As a potential theory, the elemental resource-based view (RBV) is not currently a theoretical structure. Moreover, RBV proponents have assumed stability in product markets and eschewed determining resources' values. As a perspective for strategic management, imprecise definitions hinder prescription and static approaches relegate causality to a “black box.” We outline conceptual challenges for improving this situation, including rigorously formalizing the RBV, answering the causal “how” questions, incorporating the temporal component, and integrating the RBV with demand heterogeneity models.

http://lib.cufe.edu.cn/upload_files/other/4_20140522031922_Is_the_Resource-based_%E2%80%9CView%E2%80%9D_a_Useful_Perspective_for_Strategic_Management_Research%20(1).pdf

Is the Resource-Based “View” a Useful Perspective for Strategic Management Research?

What Makes Teams Work: Group Effectiveness Research from the Shop Floor to the Executive Suite

\"What are your assumptions (implicit as well as explicit) about the most effective way to manage people?\" So began Douglas McGregor in this 1960 management classic. It was a seemingly simple question he asked, yet it led to a fundamental revolution in management. Today, with the rise of the global economy, the information revolution, and the growth of knowledge-driven work, McGregor's simple but provocative question continues to resonate-perhaps more powerfully than ever before. Heralded as one of the most important pieces of management literature ever written, a touchstone for scholars and a handbook for practitioners, The Human Side of Enterprise continues to receive the highest accolades nearly half a century after its initial publication. Influencing such major management gurus such as Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis, McGregor's revolutionary Theory Y-which contends that individuals are self-motivated and self-directed-and Theory X-in which employees must be commanded and controlled-has been widely taught in business schools, industrial relations schools, psychology departments, and professional development seminars for over four decades. In this special annotated edition of the worldwide management classic, Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Senior Research Scientist in MIT's Sloan School of Management and Engineering Systems Division, shows us how today's leaders have successfully incorporated McGregor's methods into modern management styles and practices. The added quotes and commentary bring the content right into today's debates and business models. Now more than ever, the timeless wisdom of Douglas McGregor can light the path towards a management style that nurtures leadership capability, creates effective teams, ensures internal alignment, achieves high performance, and cultivates an authentic, value-driven workplace--lessons we all need to learn as we make our way in this brave new world of the 21st century.

The Human Side of Enterprise.

In this article, we review and evaluate recent management research on the effects of different types of diversity in group composition at various organizational levels (i.e., boards of directors, top management groups, and organizational task groups) for evidence of common patterns. We argue that diversity in the composition of organizational groups affects outcomes such as turnover and performance through its impact on affective, cognitive, communication, and symbolic processes.

Searching for Common Threads: Understanding the Multiple Effects of Diversity in Organizational Groups

In this article we examine the meaning of team process. We first define team process in the context of a multiphase episodic framework related to goal accomplishment, arguing that teams are multitasking units that perform multiple processes simultaneously and sequentially to orchestrate goal-directed taskwork. We then advance a taxonomy of team process dimensions synthesized from previous research and theorizing. a taxonomy that reflects our time-based conceptual framework. We conclude with implications for future research and application.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/259182.pdf

A Temporally Based Framework and Taxonomy of Team Processes

This research used data from 53 high-technology firms to test three alternative models of the effects of the top management team's demography and process on organizational performance: ( 1 ) a demography model, in which team demography accounts entirely for performance outcomes, and process has no impact; (2) a process model, in which process contributes incrementally and directly to performance outcomes, over and above the team's demography; and (3) an intervening model, in which the effects of the top management team on performance outcomes are due entirely to the effects of its demography on process. The study found the top management team's demography indirectly related to performance through process and process directly related tc performance, although direct effects of team demography on performance were also found. These results suggest a fourth, more complex model of top management team behavior. Although some researchers have argued that leaders and top management teams have little impact on organizational outcomes (Lieberson and O'Connor,1972; Aldrich, 1979; Astley and Van de Ven, 1983), the emerging view from more recent research suggests otherwise (Romanelli and Tushman,1986; Finkelstein and Hambrick, 1990). Finkelstein and Hambrick (1990: 500) found that in high- discretion industries, such as computers, for example, managers seem to "matter greatly." This recent stream of research has been facilitated by Hambrick and Mason's (1984) upper-echelons theory, which was inspired by Cyert and March's (1963) concept of the dominant coalition. According to Hambrick and Mason's upper-echelon theory, upper-level managers have an important impact on organizational outcomes because of the decisions they are empowered to make for the organization. Since these managers make decisions consistent with their cognitive base, which is in part a function of their personal values and experiences, their personal experiences and values can be linked to organizational outcomes. Based on this upper-echelon logic, scholars have linked top management teams to organizational innovation (Bantel and Jackson, 1989; O'Reilly and Flatt, 1989), strategy (Finkelstein and Hambrick, 1990; Michel and Hambrick, 1992), strategic change (Grimm and Smith 1991; Wiersema and Bantel, 1992) and performance (O'Reilly and Flatt, 1989; Michel and Hambrick, 1992; Hambrick and D'Aveni,1992). The three main clusters of concepts that are of interest in upper-echelons research are the team's demography and process and organizational performance. Demography refers to the aggregated external characteristics of the team, such as heterogeneity, tenure, and size, while process concerns the team's actions and behaviors, such as communication, and psychological dimensions, such as social integration. Pfeffer (1983: 348) argued that demography is an important, causal variable that affects a number of intervening variables and processes and, through them, a number of organizational outcomes. Hambrick and Mason (1984) contended that a manager's personal experiences and values can be inferred from observable demographic characteristics, such as years of experience, and that studying these observable characteristics overcomes the difficult problem of gaining access to executives to measure psychological or group dynamic variables, which may be the more direct underlying process characteristics linking the top management team's attributes to organizational outcomes. Following Hambrick and Mason (1984), scholars have empirically linked the top management team's demography to organizational performance (Murray, 1989; Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven, 1990; Michel and Hambrick, 1992), but no specific effort has been made to investigate the more fundamental intervening processes. If upper-echelons theory is to become useful in improving our understanding of top management teams, we need to elaborate and fully understand how team demography influences the organization. …

Top Management Team Demography and Process: The Role of Social Integration and Communication

We thank Ed Locke, Martin Gannon, Marshall W. Meyer, Stefan Wally, and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper, and the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland for the-financial grant that made this research possible. This research used data from 53 high-technology firms to test three alternative models of the effects of the top management team's demography and process on organizational performance: (1) a demography model, in which team demography accounts entirely for performance outcomes, and process has no impact; (2) a process model, in which process contributes incrementally and directly to performance outcomes, over and above the team's demography; and (3) an intervening model, in which the effects of the top management team on performance outcomes are due entirely to the effects of its demography on process. The study found the top management team's demography indirectly related to performance through process and process directly related to performance, although direct effects of team demography on performance were also found. These results suggest a fourth, more complex model of top management team behavior.'

This study examined how top management team diversity variables and debate interacted to influence two measures of company financial performance. Further, it assessed the degree to which decision c...

Making Use of Difference: Diversity, Debate, and Decision Comprehensiveness in Top Management Teams

This study integrated concepts from upper echelons, group process and social cognition theories to investigate how demographic diversity and group processes influence strategic consensus within the top management team (TMT), where strategic consensus is defined as the degree to which individual mental models of strategy overlap. Data from 76 high-technology firms in the United States and Ireland were used to examine three alternative models. The results showed that while demographic diversity alone did have effects on strategic consensus the overall fit of the model was not strong. Adding two intervening group process variables, interpersonal conflict and agreement-seeking, to the model greatly improved the overall relationship with strategic consensus. For the most part, TMT diversity had negative effects on strategic consensus. The model with superior fit showed both direct and indirect effects of diversity on strategic consensus. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Top management team diversity, group process, and strategic consensus

In light of the increasing importance of strategic alliances in shaping competition, this study explored whether the social network of small firm executives can be leveraged to facilitate the establishment of interfirm alliances. Analyses are based on a mail survey of 149 small manufacturing firms in the northeast United States. Results indicate that the social networks of senior executives account for 11–22 percent of the variance in the degree to which firms engage in alliances, depending on the type of alliance. Results also show that the number of interfirm alliances is positively related to several networking properties (propensity to network, strength of ties, and network prestige). Findings are discussed in the context of network theory, social embeddedness, and the overall implications for management researchers and practitioners.

Ken A. Smith

Papers

Top Management Team Demography and Process: The Role of Social Integration and Communication

Top Management Team Demography and Process: The Role of Social Integration and Communication

Making Use of Difference: Diversity, Debate, and Decision Comprehensiveness in Top Management Teams

Top management team diversity, group process, and strategic consensus

Interfirm Alliances in the Small Business: The Role of Social Networks