ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the difference between management teams and other types of work groups and teams, how top management teams differ from management teams at lower levels in the organization, what types of activities management teams typically engage in, and what they produce. It discusses to what extent the performance of management teams affects organizational performance. Management teams are commonly categorized as decision-making and problem-solving teams. Although a management team is a typical decision-making and problem-solving group, it can be distinguished from other such groups on the basis of some distinctive features. Inevitably, the top management team encounters some unique challenges that make it difficult to assume a collective responsibility for the team’s performance. Management teams are created to take care of organizational tasks that are difficult to solve individually for the managers of the organization, and to produce outcomes that could not be achieved, if the management team did not exist.
