Search results

The strategic management perspective suggests that organizations structure their governing boards to complement the strategic goals of the organization. In contrast, the institutionalization perspective holds that organizations structure their governing boards to respond to institutional pressures in their task environment. Regardless of which perspective is followed, three structural dimensions of governing boards are expected to be affected: size, diversity of composition, and medical staff representation. A study was conducted to relate the institutional requirements and strategies of acute care hospitals to the structural characteristics of their boards of directors. Results indicated that, after controlling for organizational size and membership in a multihospital system, the governing board structure of 109 acute care hospitals varied significantly both as a function of their overall business strategy and as a function of institutional linkages. However, the proportion of the total variance in board structure accounted for by strategy variables was approximately twice as much as that accounted for by institutional variables.

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a study carried out to determine the effect of governing boards on the performance of Ugandan secondary schools. Specifically, the study investigated whether governing boards (board role performance, finance committee role performance, board size, frequency of board meetings and board finance expertise) have an effect on the perceived performance of the schools.

This study is cross-sectional and correlational. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 271 schools out of which 200 responded. The data were analysed through ordinary least squares regression using Statistical Package for Social Scientists.

The results suggest that board role performance, finance committee role performance, frequency of meetings and finance expertise of governing boards have a significant effect on the schools’ performance.

The authors measure some of the variables qualitatively and perceptively contrary to, for instance, the commonly used quantitative measures of performance, but process factors which are inherently qualitative in nature can better explain variances in secondary schools’ performance. Thus, in this study, the authors do not claim highly refined measurement concepts. More research is therefore needed to better refine qualitative concepts used in this study. The results too suggest that board and finance committee role performance and finance expertise of the board are more important for performance of a school than board size, and frequency of meetings which academics have been focusing on. These findings call for more research to validate the posited relationships.

The results are important for governing board policy development; for example, in terms of prescribing the qualifications for schools’ governing board members and also finance committee board members.

This study shows that one way to capture the influence of all governing boards’ roles including service role is to adopt a perception-based approach which asks respondents to what extent they think governing boards fulfil all their roles. Unlike previous studies which used proxies for board role performance such as proportion of non-executive directors and board size for monitoring and control and resource provision, the study incorporates proxies as well as perception-based measures of board role performance to determine if governing boards have a significant influence on the performance of Uganda secondary schools.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of voluntary disclosures in UK higher education institutions’ (HEIs) annual reports and examine whether internal governance structures influence disclosure in the period following major reform and funding constraints.

The authors adopt a modified version of Coy and Dixon’s (2004) public accountability index, referred to in this paper as a public accountability and transparency index (PATI), to measure the extent of voluntary disclosures in 130 UK HEIs’ annual reports. Informed by a multi-theoretical framework drawn from public accountability, legitimacy, resource dependence and stakeholder perspectives, the authors propose that the characteristics of governing and executive structures in UK universities influence the extent of their voluntary disclosures.

The authors find a large degree of variability in the level of voluntary disclosures by universities and an overall relatively low level of PATI (44 per cent), particularly with regards to the disclosure of teaching/research outcomes. The authors also find that audit committee quality, governing board diversity, governor independence and the presence of a governance committee are associated with the level of disclosure. Finally, the authors find that the interaction between executive team characteristics and governance variables enhances the level of voluntary disclosures, thereby providing support for the continued relevance of a “shared” leadership in the HEIs’ sector towards enhancing accountability and transparency in HEIs.

In spite of significant funding cuts, regulatory reforms and competitive challenges, the level of voluntary disclosure by UK HEIs remains low. Whilst the role of selected governance mechanisms and “shared leadership” in improving disclosure, is asserted, the varying level and selective basis of the disclosures across the surveyed HEIs suggest that the public accountability motive is weaker relative to the other motives underpinned by stakeholder, legitimacy and resource dependence perspectives.

This is the first study which explores the association between HEI governance structures, managerial characteristics and the level of disclosure in UK HEIs.

A university of medical sciences (UMS) is governed by a board that serves analogously as a board of trustees or a governing board in the western countries. In Iran, however, such boards operate under the broad leadership of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME) but still wield enormous power over their universities. Given the influence boards have in the affairs of an UMS, the question remains how the medical university board can be improved so as to improve the overall effectiveness of these institutions. The purpose of this article is a response to this question by focusing on criteria necessary for reviewing board performance.

Using a qualitative approach, the study solicited data from 37 key informants that were purposefully chosen from 52 medical science universities across Iran. Semi-structured face-to-face and phone interviews as well as a review of relevant document were the main means of the data gathering. We performed the framework analysis using software ATLAS-ti (version 5).

The analysis identified 32 overlapping indicators that must be considered in a board performance. These indicators were reclassified and summarized into six categories, including trustees, trustees' leadership, board structure, board process, board output (short-length results) and board outcomes (long-length results).

Our study findings confirmed the role of the context and its relationship with the effective board performance. Here, the governing arrangement of all institutions including UMS is shadowed by the social, economic, cultural, political and technological status of the country. So, special attention is recommended to identify what should be considered to evaluate the performance of the board given the context.

Written originally as a lecture for American students of tertiary educational administration, this essay traces the historical development of lay boards governing American universities and compares this with the current practice at an Australian university. The increasing influence of governmental bureaucracies in both countries is highlighted. The author, an American professor teaching as a visitor in Australia, takes a second look at the American policy of excluding faculty from governing boards. The presence of faculty members on the board could be a bulwark in the defense of academic freedom and institutional excellence.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and effective board governance.

This study applied a model of emotional intelligence competencies to the practice domains of school boards. A board self‐assessment questionnaire measured board practice domains for the presence or absence of 18 emotional intelligence competencies defined in an emotional competence inventory. Inter‐rater reliabilities were established and confirmed. Current and former school board members in two urban areas rank‐ordered the most critical emotional intelligence competencies for effective board governance and offered explanations for their most highly‐rated competencies.

Emotional intelligence is a critical factor for effective school boards. A set of six core competencies are universal across the six board practice domains: transparency; achievement; initiative; organizational awareness; conflict management; and teamwork and collaboration. Each board practice domain is also characterized by one or two key emotional intelligence competencies.

First, one model of school board leadership was used. Future studies should examine additional models of effective board practice for their relationships with emotional intelligence in order to extend the generalizability of these results. Second, there has been some debate regarding the substantive nature of the emotional intelligence construct.

The six practice domains in the school board effectiveness model are fundamental elements for all boards to develop in order to become more effective governing bodies.

This paper identifies a novel application of emotional intelligence leadership competencies to the work of effective governance boards.

This study aims to use the original data collected from school board members representing nonprofit charter schools in the state of Minnesota to examine the relationship between the distribution of board-executive governance responsibilities and the performance of organizations operating as part of a New Public Management style macro-governance reform.

A combination of survey data collected from Minnesota charter school board members and hard performance data were utilized in two OLS regression models to predict the link between organizational governance and school performance.

The authors find that boards can improve hard measures of organizational performance by shifting responsibility of day-to-day operations closer to the executive, and public advocacy duties closer to the board. The results build on the existing literatures on school board governance and board-executive relations. Overall, the findings suggest the existence of an ideal balance between board-executive governance responsibilities in key functional areas on charter school boards.

Though a healthy literature exists regarding the value of charter schools, very few studies have actually explored the way in which these organizations are governed. This study is the first to link charter board governance responsibilities to performance.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the existing mechanisms for legitimising member based sport organisations can lead to poor governance and how accepted democratic processes can be manipulated to suit the personal agenda of individuals over the vision of the organisation.

Three cases are provided to illustrate how, it is relatively easy for individuals to manipulate the established rules in order to obtain and retain power.

The self-regulatory nature of sport assumes that elected representatives put the organisation’s interests before their own and that they always act in the best interests of the members. The evidence, provided in this paper, suggests that this assumption may be inappropriate.

The case studies provided occurred within the boundaries of one continental grouping of countries and may be considered biased due to the specific demographic characteristics of this part of the world and the relative lack of development of sport systems that exist there.

The paper raises important questions about the appropriateness of the legitimising mechanisms that affect sport and the challenges that face modern sport organisations.

The paper may provide a basis for arguing that the concepts of democracy and autonomy in sport organisations need to be reviewed if their autonomy is to be maintained.

This paper provides a basis for challenging the basis of how sport is structured and how member based sport organisations are legitimised to operate as they do.

As in many countries today, health services across Canada are being restructured. Most jurisdictions within Canada are also restructuring and experimenting with the governance function of health‐delivery organizations. However, much of this governance reorganization is being done in a vacuum. New governance models have appeared lately that defy the first principles of good corporate governance. Identifies and examines the nine principles of good organizational governance as well as the five benchmarks of excellence in governance. An example of a governance “monster” – one of the latest experiments in corporate leadership in Canadian health care – is also critiqued. Presents conclusions, lessons and warnings which all health‐services managers – indeed, all public sector managers – should heed.

The purpose of this paper is to study how different types of trust develop and change over time in the collaboration between an organization and its board.

This paper is a response to a recent call to apply the concept of trust in understanding the collaboration between a public organization, its board, and other stakeholders. Here, the authors study a single case, and based on a longitudinal in-depth case study method covering the period of 2003–2015, the authors have conducted 27 interviews, including the CEO and all the board members.

The authors introduce and advance the concept of trust in the public sector literature on board work. This paper shows that trust is complex and multidimensional at different units of analysis. The types of trust discussed in this paper are cognitive, affective, contractual, competence, and goodwill. Different types of trust are developed to make the collaboration between a governed organization and its board to work.

Because this paper uses the case study method and only studies one single case, the findings of this paper might be questioned on the issue of generalization.

The authors conceptualize and adopt trust as a multidimensional, dynamic concept, and with different units of analyses, capture the nature of the collaboration between a public organization and its board, and its complexity.