Corporate Boards New Strategies for Adding Value at the Top

by Conger, Jay A.; Lawler, Edward E.; Finegold, David

• ISBN13: 9780787956202
• ISBN10: 0787956201
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-04-11
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Summary

This outstanding work reveals how boards governing 21st-century organizations can change their practices and align their principles to successfully govern the organization of the new economy. The authors propose that judging a board's effectiveness should be done not in a "shareholder" context but in a "stakeholder" context instead. They couch their reforms in a framework that focuses on what determines effective governance behavior: information, knowledge, power, and rewards.They argue it is behavior, not practices that count, and look at boards from a group and an organizational perspective.

Author Biography

JAY A. CONGER is professor of organizational behaviort at the London Business School and senior research scientist at the University of Southern California's (USC) Center for Effective Organizations. He is the author or coauthor of nine books, including Building Leaders (1999) and The Leader's Change Handbook (1998), both from Jossey-Bass. EDWARD E. LAWLER is director of the Center for Effective Organizations at USC and professor of management and organization in the USC Marshall School of Business. He has been named one of the country's leading management experts by Business Week magazine. DAVID L. FINEGOLD is associate research professor at the Center for Effective Organizations. His research focusing on the impact of the Internet on firms and their relationship with employees will be featured in Net-Enabled, a forthcoming book with Jossey-Bass.

Table of Contents

Introduction	xi
PART ONE: WHAT SHOULD BOARDS DO?	1	(34)
Critical Board Activities	3	(17)
Attributes of High Performance Boards	20	(15)
PART TWO: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES FOR EFFECTIVE BOARDS	35	(86)
Board Membership	37	(20)
Board Leadership	57	(16)
Information for High Performance Boards	73	(15)
Evaluating the CEO	88	(15)
Evaluating and Rewarding the Board's Performance	103	(18)
PART THREE: BOARDS IN THE FUTURE	121	(54)
Governing in the Age of the Internet	123	(18)
To Whom Are Boards Accountable?	141	(23)
Redesigning the Board: New Governance Forms	164	(11)
Conclusion	175	(4)
Appendix: Research Background	179	(8)
Notes	187	(8)
Acknowledgments	195	(2)
The Authors	197	(4)
Index	201