ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the ability to process strategic issues effectively is an important component of top management team (TMT) cognitive complexity and is as critical to success as heterogeneity. It links the conceptual description of TMT cognitive complexity to the ideas described by J. Dutton and R. Duncan in their discussion of strategic issue arrays (SIA) and argues that this earlier work can be used to operationalize the concept of TMT cognitive complexity. The chapter validates this operationalization and test the relationship between TMT cognitive complexity and firm effectiveness in the healthcare industry. It explains the team's activities, as captured in the SIA, reflect or mirror the cognitive complexity within the team by reflecting the elements of differentiation and integration described in the cognitive complexity literature. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of the authors' findings for both theory and practice.
