Chief Executive Officers, Top Management Teams, and Boards of Directors: Congruent or Countervailing Forces?

Conceptualization and research have addressed the homogeneity heterogeneity of top management teams and, independently, the effectiveness of alternative corporate governance structures. Those studies which do concurrently consider directors and management focus largely on the board’s monitoring of the CEO. The interdependencies which exist among chief executive others, top management teams, and boards of directors necessitate an integrative approach which simultaneously considers these groups of strategic leaders. In this paper, we provide a rationale whereby a firm might elect a CEO or board dominance structure as compared to more balanced governance structures. We suggest that the efficacy of such choices may depend on several attendant conditions including the portfolio exposure and globalization of the firm, its ownership patterns (e.g., five percent owners, institutional investors, positions held by other corporations), and resource dependence and information requirements.