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The upper echelons theory is a management theory published by Donald C. Hambrick and Phyllis A. Mason in 1984. [1] It states that organizational outcomes are partially predicted by managerial background characteristics of the top level management team. [1]
Donald C. Hambrick, a strategic management professor and P. Mason first published an article about the upper echelon perspective in 1984. The article is cited over 16,000 times [2] and several additional articles in this field of research have been published over the last decades. [3]
The theory tries to explain a correlation between the organizational outcome and managerial background characteristics.
The theory is used in human resource management as a framework helping to hire new executives. In addition to that, the theory can be used to analyze other market competitors or listed companies and predict future strategic decisions of CEOs.