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Performance measurements have become a prominent part of government steering of public agencies. At the same time, they are increasingly criticized for creating heavy administrative burdens. The purpose of this paper is to argue that consent on part of the heads of agencies is vital for making performance measurement an efficient tool for not only control but also organizational learning.

The paper reports a survey with a nearly total sample of Swedish Director Generals.

Findings suggest that Director Generals who feel that they are able to influence the goals and indicators of their agencies are significantly more willing to consent to the government’s reporting requirements.

The paper suggests that a more encompassing, interactive and participatory process might increase agency consent with reporting requirements.

A distinction must be drawn between a dismissal on the one hand, and on the other a repudiation of a contract of employment as a result of a breach of a fundamental term of that contract. When such a repudiation has been accepted by the innocent party then a termination of employment takes place. Such termination does not constitute dismissal (see London v. James Laidlaw & Sons Ltd (1974) IRLR 136 and Gannon v. J. C. Firth (1976) IRLR 415 EAT).

This study elaborates on the process through which gender-diverse boards of directors increase representation of females in management positions. This study draws on the gender spillover effect to examine whether gender diversity on boards of directors significantly influences the number of women promoted to managerial positions. The authors also employ implicit quota theory to examine the interaction effects of female board directors and their related strategies to target female customers as a source of female talent on the promotion numbers of female managers.

The authors draw from female manager panel data surveyed and gathered by the Korean Women Development Institute (KWDI), a Korean government-sponsored research institution, for the period 2008–2014. The total sample, comprising 5 biannual waves, includes 906 Korean companies across four wage rates. The authors apply zero-inflated negative binomial regression analyses to examine the effects of gender diversity on board director positions and its interactions with strategies targeting female markets on the number of female managerial promotions.

The authors find that gender diversity on boards of directors is positively related to the number of female managers promoted. Furthermore, in corporations where gender is not relevant to firms' strategy and decision-making, broader gender diversity increases the number of female managers promoted at lower- but not higher-level positions.

The current study demonstrates the complex role of gender diversity in board director positions in initiating and promoting the career development of female managers. On the one hand, gender diversity in board director positions has spillover effects on women's representation in management positions. On the other hand, female board directors impede the career progress of senior female managers to maintain their status in quotas when the female market is not critical to firms' competitiveness. Therefore, it is crucial to integrate two different concepts about gender diversity—the gender spillover effect and implicit quota theory—that elaborate on the effects of gender diversity in board director positions on female manager promotion numbers.

The importance of CEOs (chief executive officers) is not to be underestimated and this paper seeks to identify the problems in law of definition and thus liability of CEOs.

This paper draws upon the legislative and judicial experiences of China and compares them to those of the USA.

Since an owner and a manager become “the principal‐agent relationship” in the enterprise, the manager's “moral venture question” is inevitable. With the development of corporate governance structure, CEOs appear, thus people begin to take care of CEOs’ legal status and legal liability. A CEO has not only a manager's authority of office, but also some part of authorities of board of directors and president, so a CEO's legal position is higher than that of a manager. Because the questions caused by CEOs are increasing, it is necessary for us to draw lessons from American Corporate Law Reform, to revise our Corporate Law, to make definite CEOs’ legal status and to strengthen CEOs’ legal liability.

The findings will hopefully influence reform and development in this area in China.

This study aims to explore how the use of a performance measurement system (PMS) reflects the compatibility between institutional logics at different levels. It emphasises the centrality of institutional logics behind actors’ expectations.

Drawing on pragmatic constructivism, the study assumes that a PMS is used coherently when it realises the values and beliefs of the actors involved. This requires that actors communicate and understand one another (communication coherence) and accept the PMS in use (value coherence). The study argues that a coherent use of a PMS reflects the compatibility between the institutional logics at the same (field levels) or different levels (field and societal levels). The empirical evidence comes from a large public hospital located in the south of Italy.

The empirical results describe episodes that highlight how the coherence in the use of PMS reflects the compatibility of institutional logics at different levels and episodes where the compatibility can be hindered by problems in the coherent use of the PMS related to value and communication coherence. A lack of communication and value coherence is highlighted in the use of PMS as “compromising accounts”.

The study sheds light on how coherence in the use of PMS reflects the compatibility between the institutional logics involved at different levels, suggesting that a focus on one prevailing logic must be avoided. The study extends logics compatibility beyond the field level to the societal level.

To review and analyse the legal implications of the CA 2006 in respect of directors’ duties and powers, and in particular sections 172(1) and 471.

The use of business management theories complements the primary use of the legal doctrinal approach as applied in this study.

Section 172(1)'s wordings generate ambivalent legal implications for directors’ general duties as codified. It appears to give discretionary powers to directors where the review of the six statutory factors is concerned. However, directors will need to treat these seriously when read in conjunction with section 471. The latter pertains to directors’ disclosure obligations for the newly expanded business review section of the directors’ annual report. Available corporate evidence suggests that some corporate directors go beyond the minimum mandatory standards for environmental and social (Corporate Social responsibility, CSR) issues. They have benefited from the integration of their CSR policies and practices with their corporate strategic plans and actions. Some have even forged effective partnership with non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders to co‐create businesses.

This investigation provides strategic insights and practical thinking to investors, corporate directors, state planners, NGOs, and other corporate stakeholders.

Previous legal analysis on general directors’ duties focused on the law. This study advanced corporate legal theory further with the use of insights from contemporary business theories and practices.

This study aims to report on how programme directors address sustainability within engineering education at Swedish universities and engineering colleges.

The study was performed as a survey with follow-up interviews around the following core questions: to what extent do programme directors possess a deep understanding of the subject of sustainable development? Which are the core competencies in sustainable development that programme directors identify as important for their engineering students to acquire during their basic training? To what extent are those competencies integrated into engineering education today and what kind of support do programme directors receive from their department to integrate these competencies into the curriculum?

Programme directors believe that learning for sustainable development is important mainly based on their personal convictions. However, out of 10 potential learning objectives extracted from the literature, only four-six are implemented in degree programmes. Learning objectives and activities are not always aligned, as students are required to learn about interdisciplinary collaboration without working with students from other faculties. The programme directors receive some support from the department, but they express a need for additional support. Examples of support that they suggest are faculty training, efficient teaching material and incorporation of sustainability in the quality assessment instruments for degree programmes.

This study is the first comprehensive, national survey of what programme directors think about sustainability in higher education. Their views are important in the attempt to accelerate the integration of sustainability in higher education curricula.

The purpose of this research study was to examine the role perceptions of superintendents and their supervisors in Palestine regarding the roles and training needs of superintendents. It was part of a larger study conducted by the Department of Administration and Educational Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University.

A grounded theory approach was used in this study. Data were collected by interviewing 16 superintendents and four general directors using guided qualitative interviews, in addition to examining Ministry of Education documents and archival data.

The grounded theory approach analysis revealed that superintendents and general directors held variant perceptions regarding the roles and training needs of superintendents. Most superintendents felt they were ill prepared for the job and had to rely on the Ministry of Education for support and direction. They perceived their role as a combination of educational managers and educational leaders. Their supervisors, however, perceived them as keepers of the status quo. The findings showed that superintendents in countries similar to Palestine (newly emerging) appear to experience problems similar to their counterparts in other transitional societies.

The findings of this research are important to new educational systems. It shows clearly the difficulties experienced by superintendents in a newly emerging system. Furthermore, superintendents in such systems may require training needs different than their counterparts in developed systems. The findings are discussed in terms of their relevancy and contributions to educational leadership theory.

The point of exit in this research is that there should be an internal audit department in a national government department in South Africa to render a top‐class internal auditing service that is cost‐effective and affordable, preferred by clients, continuously complies with the standards of professional practice of internal auditing and best practice and have a positive impact on the national government department’s bottom line. The empirical research has highlighted several factors, including the ignorance of key role players and lack of professional proficiency on the part of internal auditors, as factors that impede the establishment and operation of an internal auditing function in the public sector in South Africa. It is recommended, that audit committees in the public sector should launch a joint marketing action, directed at key role players, to promote the potential value of a top‐class internal auditing service in the public sector, as well as the factors that impede it.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a first impact assessment of the Italian quota law in order to explore whether “gender equality by law” contributes to redefining, albeit in part, consolidating and establishing positions of power and decision making. The paper analyses these dynamics by focusing on a specific economic sector, the banking sector. The analysis strives to determine: whether binding quotas are giving rise to an apparent enforcement by building up new distortionary equilibria (such as new forms of horizontal segregation); what extent the financial crisis has impacted on the rhetoric of female representation, and whether it has pushed towards a “regenerative” organizational change aimed at achieving a more inclusive and egalitarian image.

The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews the theoretical and empirical debate on gender diversity and quota impact. Section 3 reports macro and micro data on the italian system; Section 4 describes the Italian banking system and gives a first impact assessment on Italian banks of the mandatory gender quotas in Italy (the so-called “Golfo-Mosca law,” named after MPs who proposed the law); some qualitative considerations are carried out on the reactions of Italian banks to the financial crisis in terms of “bridge policies” aimed at corresponding to a higher demand of customer satisfaction and fairness. Section 5 concludes and summarizes the finding of the study.

The Italian banking system is not so dramatically ranked among the EU countries as in the recent past. The gender rebalance in management bodies could be considered rather satisfying. If we compare ten-year-old findings, the number of women on board of directors has tripled. But data clearly show a dichotomy due to significant differences between listed and non-listed banks. In non-listed banks, women are still relegated to an under-represented position, reaching only 13 percent on boards of directors (as against 33 percent in listed banks). The data confirm the results found in non-financial sector that women are significantly better represented on audit boards. In accordance with all previous studies, no relevant changes can be noticed on key-decision roles: no CEOs or Directors general are women in listed banks, and women are always more represented in non-executive functions.

The paper analyses the law experience in Italy as a significant case study by proving that rules such as temporary binding gender quotas (introduced by law in 2011) can be useful, but not always enough to remove blocking or distortive factors in organizational ladders.