This seems to be a week for companies to put the squeeze on executives whom they do not want to take the top job.

Jamie Dimon,  chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, has reshuffled the ranks to push out Bill Winters, co-head of its investment bank. BBVA, the Spanish bank, has prompted the resignation of José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, its chief executive, by re-appointing Francisco González, executive chairman, to the board.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Mark Hurd, chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, may merge the company’s personal computer and printing units under Todd Bradley, who runs the former. That could leave Vyomesh Joshi, head of the printing division and a star executive, in the lurch:

Mr Joshi, 55 years old, has run HP’s Imaging and Printing Group for the past eight years. He joined HP in 1980 as an engineer and has held various executive posts. One possibility is that Mr Joshi will leave the company in coming month.

These moves come as other companies, including Chevron are appointing new chief executives, so there is an outbreak of executive reshuffling.

I suspect all this is a symptom of pent-up tensions in boardrooms, held in check as companies have struggled to restore financial and operational stability during the past year, being released.

In that sense, it can be seen as a positive for the business environment. If companies feel stable enough to shake things up in the boardroom, they must be feeling more secure.