Creativity and strategic management : Individual and group considerations concerning decision alternatives in the top management teams

This paper explores an important aspect of creativity within the top management team (TMT). Specifically, prior research has not addressed the relationship between alternatives generated and alternatives realized within the TMT as a part of the decision‐making process, choosing instead to address only alternatives realized or TMT correlates of organizational outcomes. It is argued that a framing perceptual bias exists within individual TMT members and among TMT members as a group such that threat frames may decrease creativity and opportunity frames may increase creativity. In addition, the strategic issue array and TMT power structures are examined as influences on alternative generation and it is suggested that excessive issue array size or highly imbalanced power structures both negatively impact creativity within the TMT. Implications for research and practice are considered.