Investigating the effect of the composition of the diversity of the top management team on creating strategic change

Dissertation for obtaining a master's degree in business management with a tendency towards transformation

Abstract:

Today, the necessity of transformation and organizational change has become clear for most managers and experts and other key people, because in today's world everything is changing and evolving, for this reason, it can be said that in such an environment and conditions, if an organization does not implement management systems, engineering, and also change its organizational culture and adapt it to the needs of society and customers, it is doomed and the ability to compete in the long term is doomed.

The main goal of this research is to investigate the effect of the composition of the diversity of the senior management team on the creation of strategic change, and its main goal is to identify the relationship between the composition of the diversity of the senior management team and strategic change (in the senior management teams of the food industry in the industrial towns of Gilan province). It also includes sub-objectives such as investigating the effect of the age diversity of the senior management team on the dimensions of strategic change, examining the effect of the diversity of the educational background of the senior management team on the dimensions of strategic change, and also investigating the organizational tenure diversity of the senior management team on the dimensions of strategic change. The team of top managers with characteristics such as age diversity, diversity of educational background and organizational tenure diversity of the team of top managers as an independent variable and strategic change with characteristics such as the creation of new businesses, elimination of obsolete businesses and changes in the business investment portfolio are considered as dependent variables. This research was based on a descriptive and correlational research design and based on the purpose of an applied type. In this thesis, to determine the reliability of the questionnaire with an emphasis on the internal homogeneity of the questions, it has been done by calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which has been done with SPSS18 software for the set of questions related to each variable. Finally, the t-test test showed that out of the 9 evaluated hypotheses, 6 hypotheses were confirmed and 3 hypotheses were rejected, and the main hypothesis of the research was confirmed based on the confirmation of the regression test to investigate the effect of age diversity on strategic change, to investigate the impact of educational background diversity on strategic change, to investigate the impact of educational background diversity on strategic change. and the diversity of top management teams has an impact on strategic change. According to the obtained averages, the organizational tenure diversity of the top management team (3/2574) has had the greatest impact on strategic change, and the age diversity of the top management team (3/1803) has had the least impact on strategic change in food industry companies in the industrial towns of Gilan province.

1 Introduction:

In the constantly changing conditions, we must also change, otherwise we will pay a heavy price for not changing. (Dr. Nordahl, President of the World Union of Science and Productivity: Management Message)

What managers do at different levels of the organization and always move in its space, is a decision that is obtained through the collection and processing of information and should be done based on environmental changes and strategic changes. (Sarafizadeh, p. 56: 1380)

Many companies choose the development of the geographical area, that is, moving from local markets to foreign markets, as part of the growth strategy. International expansion is a very important decision, especially for small and medium-sized businesses that basically have a low financial base, a local focus and a limited geographical area. In some countries, the internationalization of small and medium-sized companies is the most important public policy. Because they have a vital role in industrial innovation and economic development of their communities. Many senior managers and entrepreneurs recognize the opportunities in international markets and use access to these global markets as a strategic tool for competitiveness and further development of their business. Presence in global markets allows access to larger markets and achieving economies of scale, technological advantages, competence enhancement, risk spreading, reduction and division of research and development costs, more access to financing sources. One of the necessities of developing countries is the movement of small and medium companies towards internationalization, because the competitive pressure is increasing and on the other hand, direct financial aid and support from governments has decreased. However, despite the constant role of small and medium enterprises in economic development and the contribution of developing countries in the growth of world trade, few studies have been conducted regarding the internationalization of these companies in developing countries.However, despite the constant role of small and medium enterprises in economic development and the contribution of developing countries in the growth of world trade, few studies have been conducted regarding the internationalization of these companies in developing countries, and research related to this field is still in its early stages. Several factors influence the internationalization of small and medium enterprises: such as company-related factors, environmental and management factors, business strategies (strategic factors), etc. (Tajuddin-Talebi, 2013)

In recent decades, the question has been continuously raised that why a country has progressed while a similar country that has the same conditions in terms of primary resources and productivity opportunities is perhaps backward. to the increasing changes, in which the role of top managers in organizational decision-making has been investigated in order to apply change strategies in the challenging competitive environment of the organization to achieve the high goals of the organization and better performance of the organization. It is clear that organizations are oblivious to strategic changes and therefore do not make changes, and if they do change, these changes are repetitive and due to the lack of coordination of organizations with strategic changes, organizations suffer many losses and sometimes these losses turn into the destruction of the organization in competitive environments. The attention of the top managers of the organization in creating changes in the organization and due to the low importance of this issue in Iranian organizations, especially in the food industry, which is one of the most important industries in the world, we have explained this issue. Although the elements are the same, the speed and complexity of changes in the ways and customs of life and values ??are being formed in a way and with an extent that has never been seen before. Changes in the political landscape and new relations between the first and third worlds give a new definition of the market, the means of production and the location of human, financial and technical resources. Explosive changes in communication and information technology have created a single world where transactions take less than a second and news is spread in the shortest possible time. All of these have a decisive role in the environment in which organizations and organizations operate. they have, it creates unprecedented tasks. In this turbulent environment, most leaders of organizations are forced to examine the nature of their organizations, such as their main goals, identity, and relationships with customers, competitors, and vendors of the materials they need. (Transformation and Innovation Management, Richard Beckhard-Wendy Pritchard, 2018).

An organization should not only change its status once in a while, but should realize that the phenomenon of change is a permanent thing and must change regularly and continuously. Large organizations must find ways to act just like small and flexible organizations. Current organizations must take steps in the direction of innovation and change, and this is not because they want to increase their prosperity and success, but because their survival in the highly competitive world depends on such a procedure. Experts, managers with much more information than managers with personal perceptions are more successful in dealing with dynamic environments in the strategic decision-making process. In addition, these interpretations are reflected by determining the managers' experiences, values, and personalities from observable characteristics such as age, educational background, organizational tenure, etc. Therefore, creative strategic change is an unstructured task that is expected to exert power by the diversity of the top management team.