Fragmentation and the Other Problems CEOs Have with Their Top Management Teams

Deficiencies within a top management team (TMT) can gravely impair a firm's performance and vitality. Based on interviews with 23 CEOs of major companies in the United States and Europe, this article identifies the five major problems CEOs have with their TMTs: inadequate capabilities of a single executive, a common team-wide shortcoming, harmful internal rivalries, groupthink, and fragmentation. Fragmentation, the most critical problem, is the case of the team that is not a team at all, but rather a mere constellation of senior executives pursuing their own agendas, with a minimum of collaboration or exchange. Fragmentation often stems from success, and a fragmented team may operate adequately under conditions of stability. But, in the face of a major environmental shift affecting the whole firm, the fragmented team is slow, arts in a piecemeal fashion, and is generally maladaptive. The article offers suggestions for overcoming the problem of TMT fragmentation.