www.ijird.com April, 2020 Vol 9 Issue 4 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT DOI No. : 10.24940/ijird/2020/v9/i4/APR20064 Page 209 Effect of TMT on Corporate Governance and Companies Performance: Evidence from Entities Listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya 1. Introduction The reflections surrounding teams in top management revolves around their knowledge on key aspects required to choose strategies in their key areas of functions, their values and cognitive orientations (Hambrick and Mason, 1984). The key assumption of the Upper Echelon theory (UET) is the argument that top management team characteristics are closely related to the cognitive and psychological elements of the executives’ (Cannella, Park & Lee, 2008). This gives an organization an upper hand in developing, adapting and execution those strategies that maximize the organizational power over other competing firms.The theoretical assumptions of upper echelon have resulted to enormous research materials supporting the key tenets of teams in top management and their role on performance of existing and developing firms (Kinuu, Murgor, Ongeti, Letting and Aosa, 2012). This is in line with the perception that key information generators in any organization are the decision makers who are members of the top management (Certo et al., 2006). Drawing on the demography of the executives and the upper echelon points of view, Herrmann and Datta, (2005) studiedhowthe teams in the top management category attributes (tenure, educational level, age, functional background and international experience) and firm worldwide broadening for differentiated US-based firms in the manufacturing area. It is demonstrated that organizations with more elevated levels of universal diversification are probably going to have TMTs described by higher level of education, shorter tenures, more youthful executives and more noteworthy worldwide ISSN 2278 – 0211 (Online) Samwel Omwenga Makini Ph.D. Student, Department of Strategic Management, University of Nairobi, Kenya Zachary B. Awino Professor, Department of Strategic Management, University of Nairobi, Kenya Dr. Kennedy Ogollah Senior Lecturer, Department of Strategic Management, University of Nairobi, Kenya Dr. Peterson O. Magutu Senior Lecturer, Department of Management Science, University of Nairobi, Kenya Abstract: The members of top management across or rather among organizations enlist titles like chief executive officers, directors either executive or managing, presidents, assistant or vice presidents and or chairperson/chairman etcetera. The characteristics involving the teams in top management are understood as traits that are personally unique either acquired innately or the process of learning and to some extent cognitively or observations. Such traits contribute immensely to decisions which results or leads to positive impact on organizations success through quality decisions. The argument revolves around expertise that management cadres bring on a discussion table to boost the level of strategies formulation for the betterment of areas of importance to organizations thus improving growth and performance. The frauds accountability in all concerned organizations are curtailed by the practices deemed necessary in corporate governance considerations with argument revolving around weak and strong corporate governance adoption in organizations determining enhanced or reduced frauds concerning accounting functions. The concerned stakeholders like government, public, shareholders and more so investors determines the complexity and the multi-dimensional nature of firms quoted and adhering to corporate governance fundamental rules. The study was guided the upper echelons theory. A survey which is cross sectional and descriptive in nature was considered. Structured questionnaires containing closed and open questions were applied to get primary data from 66 firms listed at the NSE. The rate of return was at 75.76 percent and Hierarchical analysis in a regression model tested the hypothesis. The study found out that education, functional background and work experience, contributes highly to TMTs and firm performance linkage. These qualities should be considered key elements by policies makers when developing policies to be used when recruiting TMT. Characteristics at the top management thus moderate governance at corporate level and NSE listed firms in Kenyan context. Keywords: Top management team, corporate governance, firm performance, Nairobi securities exchange