Transforming Municipal Boards into Accountable, High-Performing Teams: Toward a Diagnostic Model of Governing Board Effectiveness

This article addresses the question of how municipal governing boards can make themselves accountable to higher standards of performance. There are many mechanisms that ensure accountability of administrators to governing bodies, but other than elections, how are members of governing bodies held accountable for their performance? Using an organization development (OD) perspective, the authors report the results of an empirical study of 32 northern Illinois municipal governing boards, based on a sample of 150 board members. An index of governing board effectiveness (GBE) is constructed and then tested against characteristics of small group behavior that should promote small group performance. Evidence is found to support the hypotheses that effective work group design, regenerative interpersonal relations, board-staff relations, and specific work group processes all significantly associate with GBE. These findings lend empirical support to the use of the GBE measures as tools for diagnosing and targeting specific areas for governing board improvement through customized OD intervention.