The Characteristics of Top Management and Firm Performance a Critical Review of Literature
Abstract
Over the years there has been a debate as to whether the top management playa major role in the
performance of the organization. Proponents argue that human factors such as their characteristics
in deed contribute to the performance of the organization while there are those who attribute
organizational performance to the immediate environment that interacts with the organization in
the course of its existence.
Organizations outcomes, such as strategies and performance are expected to reflect the
characteristics of these leaders. This argument was propagated by Hambrick and mason (1984) in
their upper echelons perspective. This paper therefore intends to investigate the relationship
between the characteristics of the top management and performance of the firm. The characteristics
here includes; age, job tenure, educational level social economic background. The upper echelons
theory mainly states that the decisions made by top management are as a result of the
interpretations of the conditions facing the decision maker at that time. These interpretations are
determined by the values and the manager perception, beliefs or the cognitive base.
The main objective of this study is to establish the extent of influence of the top management
characteristics on the performance of an organization. The top management are the key drivers of
any organization and makes strategic decisions that affect the performance of the entity. In this
context their importance cannot be underscored.
The study also reviews empirical literature related to the top management characteristics and the
performance of the firm. The top management demographic and cognitive characteristics have
been attributed to the decisions of the top management and hence corporate performance.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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