Conversations across the table: shared cognition in top management teams
ISSN: 1352-7592
Article publication date: 12 August 2021
Issue publication date: 25 August 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the shared mental models (SMMs) of a top management team (TMT) using an emergent perspective in conditions of uncertainty. The paper examines how a TMT conversation represents an emergent cognitive process to reach an action for future planning.
Design/methodology/approach
The design uses an emergent SMM approach based on a TMT discussion in an uncertain context. Cognitive mapping techniques illustrate how concepts emerge and are structured. This approach addresses the need for an alternative to aggregate mapping methods and supports the notion of team cognition as an emergent and dynamic process.
Findings
Findings showed that the emergence of a SMM could be elicited and represented using cognitive mapping techniques. Domain knowledge and social relationships supported the emergence of shared knowledge relevant for action on team tasks. A SMM based on team contribution and concept connectivity was identified.
Research limitations/implications
The study is based on data collected from a recorded discussion in a quarterly company meeting, ten days before the UK’s original planned exit date, March 2019.
Originality/value
This research study contributes to the SMM and team cognition literature streams by examining the TMT’s shared understanding as an emergent process. Empirical studies using cognitive mapping techniques in this context are rare.
Keywords
Citation
Evans, M. (2021), "Conversations across the table: shared cognition in top management teams", Team Performance Management, Vol. 27 No. 5/6, pp. 406-424. https://doi.org/10.1108/TPM-12-2020-0098
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited