Top management team heterogeneity, strategic change and operational performance

This study examines the role of top management team (TMT) heterogeneity in facilitating strategic change. Based on the upper echelons literature, we argue that heterogeneous management teams are better able to handle the simultaneous and conflicting demands of refocusing the organization strategically and keeping up operational performance. We expect this to be true only for teams that are heterogeneous with respect to factors directly related to job requirements, however. Data were collected from 92 full TMTs of hospitals in Spain that were confronted with institutional pressures that challenged their current strategies. In support of our hypotheses, the results show job-related TMT heterogeneity moderates the relation between strategic change and operational performance. No moderating effect is found for non-job-related TMT heterogeneity.