Board Effectiveness in Nonprofit Organizations: Do Interactions in the Boardroom Matter?

This study explores how perceived interactions in the boardroom are associated with perceptions of board effectiveness in nonprofit organizations. The relationships between board chair leadership, board meeting practices, board group dynamics, and the perceived effectiveness of the board in several governance roles and responsibilities are investigated. The results show that interactions in the boardroom matter: they are generally positively associated with both board chairs’ and chief executives’ perceptions of board effectiveness. Based on these results, several practical implications are formulated for boards seeking to improve their effectiveness.

Got a plan in the pipeline? Nominating committee’s information processing in executive successions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how information-processing mechanisms between nominating committees (NCs), incumbent executives, board chairs, and shareholders affect the comprehensiveness of executive succession processes. Design/methodology/approach The authors employ an explanatory multiple-case study that comprises eight CEO and CFO succession cases in large German publicly traded firms. Findings The findings reveal that comprehensiveness is determined by four key information-processing mechanisms: the effectiveness of NC’s information sharing, absorbing disagreement, and integrating heterogeneous opinions; board chair leadership (i.e. an apprentice board leadership structure in association with the board chair’s openness to ideas); the breadth and depth of information sharing between executives and NCs; and the extent and timing to which major shareholders influence succession processes. Research limitations/implications The authors summarize the findings in a conceptual framework and develop a set of propositions to guide future research on the topic. Such studies may want to test the suggestions in a quantitative way, preferably in a multinational context. Originality/value The authors’ emerging conceptual framework contributes a set of information-processing variables by which NCs engage in comprehensive executive successions with incumbent executives, board chairs, and major shareholders and offers a multiechelon approach to study executive successions.