Board Dynamics

Boards of directors are at the apex of organisational decision-making and so are central in ensuring effective corporate governance. But boards are under increasing scrutiny due to the continuing prevalence of scandals and failures. Boards have been viewed as set up to fail because the demands placed upon them cannot effectively be delivered. In this Element, I examine this tension and look at the board as a working group, one which has an input, a process and an output. Through looking at the board as a group, the dynamics of how boards, and the potential for effective and ineffective operation, are highlighted. I conclude with outlining how the future of board dynamics may evolve.

How can boards and members of boards reach their full potential? The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR) has been at the forefront of thinking about organizations since its inception in 1947. Today, as then, the corporate world is undergoing increasing pressure to demonstrate a sustainable, generative and meaningful impact on society and employees whilst delivering improved services and products. These tensions and others are explored in this important new book, Dynamics at Boardroom Level: A Tavistock Primer for Leaders, Coaches and Consultants. In this book, the reader gets a useful framework of theory and practice that broadens vision and deepens thinking about what is happening in boardrooms. The book opens the door to the reader to a new world of board dynamics, edited by those who really understand the deeper workings of the complex human system and its work at board level. This edited volume brings together the insights and contemporary case studies from participants on the Tavistock Institute Dynamics @ Board Level programme that draws on the thinking of Tavistock scholars and practitioners and their work on the dynamics of task, role, authority and power. Edited by programme co-directors Dr Mannie Sher and Dr Leslie Brissett and their fellow Tavistock Associate Tazi Lorraine Smith, and with contributions from senior leadership practitioners and board evaluators from the government, international consultancy firms, FTSE 100 and global UN institutions, this book speaks directly to issues of our time. It represents essential reading for leaders of organizations and businesses, as well as leadership coaches and mental health professionals.

A comprehensive guide to transforming boards and achieving best-practice governance in any organisation. When practising good governance, the board is the vital driver of organizational success, while fostering positive social impact and economic value creation. At all levels, executives around the world are faced with complexities rising from disruptive business models, new technologies, socio-economic changes, shifting political circumstances, and an array of other sources. High Performance Boards is the comprehensive manual for attaining best-in-class governance, offering pragmatic guidance on improving board quality, accountability, and performance. This authoritative volume identifies the four dimensions, or pillars, which are crucial for establishing and maintaining best-practice boards: the people involved, the information architecture, the structures and processes, and the group dynamics and culture of governance. This methodology can be applied to any board in the world, corporate or non-profit organization, regardless of size, sector, industry, or context. Readers are introduced to a fictitious senior board member – an amalgamation of board members from well-known organisations – and follow her as she successfully handles real-life challenges with effective governance. Drawn from the author's 20 years of practice and confidential work with boards across the world, this book: Demonstrates how high-performance boards innovate and refine their practices Discusses examples of board failures and challenges, including case studies from both for-profit and non-profit organisations including international organizations and state-owned agencies or even ministries Provides a proven framework to create best-in-class governance Includes a companion website featuring tools for board assessment and board practice High Performance Boards has inspired more than 3000 board members around the world. This book is essential reading for professionals and managers interested in governance and board members, senior managers, investors, lawyers, and students of governance.

Offers detailed case studies that demonstrate the crucial strategic issues facing nonprofit governing boards and offers board members new methods for dealing with them.

"Written by prominent thought leaders in the global FinTech investment space, The LegalTech Book aggregates diverse expertise into a single, informative volume. Key industry developments are explained in detail, and critical insights from cutting-edge practitioners offer first-hand information and lessons learned. Coverage includes: The current status of LegalTech, why now is the time for it to boom, the drivers behind it, and how it relates to FinTech, RegTech, InsurTech and WealthTech Applications of AI, machine learning and deep learning in the practice of law; e-discovery and due diligence; AI as a legal predictor LegalTech making the law accessible to all; online courts, online dispute resolution The Uberization of the law; hiring and firing through apps Lawbots; social media meets legal advice To what extent does LegalTech make lawyers redundant? Cryptocurrencies, distributed ledger technology and the law The Internet of Things, data privacy, automated contracts Cybersecurity and data Technology vs. the law; driverless cars and liability, legal rights of robots, ownership rights over works created by technology Legislators as innovators"--

This book provides unique and powerful insights into what it takes to succeed as a chairman leading a modern organization. Based on global research, the authors unveil the six disciplines of world-class chairmen. Leading the Board will become the standard work of reference and inspiration for the world's chairmen and would-be chairmen alike.

This book presents boards of directors from a strategic and entrepreneurial management perspective. Boards of directors are receiving increased interest in the business world as well as among academic audiences however few contributions integrate corporate governance and organizational behavior. In this book a research stream about value-creating boards is introduced. Boards of directors have during the recent decades mostly been studied within a framework of corporate governance where the interests of external investors are emphasized. This book aims to go further and explore actual board behavior. The framework and the contributions in the book include concepts such as: board leadership and structure, boardroom decision-making, board task performance corporate entrepreneurship and innovation boards in small and medium-sized firms board diversity and women directors The book also presents the results of a research agenda about value-creating boards which was conducted throughout various European countries.

A material continuum moving axially at high speed can be met in numerous different technical applications. These comprise band saws, web papers during manufacturing, processing and printing processes, textile bands during manufacturing and processing, pipes transporting fluids, transmission belts as well as flat objects moving at high speeds in space. In all these so varied technical applications, the maximum transport speed or the transportation speed is aimed at in order to increase efficiency and optimize investment and performance costs of sometimes very expensive and complex machines and installations. The dynamic behavior of axially moving systems very often hinders from reaching these aims. The book is devoted to dynamics of axially moving material objects of low flexural stiffness that are referred to as webs. Webs are moving at high speed, for example, in paper production the paper webs are transported with longitudinal speeds of up to 3000 m/min. Above the critical speed one can expect various dynamical instabilities mainly of divergent and flutter type. The up-to-date state of investigations conducted in the field of the axially moving system dynamics is presented in the beginning of the book. Special attention is paid on nonlinear dynamic investigations of translating systems. In the next chapters various mathematical models that can be employed in dynamic investigations of such objects and the results of analysis of the dynamic behavior of the axially moving orthotropic material web are presented. To make tracing the dynamic considerations easier, a paper web is the main object of investigations in the book.