Thin on Top

Citation

(2003), "Thin on Top", Work Study, Vol. 52 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.2003.07952fae.005

Thin on Top

Thin on Top

Bob GarrattNicholas BrealeyISBN: 1-85788-3195£19.99

This book is full of lists! Sometimes it seems a bit too much if "fill in the boxes" but behind it lies good sense. So, its worth looking behind the 12 trend lines, the 11 elements of the strategic cycle, the ten directorial duties, the nine dials on the directorial dashboard, the eight sources of corporate error … you get the picture! You also need to look behind some of Garratt's rather obvious personal prejudices – the phrase "euro-sceptic" comes to mind!

Garratt has a relatively simple thesis – that that most directors are ill-prepared for the roles they are expected to play. Couple this with the fact that few receive any form of training and its easy to see why there are concerns about the quality of corporate governance, and to understand why most boards of directors are weak at assessing the performance of the management teams they are supposed to oversee.

These boards will get a rude awakening from their apathy and complacent when all the proposed changes in recent legislation and regulation take full effect.

Garratt outlines his own recommendations for action in the second half of the book. These cover the training and development of directors, and suggestions as to how boards should interact with the management team.

Those boards would do well to consider some of the recommendations – generally sensible – that make up the second half of Garratt's book. He has useful things to say about how to train and develop directors, how boards should interact with management, and how to evaluate a board's own performance. This forms a relatively simple, but sensible, system for identifying, measuring and managing a new set of competencies for a board of directors.