ABSTRACT
Board decision-making is a critically important part of running an effective organization. There are numerous examples that substantiate this claim by reflecting on the calamitous impact of some board’s decisions. Tesco spent 20 years considering a move into the US market, and undertook two years of intensive on-the-ground research. They even sent senior executives to live with Californian families to observe the way they shopped and ate. This chapter looks at three real-life examples: Organization T, Organization W and Board K. The core leadership team of this retail organization has been together for 18 months. The team has concerned itself with merging two organizations with challenging financial objectives to meet their bank’s demands. In the basic assumption of ‘fight-flight’, the group behaves as though it has met to preserve itself at all costs; it achieves this by running away from or fighting someone or something. In ‘fight’ mode, the group may be characterized by aggressiveness.
