Sl. Keck et Ml. Tushman, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT AND EXECUTIVE TEAM STRUCTURE, Academy of Management journal, 36(6), 1993, pp. 1314-1344
This research investigated the configurational relationship between ex
ecutive team context and executive team structure as measured by team
demographics. We hypothesized and found that multiple organizational '
'clocks,'' each driven by different aspects of an executive team's env
ironment, have distinct effects on inertia and change. The longer the
period of stability in a team's environment, the less change in member
s, the greater the mean tenure, and the greater the homogeneity. Reori
entations, environmental jolts, technological discontinuities, and CEO
successions are each associated with increased team change and hetero
geneity. Whereas periods of equilibrium are associated with low change
and high homogeneity, organizations that survive dramatic environment
al shifts have heterogeneous executive teams that display both stabili
ty and the capacity for change.