An Analysis of the Behavioural Dynamics of Corporate Governance – a talk‐based ethnography of a UK manufacturing ‘board‐in‐action’

This article draws upon research conducted in a UK manufacturing company where a group of directors and senior managers (managerial elites) interacting with each other were observed and captured on audio and video tape recordings. From detailed analysis of their talk‐based interpersonal routines, the nature of their linguistic skills and how factors such as knowledge, know‐how and experience were deployed to influence boardroom process was explored. They also simultaneously sought to preserve the protocols of human interaction. The objective here is to reproduce a small set of typical interactive routines between this group of managerial elites to illustrate aspects of this analysis. In particular, we illustrate their use of two basic micro‐linguistic resources; the display of feelings and emotions, and; the routine selection of lexemes which activate arenas of expertise and knowledge. The laminated effect of successive interactive exchanges of the sort reproduced in this paper allowed for a range of board tasks to be executed alongside the concurrent assembly of an effective (or not) competent performance in the boardroom. Taken together this paper and our prior one provides a basis for developing a systematic and rigourous approach for the study of the behavioural dynamics of corporate governance.