ACCA知识点：董事会多元化（二）DIVERSIFYING THE BOARD

Ⅱ. 董事会多元化的好处-BENEFITS OF BOARD DIVERSITY

? 更有效地做出决策More effective decision making.

? 更好的利用人才Better utilisation of the talent pool.

? 通过将公司建立为一个负责任的企业公民去提高企业声誉和投资者关系Enhancement of corporate reputation and investor relations by establishing the company as a responsible corporate citizen.

Ⅲ. 董事会多元化的成本-COSTS OF DIVERSIFYING THE BOARD

Diversifying the board is not without costs. Though a board is inherently subject to conflict as it is formed by individuals collectively, having a diverse board may potentially increase friction between members, especially when new directors with different backgrounds are stereotyped by existing members as atypical. This may split the board into subgroups, which reduces group cohesiveness and impairs trust among members, leading to reluctance to share information within the board.

Another danger of board diversity is sometimes referred to as tokenism. Theoretically, as mentioned in the previous section, the minorities in the boardroom are said to contribute to value creation of the organisation by their unique skills and experiences; however, in practice, they may feel that their presence is only to make up the numbers required by the external stakeholders. They may then tend to undervalue their own skills, achievements and experiences, which mean their potential contribution to the organisation.

Further, the board may potentially ignore the underlying important attributes of successful directors as a sacrifice to meet the requirement of board diversity. The board needs to pay special attention to these costs when implementing measures to diversify the board.