| This thesis investigates top management team formation and its effects on firm performance and organizational effectiveness. The dissertation consists of two studies examining management teams in a semester-long MBA management simulation over a two-year period. Second year full-time MBA students who participated in the management game simulation were asked to fill out questionnaires regarding the selection and development of their management game teams. The first study explored the process of top management team formation and its effects on firm performance. Top management team formation schema such as generalist-oriented vs. specialist-oriented schema, and active-coordination structure vs. coordination structure with inactive members were analyzed. Results indicated that generalists selection improved firm performance. Firms whose top management teams exhibited active-coordination structure performed better than firms whose top management teams contained inactive members. The second study focused on examining the underlying mechanisms (e.g., coordination, cohesion, power structure and learning) that may mediate the relationship between top management team formation and organizational effectiveness. Results indicated, however, the top management team formation schema was a stronger predictor of organizational effectiveness than group processes such as coordination, power structure and learning. |
