thus, strategy research has addressed the question "what shall managers decide?". However, their work has widely ignored the question "how do managers decide?".
HUFF/HUFF/BARR argue that "… firms within the same competitive environment respond in idiosyncratic ways to changing environmental conditions". The question of why firms react differently and what role managers play in these decisions has been of central importance to a new wave of research contributions, shifting to behavioral and cognitive perspectives on strategy. These contributions loosen and expand the strict assumptions of the economic theories in order to develop more realistic and dynamic theories of the firm and its environment.
While the behavioral theories found their way into the field of strategy, cognitive theories are not as prominent. Reviews of previous research attribute the lack of recognition to the absence of generalizable research and useful guidance for managers, as well as to the fact that the different cognitive literature streams have long developed in isolation building their own terminology and operationalizations. The following paragraphs discuss the different assumptions and contributions of economic, behavioral and cognitive theories. They highlight how cognitive theories and especially the cognitive theory of sensemaking can further enhance the understanding of researchers for strategy outcomes and the process of strategy formulation.
2. Economic Perspectives on Strategy
Theories that take an economic or rational perspective on strategy assume that firms react to environmental changes in form of a "… sequential, planned search for optimal solutions for well-defined problems […] based on previously defined firm objectives". In this context, managers search for a new fit between the environment and their organization by changing or creating a strategy which optimizes the organizations outcome and performance. The objectives of the organization are assumed to be equivalent to profit maximization.
Thereby the economic theories build on three implicit assumptions. First, they assume that managers act rationally, although not always rational in the context of the organizational goals, but at least in the context of their selfinterests. Second, profit maximization continues to be the dominating organizational objective, although newer economic theories like the principal-agent theory start to integrate aspects of owners and managers as entities with different interests and objectives.
And third, the environment is assumed to be objectively observable by the organization as well as its managers. The organization encounters low complexity in its environment. Therefore, economic researchers can treat the organization and managers as a "black box" and analyze how changing environmental or organizational antecedents directly influence the content of organizational strategy.
While treating the organization and its managers as a black box has helped researchers to base their theories on large samples and to understand the impact of strategic change on organizational performances, they cannot explain how organizations and managers shape strategies and why organizations react so differently to environmental changes.
