Local Expert Comments On Hewlett-Packard Board Dysfunction

Board Governance expert, Jim Brown, says good governance has never been more critical than in today’s morally ambiguous business climate. Hewlett-Packard Board Chair, Patricia Dunn was forced to resign because she hired private investigators to spy on other board members. There is currently an investigation to determine whether her conduct was criminal. “Having an effective board is not as simple as gathering a group of talented individuals. It is essential that board members develop trusting relationships and understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” says Brown.

Patrick Lencioni is the author of The New York Times best-selling book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. With Lencioni’s support, Jim Brown applies these principles to board teams. Many boards struggle with five common dysfunctions:
1. absence of trust
2. fear of conflict
3. lack of commitment
4. avoidance of accountability and
5. inattention to results.

There have been tensions within the HP board of directors and between HP senior managers since a highly-contested merger between HP and Compaq in 2002. Ironically, the matter that spurred Dunn’s spying was confidential information leaked to the media by board member George Keyworth revealing some of the tensions within HP. Clearly mistrust was rampant.

Radical actions, including the removal of Dunn and others from the board and company, will be necessary. But even more work will need to be done to deal with the root problems so that HP can change its board culture.

“A characteristic of great boards is that the members trust each other enough to ask penetrating questions and engage in meaningful debate,” says Brown. He goes on to say that effective boards enter into the kind of constructive conflict that enables them to come up with the best solutions to problems. Healthy boards are also able to hold each other accountable to group performance standards, values, and policies. HP has failed on all counts.

Jim Brown is the author of The Imperfect Board Member, published by Jossey-Bass, which will be released in October 2006. Brown is also the co-founder of a Guelph, Ontario-based company, Strive!, that has specialized in governance and board development for over a decade. Strive! was recently named the only Canadian Consulting Partner of Patrick Lenconi’s U.S. leadership consulting firm, The Table Group.

For more information or to arrange an interview with Jim Brown, contact STRIVE! General Manager April Burrows at 519 766-9033 or .