Assessing Board Diversity: Has the Deck Been Fairly Shuffled?

Abstract

Although legislation has altered the structure and scope of corporate boards in the past decade, the composition of many boards remains homogeneous. Often structural elements related to board tenure, and standing committees can impact board diversity and the selection of new board members. This experiential exercise was designed to enable student teams in an MBA graduate course to understand how specific structural components such as board size, board composition, and committee assignments influence board diversity. Student teams assume the role of a consultant hired by a Fortune 500 company to identify potential issues related to board diversity in their company as well as to develop recommendations to improve board diversity in the future.

Keywords

governance diversity board of directors

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