1. | Human capital heterogeneity | ||
1. | Board demography | 2. | Chairman behaviour |
2. | Knowledge and skills | 3. | Individual and team conditions: Affective |
4. | Individual and team conditions: Cognitive | ||
3. | Cognitive conflict | 5. | Individual and team conditions: Behavioural |
4. | Effort norms | 6. | Task complexity |
5. | Use of knowledge and skills | 7. | Task interdependence |
8. | Shared leadership | ||
6. | Cohesiveness | 9. | Behavioural control |
7. | Task performance (control and service) | 10. | Output control |
8. | Firm performance | 11. | Advice |
12. | Networking |
Context | When do boards benefit from teamwork versus individualistic behaviour in boardrooms? |
Boards as teams | What are the unique features of boards as teams? |
Board task performance | What board tasks benefit from teamwork? |
Board dynamic | How is board dynamic enhanced/diminished by boards working as teams? |
Psychology | What is the relation between teamwork and groupthink? |
Composition | All non-executive directors, a mix of non-executive and executive directors, or all executive directors | All executives |
Affiliation | Work for several organisations, possibly full time in one organisation | Work for the same organisation |
Interaction | Spend relatively little time together | Spend a lot of time together |
Time and information | Limited time, with information dependence on management | Immersed in day-to-day activities |
Leaders as members | More likely to have leadership experience | Less likely to have leadership experience |
Roles | Govern | Manage |
Authority relationships | Boards have ultimate authority in law, which systemic contextual issues may constrain | CEO has authority under delegations from the board. Other executive team members have more limited authority |
Accountability | Hold executives to account | Accountable to the board |
Structure | Horizontal authority structure ( |
Vertical authority structure |
Average team size | Larger | Smaller |
Formality | Boards operate formally (see Dynamic) | Managers operate informally (see Dynamic) |
Dynamic ( |
“Rules of the road” | “Rush hour” |
Socialise | Occasionally | Regularly |
Familiarity | Do not know each other well | Know each other quite/fairly well |
Boards are collegial groups | More and more discussion is delegated to board committees |
Boards need to have collegial chemistry | Boards need to be diverse |
Boards reach consensus fully supported by the whole board | Independent “free thinking” non-executive directors promote critical and constructive dissent |
Boards engage in collective decision making based on effective group dynamics | Board decisions must be based on a diverse set of individual opinions |
Boards must work together as a team | Boards must avoid groupthink |
Truly independent directors | Annual election/ad nutum dismissal (power of dismissal without justification) |
Boards need to build trust | Boards need to be vigilant on verification |
Executive directors are peers of non-executive directors on the board | Non-executive directors monitor executives |
Board members direct | Board members monitor |
Non-executive directors are advisors/mentors to senior management | Non-executive directors are critical monitors of senior management |
Board members support executives | Board members challenge executives |
Boards’ duties and time commitment are increasing exponentially | Remuneration of non-executive directors is not keeping pace |
Boards take decisions behind closed doors; Confidentially is a legal obligation | Increasing demands for transparency |
Non-executive directors depend on the CEO for information | Non-executive directors have the same legal responsibilities even though they know less about the company than the executive directors |
Non-executive directors have less company-specific information than executive directors | If non-executive directors have as much company-specific information as executive directors, they could not do their job ( |
The conformance role requires monitoring and scrutiny and is risk-averse | The performance role requires vision, in-depth understanding, and an appetite for risk |
Directors on a collegial board are equal | Executive directors (e.g., CFO) other than the CEO are day-to-day subordinates to the CEO, yet cannot act as subordinates on the board. |