Open access
TOP MANAGEMENT TEAMS: COMMUNICATION, EXPATS, AND NON-OBSERVABLE DIVERSITY
Anna OLSZEWSKA1
Frameworks for integrating interdisciplinary research
Publication language: English
Journal article
Transformations No. 2 (117) 2023, Publication date: 30 June 2023
Keywords: top management team diversity, intercultural business communication, expatriation
Abstract This article analyses levels of diversity and intercultural business communication (IBC) within the Top Management Team (TMT). The TMTs are responsible for the company’s success or failure, yet there is little known about the inner dynamics and good practices. Mostly quantitative research findings left us with a very fragmented, and inconclusive picture. This paper attempts to respond to this call for research using qualitative methods and the Context, Intervention, Mechanism, and Outcome approach to look beyond the usual diversity– performance link and understand the processes and mechanisms of the TMT dynamic. The research was conducted between 2017 and 2022 and offers insights from TMTs operating from Poland, Germany, the USA, and Singapore across the service industry in both – corporate and non-corporate settings. The specific focus of this research is TMTs with expatriate team members. It reveals the complex nature of TMT processes, communication climate and five main dynamics expatriates trigger within TMT. The call for opening the black box of TMT processes is addressed in this study. Attention is paid to profiles of contemporary TMTs, and levels of IBC exercised by them. The research on TMT processes and dynamics is undoubtedly relevant and practical for senior managers to reflect and further improve their diversity management – and communication strategies
Kozminski University, Warsaw, Poland
ORCID: 0000-0003-2012-8733
E-mail: aolszewska@kozminski.edu.pl