Top team processes: does 6 + 2 = 10?

This paper reports on the development of a questionnaire designed to measure the process aspects of the board as a working group. This initial study has been conducted among senior management teams due to the difficulty in gaining access to a sufficiently large sample of board teams at this development stage. The questionnaire was designed as one part of an investigation into standards of competence of boards of directors (Dulewicz et al. 1995; Institute of Directors, 1995). The questionnaire was distributed to the members of 54 “top teams”. A factor analysis of the response identified 12 main dimensions of group process. Reliability measures of these dimensions, which proved to be acceptable, are also reported. Finally, results of correlations between these 12 measures and three measures of group performance, derived from the team performance questionnaire, showed that the 12 process measures are significantly related to performance, and so have some validity.