Prof writing & proposal Devel(DSRT) 2.1Question

DSRT 837: ABSTRACT ASSIGNMENT 2 – QUALITATIVE 1

Creating a Quality Teaching-Learning Environment

Bibliographic Citation

Peterson, R. S., Smith, D. B., Martorana, P. V., & Owens, P. D. (2003). The impact of chief

executive officer personality on top management team dynamics: One mechanism by

which leadership affects organizational performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 795–808.

Authors

Randall S. Peterson, D. Brent Smith, Paul V. Martorana, and Pamela D. Owens

Research Concern

This article explores mechanisms by which leaders affects organizational performance.

Consequently, the effects of leader personality on group dynamics of top management teams

(TMT) and TMT dynamics on organizational performance are correlative.

Purpose

The purpose of this examination was to illuminate the impact of leadership on organizational

performance. Specifically, where leadership impacts performance variance within firms.

Precedent Literature

Empirical leadership research began with the search for traits that differentiate leaders from

followers. However, personality contradictorily predicts leadership (defined primarily in terms of

materialization), suggesting that organizational context plays a major role in determining which

personality factors are important for success. Likewise, reliable trait-effectiveness relationships

may have been concealed. Moreover, significant and generalizable relationships between each

dimension of the five-factor model and either leadership materialization or effectiveness. Most

leadership trait research examines cross-sectional literature and the relationship between

proximal leader traits and distal performance criteria (e.g., group or unit performance). As a

result, the study of TMTs has increased, and TMTs can have an

overwhelming impact on the strategic direction and performance of their organizations. TMT

characteristics include composition, structure, incentives, and process. Demography theory

suggests that the composition of TMTs with regard to various demographic characteristics (e.g.,

age, tenure, functional, and educational background) can explain the collective behavior of

TMTs. As an example, research suggests that TMTs of greater average tenure are more risk

averse.

Research Methodology

The authors used the group dynamics q-sort method, which is designed to permit rigorous,

quantitative comparisons of data derived from qualitative sources. Further, q-methodology is the

methodical study of participant perspectives. Q-methodology is used to examine the perceptions

of participants who characterize distinctive positions on a subject, by having participants rank

and order a sequence of assertions. Results from independent observations of chief executive

officer (CEO) personality and TMT dynamics for 17 CEOs supported the authors’ hypothesized

DSRT 837: ABSTRACT ASSIGNMENT 2 – QUALITATIVE

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relationships both between CEO personality and TMT group dynamics and between TMT

dynamics and organizational performance.

Instrumentation

By combining the q-sort methodology with qualitative text analysis of historic cases, issues

emerged, which required using other forms of analysis. Analysis involved detailed accounts of

complex group dynamics that are not easily captured. By combining the rich, detailed, personal

information from sources with the quantitative power of the q-sort method, test effects of

complex dynamics and subtle personality characteristics resulted. This study demonstrates the

numerous advantages of combining qualitative text analyses with quantitative q-sorts to test the

antecedents of organizational performance.

Findings

Overall, results of this study suggest two interrelated ideas. First, our results provide broad

support for our general hypothesis that CEO personality affects TMT group dynamics and that

TMT group dynamics are related to organizational performance. Although a number of authors

have posited such a relationship, there is little research empirically examining this critical nexus

between leader personality and organizational performance. A number of recent studies have

examined the effect of leader personality on general leader effectiveness; however, no studies

examine the effects of specific CEO personality traits on TMT dynamics. The second and closely

related contribution of the study was the usefulness of the q-sort method in researching these

types of questions. The q-sort method provided a systematic comparison between specific CEO

traits, specific TMT dynamics, and organizational performance, in addition to quantitative

analyses based on qualitative ranked data. This method tested the impact of CEO personalities

and TMT dynamics on organizational performance on a population and in a rigorous quantitative

manner that would be difficult or impossible using other research methods.

DSRT 837: ABSTRACT ASSIGNMENT 2 – QUALITATIVE

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Conclusions

Business or situational factors exogenous to the model affects TMT dynamics and firm

performance. The focus of the study tested the general application of CEO personality, TMT

dynamics, and organizational performance. In fact, researchers elaborated and elucidated how

contextual factors moderate the relationships found between CEO personality, TMT dynamics,

and organizational performance.

Suggestions for Further Research

Based on this study's conclusion, limitations should not be overstated, however. The study

replicates several findings existent in the literature and corroborates hypotheses derived from the

existing research on the role of personality in groups. Finally, this study suggested that group

dynamics must receive greater attention as a process model linking leader personality to

organizational performance.