Doing What Feels Right

Abstract

Faced with confusing and sometimes contradictory research results linking team composition to performance, recent research on top management teams (TMTs) has begun to investigate hitherto unexplored variables that might influence the hypothesized relationships. Increasing attention is being paid to the nature and quality of TMT strategic decision-making processes, with scholars arguing that diversity per se will not affect performance outcomes unless that diversity is allowed to make itself felt through systematic debate. The findings presented here suggest that diversity and debate may not be enough; a powerful CEO's emotional reactions, rooted in character, may short-circuit the presumed linkages between diversity, decision-making processes, and performance. This has important theoretical and methodological implications for this research stream, helping to explain why existing large-sample research in this area has failed to produce consistent and robust results. Suggestions are made for ways to improve theorizing and research design in this important research domain.

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