Evaluating the Board of Directors: International Practice, is arguing that the performance and effectiveness of a board need to be measured along "four dimensions," namely:
• The quality of the monitoring and risk-management role.
• The quality of the strategic and other business-related advice.
• Board dynamics and board members’ pro-active participation.
• Board composition and diversity.
Such a framework recognizes the multiple functions that a board needs to perform in a contemporary context and moves beyond the control-oversight function that often dominates the current discussion.
The paper concludes that the most valuable and useful board evaluation exercises are built around four fundamental principles. These principles offer answers to the following questions:
• When should a board be evaluated? Don’t wait for problems to initiate evaluate but institutionalize systems for a continual process of self-evaluation.
• What should be evaluated? Give equal weight to all "four dimensions" of board performance and don’t over-emphasize the compliance-risk management function.
• Who should conduct the board evaluation and how should it be implemented? Ensure that diverse perspectives, criteria and data-collection/analysis methods are integrated into an open and inclusive evaluation process.
• How should the evaluation be disclosed/reported? The style and format of reporting-disclosure of the results of the evaluation should be seen as an opportunity and not an obligation.
