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Comprehensive Abstracted Bibliography of Papers and Journal Articles on
Nonprofit Boards and Governance Abzug, Rikki & Galaskiewicz, Joseph. “Nonprofit Boards: Crucibles of Expertise or Symbols of Local Identities?” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2001, 30 (1), 51-73. Nonprofit boards, as boundary spanners, often serve the institutional purpose of affording legitimacy to organizations. Neo-institutional theory suggests that nonprofit organizations, as particularly susceptible to legitimacy demands of changing environments, would tend toward rationalizing internal structures. This article, using historical panel data, explores the extent of one form of rationalization, recruiting trustees with college education and/or professional or managerial occupations. It finds that trustees with college education, managers, and professionals continue to have significant representation on nonprofit boards. Also, many boards are increasingly less exclusive with respect to gender, race, and religion. Some select nonprofit boards, however, continue to be dominated by different gender, race, and religious identities, suggesting that nonprofit boards also serve the purpose of representing different identity and/or interest groups in the community. Adams, Allo O. “Quality of Board Governance in Nonprofit Healthcare Organizations.” Internet Journal of Healthcare Administration, 2003, 2 (2), 15-37. According to Pointer and Orlikoff's 1999 book, in response to the revolutionary change in providing and financing healthcare services, healthcare organizations are undertaking radical transformations to survive. The quality of board governance has become a life-saving necessity to healthcare organizations. This article raises a number of issues regarding the quality of board governance in nonprofit healthcare organizations. These include effectiveness of board governance linked to organizational performance, board accountability to communities served, how to be an effective chairman, how board self-assessment changes the governance process, developing effective information systems in ways that respect the governance roles and responsibilities, policy formulation regarding finance matters and quality of care, and the red flags of poor governance. Finally, this article discusses the essential factor contributing to the board: executive relationship. Alexander, J. & Weiner, B. "The Adoption of the Corporate Governance Model by Nonprofit Organizations." Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 1998, 8 (3), 223-242. This article examines the circumstances under which nonprofit organizations adopt corporate governance practices. In the study reported here, the authors found that adoption of corporate governance practices depends primarily on the presence of a supportive institutional (that is, value) context as well as available resources to support governance restructuring. These findings strongly suggest that the adoption of structures and practices from the for-profit sector is neither feasible nor even a desirable solution to the problems facing many nonprofit organizations. Alexander, J., Comfort, M. & Weiner, B. "Governance in Public-Private Community Health Partnerships: A Survey of the Community Care Network Demonstration Sites." Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 1998, 8 (4), 311-332. This review of the governance practices of twenty-five public-private partnerships involved in addressing a broad range of community health needs shows that governance in public-private community partnerships departs significantly from traditional notions of institutional governance. Governance structures and degrees of progress toward governance goals vary widely and appear to be systematically related to the organization, composition, location and activity of each partnership. Alexander, Jeffrey A. “Governance for Whom? The Dilemmas of Change and Effectiveness in Hospital Boards.” Frontiers of Health Services Management, 6 (3), 38-41. A response to Anthony Kovner’s article, “Improving Hospital Board Effectiveness,” published in the same issue of this journal. This author raises additional questions and issues surrounding hospital board governance, including the myth of a universal governance model, changing board roles, and the use of a contingency perspective on board effectiveness.Alexander, Jeffrey A, Weiner, Bryan J. & Bogue, Richard J. “Changes in the Structure, Composition, and Activity of Hospital Governing Boards, 1989-1997: Evidence from Two National Surveys.” The Milbank Quarterly, 2001, 79 (2), 253-279. Health care policy is often associated with federal and state legislation or regulation. Yet responsibility for interpreting, responding to, and implementing public policy at the local level often falls to the governing boards of hospitals and other health delivery organizations. The fiduciary role of governing boards assigns them direct accountability for accommodating the complex and often divergent demands of regulation, market forces, the community, and the organization itself. Little systematic attention, however, has been given to this important policymaking role of hospital boards and how boards adapt to fulfill this role in a changing health care environment. Allison, Michael. “Into the fire: Boards and executive transitions.” Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 2002, 12 (4), 341-353. Managing the transition an organization undergoes when one chief executive leaves and another is hired is both a defining responsibility and one of the most critical jobs a governing board faces. CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, which consulted to twenty-eight organizations going through such transitions, found that three characteristic threats to successful transitions for nonprofit boards emerged: 1. boards underestimate the risks and costs of bad hires; 2. boards are typically unprepared for the task; and 3. boards too often focus on the problems in hiring new CEOs and fail to make full use of the opportunities in CEO transitions. This article describes the development of services to help organizations in transition, gives results from the first two years of work, and offers suggestions for support to boards and for future research. Ammarell, Natalie. "Board-Executive Relations in the Context of Organization Transformation." Draft paper prepared for Annual Conference of ARNOVA, Indianapolis, Indiana, December 4-6, 1997. The purpose of this research is to add to our understanding of the board-executive relationship by looking at it within the particular context of organization transformation. The central question being explored is: What are the roles and the patterns of interaction in the relationship between the board of directors and executive director (leadership core) as human service organizations engage in the process of organization transformation? This paper seeks to shed light on this and related questions by offering preliminary findings from exploratory case studies of the board-executive relationship in two human service agencies undergoing transformation at the time of the study. Andersen O.J. “Public–Private Partnerships: Organisational Hybrids as Channels for Local Mobilisation and Participation?” Scandinavian Political Studies, March 2004, 27 (1), 1-21. The article focuses on new forms of governance involving partnerships between public and private actors. As several scholars have noticed, organisational hybrids at the intersection of the public and private sectors play an important part in the implementation of collective action. Local economic development in particular has provided a fertile ground for building coalitions across traditional divisions, and encouraging partnerships. This applies to Norway as well as to other liberal Western democracies. Obviously, the formation of partnerships reflects efforts to design more efficient and flexible instruments for founding new firms and for supporting local entrepreneurs. The article, however, raises the question of whether these arrangements may entail a far more expanded role and domain, opening up new channels for participation and mobilisation. By expanding their agenda and integrating new segments of the local community, public–private partnerships appear to be an innovation in local democracy. Analytically, the article utilises elements of regime theory. Although the partnerships studied hardly constitute stable coalitions dominating local politics, they nevertheless illustrate how the building of coalitions including both private and public actors is crucial to coping with the problems and challenges of local restructuring and revitalisation. Case studies carried out in Norwegian municipalities provide the main empirical source. The article does, however, build on experience from other European countries. Anonymous "Trustees in Transition." Trustee, 1998, 51 (7), 14-18. While health care’s move toward integration holds promise for better economies of scale and operating efficiency, it has also made health care organizations more complex to govern. Board practices, policies and procedures that provided successful in the past must now evolve to meet these new complexities and challenges. Various surveys in areas such as criteria for trustee selection, trustee selection criteria for non-profit hospitals, what influences CEO evaluations, and governing functions where higher authority exists, are presented. The implications of these various issues are also discussed. Austin, J. "Business Leaders and Nonprofits." Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 1998, 9 (1), 39-51. How do nonprofits figure into the lives of business leaders? And how do business leaders figures into the lives of nonprofits? The intersections exist but there is relatively little systematic research to document empirically this piece of the nonprofit picture. This article aims to help fill that void by presenting research results regarding the who, when, where, why, how, and so what of the involvement of businesspeople in the nonprofit sector, particularly as board members. Auteri, M. & R. Wagner “The Organizational Architecture of Nonprofit Governance: Economic Calculation Within an Ecology of Enterprises” Public Organization Review 7(1) (2007): 57-68. This paper treats nonprofit firms as elements within the ecology of enterprises that constitute an economy. Within this ecological framework, nonprofit governance must to a significant extent be guided by economic signals generated through market competition. After we examine the problems of economic calculation that nonprofit enterprises face, we consider the organizational logic of nonprofit firms as one that is driven by the creation of points of contact with the market economy. The operation of this logic creates some general limit on the range and size of nonprofit firms, and also presents issues of governance that differ from those faced by profit-seeking firms. Subsequently, we use our conceptual framework to illuminate some issues concerning the organization of nonprofit firms. Axelrod, Nancy R. "Board Leadership and Board Development." The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. Robert D. Herman and Associates (Ed.). Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, 1994, 119-136. Axelrod analyzes the development of board leadership and tells how boards can fully meet their leadership obligations. Barr, A., Fafchamps, M. & Owens, T. “The governance of non-governmental organizations in Uganda.” World Development, April 2005, 33 (4), 657-679. Using original survey data, we document the activities, resources, and governance structure of NGOs operating in Uganda. The NGO sector is funded primarily by international non-governmental organizations and bilateral donors. We find large differences in size and funding across NGOs, with only a few NGOs attracting most of the funding. Most NGOs are small and underfunded and focus on raising awareness and advocacy. Few NGOs are faith based. Most screening and monitoring is done by grant agencies. Some monitoring is also done internally by members and trustees. Little monitoring is done by government. NGOs do not file income tax returns, and few respondents are able to provide coherent financial accounts. (Scopus) Bart, Chris & Deal, Ken. “The governance role of the board; in corporate strategy: A comparison of board practices in ‘for profit’ and ‘not for profit’ organizations? International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 2006, 2 (1/2/), 2-22. To what extent are there differences in the strategic practices of Boards of ‘for profit’ and ‘not for profit’ organizations? While there are obvious differences in the way these two types of organizations operate, the question as to whether those differences extend into the boardroom – and, especially, how directors engage with their managements on strategy – is currently unknown. Accordingly, this paper reports on the nature and extent of the board’s strategic role in both for profit and not for profit organizations and then makes a direct comparison of them. Interestingly, the lack of significant differences between these two types of organization constitutes a major finding of this current investigation and suggests that, in the area of governance, the supposed – or claimed – differences between for profit and not for profit organizations may be more imagined than real. In fact, there may be some very practical reasons for their similarity. Besnette, F. et al. "Sweeping Reform of Public Trusteeship? Yes It's Time for Change!" and "Not All Boards Need It." Trusteeship, May/June 1998, 6-15. Two articles debate the issues concerning the future governance of public higher education. Five leaders of state systems critique Richard T. Ingram’s AGB Public Policy Paper, "Transforming Public Trusteeship." The authors contend that borrowing approaches from private higher education won’t necessarily solve the challenges facing public higher education. Ingram replies, stating that higher education’s changing environment calls for new ways of thinking about governing boards, how they are composed, and how they should function. Bilchik, Gloria Shur. "Outside/In: Health Care Boards Look Beyond Their Communities for Trustees." Trustee. July, 1999. The idea of broadening board membership to add perspective and expertise on health care boards is gaining support. Changes such as moves into new businesses and new markets, growth by acquisition, and new levels of financial risk often require levels of expertise not currently on the board. Bilchik discusses the successes of Oakwood Healthcare in Michigan, Allina Health System in Minnesota, Clarion Health Partners in Indiana and Intermountain Health Care System in Utah since making the transition to invite outsiders to be members of local boards. Billis, David. "Sector Blurring and Nonprofit Centers: The Case of the United Kingdom." Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 1993, 22 (3), 241-257. Fifteen years have passed since the Centre for Voluntary Organisation was founded in London. In reviewing the history of research on the voluntary sector in the United Kingdom, the author asks whether the progressive blurring of boundaries between the governmental, proprietary, and voluntary sectors means that in the long run the third sector will disappear. He argues that it will not, proposing that the core of the voluntary sector is the associational base out of which organizations grow. In turn, that base has connections to the personal, nonorganizational sector of life. Sector blurring occurs at the boundaries between the sectors, but mixed-form organizations generally do not have associational bases. Billis, David and Margaret Harris. "Taking the Strain of Change: U.K. Local Voluntary Agencies Enter the Post-Thatcher Period." Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 1992, 21 (3), 211-225. This article draws together the findings from a program of research undertaken in the United Kingdom during the decade 1980-1990 ("the Thatcher period"). Using an analytic framework that distinguishes among the activities of agencies, their implicit welfare policies, organizational structures, governance systems, and human and financial resources, this article explores changes in the work of local voluntary and nonprofit agencies. Major changes in each of these dimensions are identified, and the relationships among them are discussed. The broad objective of the article is to increase understanding of the underlying structures of voluntary agencies. Bird, Frederick. “Good governance: A philosophical discussion of the responsibilities and practices of organizational governors.” Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l'Administration, 2001, 18 (4), 298-312. This paper explores the basic responsibilities of those who "govern" any kind of organization, whether these be non-profits, widely held or closely held firms, cooperatives, or voluntary agencies. It adopts a perspective that is largely philosophical and sociological rather than legal or economic, and explores the basic functions of governors in relation to their organizations. It begins its inquiry by contrasting managing and governing. It argues that the practice of governing consists fundamentally in the exercise of reflective and authoritative judgment. The paper then reflects on the basic character of organizations, using what the author refers to as a revised stakeholder model. It argues that organizations are constituted and reconstituted by their ongoing, negotiated, asset-creating interactions with diverse constituencies. With this enlarged view of organizations as a frame of reference, the paper then spells out in order of importance the fundamental responsibilities of governors. Block, Stephen R. and Steven Rosenberg. "On Nonprofit Board Governance: Do the Heroes Believe in Our Expectations?" Paper presented at the Boards and Beyond Conference, Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership, Kansas City, Missouri, Spring 2005. There has been some suggestion among scholars and practitioners that what is expected of volunteer board members is often of an unreasonably high standard and may be considered “heroic.” This paper explores the question of whether or not board members accept these expectations and if they should behave in the various ways that some scholarly writings prescribe for effective governance. The authors surveyed ninety-nine board chairs and 188 executive directors to ascertain their opinions on a list of board member expectations culled from scholarly literature. The paper provides the results of the survey. Block, Stephen R. and Steven Rosenberg. “Toward an understanding of founder's syndrome: An assessment of power and privilege among founders of nonprofit organizations.” Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 2002, 12 (4) 353-368. Class structures often exist within nonprofit boards. For example, some individuals are more influential because board colleagues hold them in higher esteem for their years of service, some for their significant financial contributions, and others for the credibility they bring to the organization because of their professional and personal standing in the community Besides these factors, all of which promote class differences, one person inherently holds privileges and power that only a few individuals will ever experience: the founder of a nonprofit organization. Founders syndrome refers to the influential powers and privileges that the founder exercises or that others attribute to the founder. The use of the word syndrome further suggests unhealthy organizational situations in which founders are more heavy-handed and indifferent about the imbalance of their control over organizations. Survey research findings support the idea that characteristic differences exist when a founder leads a nonprofit organization. Boulian, Paul V. “Explorations in Governance and Leadership: The Philadelphia Orchestra.” Harmony, 2002, 14, 18-33. Over the last several years, members of the Philadelphia Orchestra community—board, staff, musicians, and volunteers—have invested many hours in discussion and analysis of their governance and leadership processes. Beginning in the fall of 1997, representatives of the Symphony Orchestra Institute engaged groups and individuals from the organization on topics of organizational performance and relationships among key constituencies.
Bowen, William G. “When a Business Leader Joins a
Nonprofit Board.” Harvard Business Review, September-October 1994, 72
(5), 38-43. Bozec, R., D. Zéghal, and A. Boujenoui. “The Effect of the Reform of Canadian State-Owned Enterprises on Major Corporate Governance Mechanisms.” Australian Journal of Public Administration, June 2004, 63 (2), 79-94. Corporate governance is nowadays one of the most discussed topics by academics, practitioners and regulators. Most of the discussion is targeted at publicly held corporations. The present research deals with the issue of governance in the public sector and more specifically in state-owned enterprises (SOEs). We investigate the effect of the reform of Canadian SOEs on the characteristics of boards and board committees. Our results seem to confirm the presence of significant adjustments in board characteristics following two major events in the reform: commercialisation and privatisation. In both cases, boards have on average evolved towards a set of structures and mechanisms that have the potential to improve independence and governance. This study sheds new lights on the process of adjusting corporate governance mechanisms to new strategies and to new environments. Bradshaw, P., et. al. "Nonprofit Governance Models: Problems and Prospects." Paper presented at the ARNOVA Conference, Seattle, Washington, Fall, 1998. In this paper we argue that there is currently no agreement about a prescriptive model of nonprofit governance which can provide a one best way. Rather we conceptualize the field as containing several distinct models. We suggest that within the current diversity of thought about governance there is an exciting opportunity to create more new models which are hybrids of existing and emerging models with the selection of the best model based on a contingency approach. The paper begins with a review and critique of the normative literature on nonprofit boards. This literature is based on assumptions about the feasibility of long-range planning, the value of hierarchy, the ability to avoid power struggles and the need for clarity of roles and spheres of influence. We explore the limits of these assumptions and raise several critiques such as the emergence of a "corporate" model, the failure to address race and gender biases, the exclusion of new models of management and the devaluing of partnership alternatives. The more academic literature on boards is then summarized and the range of different perspectives outlined, for example, interpretive, political and functional perspectives. We characterize existing models along two dimensions: stability vs. innovation and unitary vs. pluralistic. This provides us with a way of mapping the current perspectives according to four different models of governance; the Policy Governance model, the Corporate model, the Constituency model and the Emergent Cellular model. The paper briefly describes the characteristics of each model and outlines the positive negative features of each. We conclude the paper by describing a new hybrid model which embraces the strengths of each model and also capitalizes on some of the new ways of framing management in turbulent times. New and potentially exciting prospects for governance can be identified when the diversity of thought in the field of governance is recognized and embraced. We hope this paper helps encourage and liberate innovation and creativity in the governance of nonprofit organizations. Bradshaw, Patricia. “Reframing board-staff relations: Exploring the governance function using a storytelling metaphor.” Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 2002, 12 (4) 471-484. This article attempts to reframe board-staff relations by presenting an alternative perspective on governance, management, and leadership functions within nonprofit organizations. It draws on an interpretative view of organizations and suggests that we can understand nonprofits as socially constructed entities by using the metaphor of storytelling. Seeing the role of board and staff through this theoretical lens allows us to reconceptualize them. This in turn enables us to enhance the creative potential of the governance function and allows governance to support the goal of creating resilient, adaptive, learning organizations. An alternative way of thinking about the leadership, management, and governance functions of nonprofit organizations is proposed. Distinguishing between these concepts as functions as opposed to roles can help to ensure that the organization is more creative, adaptive, reflexive, and resilient. Particularly in times of turbulence and uncertainty, such fundamental questioning of deeply held reality constructions and relations of power may be important for organizational survival and health.
Bradshaw, Pat, Vic Murray, and Jacob Wolpin. “Do
Nonprofit Boards Make a Difference? An Exploration of the Relationships Among
Board Structure, Process, and Effectiveness. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector
Quarterly, Fall 1992, 21 (3), 227-249. Brown, William & Pritchard, Mark. “Trust in the board: A strategic imperative in times of uncertainty.” Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 2006, 15 (1/2), 105-126 In turbulent environments, investors seek to minimize risk. Many public/nonprofit organizations evoke a sense of trust in their members by maintaining boards of directors. This study examined faculty member attitudes about the public/nonprofits institutions and board who manage their retirement funds (n=240). A structural model revealed that investors developed trust in the board when they view the organization positively through reliable communication, a sense of shared values and retirement funds that perform soundly. As a mediator of attitude toward the organization trust in the board also diminished investor perceptions of risk, and partially explained whether members cooperated and continued with the organization. The findings support trust as a key intervening factor in member-organization relationships and suggest building trust in board governance as an effective way to reduce uncertainty. Brown, William A. “Board Development Practices and Competent Board Members: Implications for Performance” Nonprofit management & leadership 17(3) (2007) This study explores underlying assumptions about board development practices in nonprofit governance. Specifically, a model was developed to determine if using recommended recruitment, board member orientation, and evaluation practices resulted in more competent board members and if the presence of these board members led to better board performance. The sample consisted of 1,051 survey responses from CEOs and board chairs representing 713 credit unions. As member-benefit nonprofit organizations, credit unions rely almost exclusively on voluntary board members in an oversight capacity. Results support the contention that board development practices lead to more capable board members, and the presence of these board members tends to explain board performance. The study advances the understanding of nonprofit board development practices by further defining the concept and proposing an empirically tested assessment strategy. Furthermore, the findings support using specific recruitment practices that should strengthen nonprofit boards. Brown, William A. "Board Development Practices and Competent Board Members: Implications for Performance." Paper presented at the Boards and Beyond Conference, Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership, Kansas City, Missouri, Spring 2005. This article explores the underlying assumptions in the practitioner literature about board development practices in nonprofit governance. A structural equation model is developed to test the extent to which organizations that use recommended recruitment, training, and evaluation practices report having more competent board members and that the presence of these board members leads to better board and organizational performance. The sample consists of 672 CEOs and 379 Board Chairs representing 713 credit unions. Credit Unions, a member benefit nonprofit organization, rely almost exclusively on voluntary board members in an oversight capacity. Results support the contention that board development practices do lead to more capable board members, and the presence of these board members tends to explain variance in board performance. The model positions board member competency as an intermediary between board development and performance, thereby supporting the implicit assumption that these practices lead to better quality board members which then contributes to effective board performance. Brown, William A. “Exploring the Association Between Board and Organizational Performance in Nonprofit Organizations.” Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Spring 2005, 15 (3), 317-339. This study investigated six dimensions of effective board performance, as suggested by Chait, Holland, and Taylor (1991), in relation to three theoretical explanations (agency theory, resource dependency theory, and group/decision process theory) of how board governance activities potentially influence organizational performance. Survey research findings revealed that strategic contributions from the board are more robust in organizations with higher financial performance. In addition, organizations that are judged to be higher performing also reported having high-performing boards across all dimensions. In particular, the interpersonal dimension provided a unique explanation of judgments of organizational performance. Brown, W.A. "Stakeholder Voice and Nonprofit Board Effectiveness." Paper presented at the ARNOVA Conference, Seattle, Washington, Fall, 1998. This research investigated board member composition and the existence of inclusive board practices and its ramifications on board performance in nonprofit organizations. Brown, William A. “Inclusive governance practices in nonprofit organizations and implications for practice.” Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 2002, 12 (4), 369-386. An inclusive board seeks information from multiple sources, demonstrates an awareness of the community and constituents that benefit from and contribute to the organization's services, and establishes policies and structures to foster stakeholder contributions. This research investigated the prevalence of inclusive governance practices and its relationship to board composition, diversity attitudes, and recruitment practices. The study profiled two organizations that represented different styles of inclusive governance. Most organizations indicated that they operate with inclusive governance practices. The organizational profiles provide a picture of boards that used different strategies to accomplish the goal of inclusivity. Inclusive boards were more inclined to be sensitive to diversity issues and used recommended board recruitment practices. The existence of a task force or committee on diversity was also significantly associated with a more inclusive board. Nonprofit organizations must consider their philosophy on stakeholder involvement, recognizing that different strategies lead to different levels of stakeholder involvement. Brown, William A. “Understanding Organizational Configurations and Models of Board Governance in Nonprofit Organizations.” Paper presented at the 29th Annual ARNOVA Conference, November 16-18, 2000, New Orleans, Louisiana. This research investigated the association between organizational configurations and models of board governance. A configurational approach to analyzing organizations provides a strategy to classify organizational forms and how those forms relate to effectiveness (e.g., Kushner & Poole, 1996; Miles, Snow & Mathews, 1997). This approach has promise to suggest how particular board models might match to organizational forms. The principle states that the variety and number of organizational configurations are not infinite, but limited by tendencies of organizational attributes to develop coherent patterns. These attributes develop patterns because they are interrelated, such that organizational forms are identifiable (Meyer, Tsui, Hinings, 1993). Some of the inconclusive results associated with linking board performance and organizational effectiveness inherently stem from differences in organizational models and purposes. The Miles and Snow (1978) typology of organizational strategy was used to classify nonprofit organizations according to the four ideal strategic styles: prospector, defender, analyzer, and reactor. The predominance of the organizations conceptualized themselves as either prospectors or defenders. The classifications were distinct, so that prospectors were not also defenders. The prospector style was associated to optimal board performance and in particular the political character of the board. Five idealized board governance models were also investigated. Three of these styles: policy governance, volunteer, and an executive centered model were associated to optimal board performance. However, only the policy governance model was associated to the prospector style. Key board performance variables included the strategic dimension that accounted for a significant amount of variance in the policy governance model and the context which accounted for a significant amount of variance in executive centered boards. Additional research is needed to understand environmental context and how the environment affects strategic orientation and governance models. In addition, research is needed to understand how the prospector style is realized in different nonprofit organizations. Brown W.A. and J.O. Iverson. “Exploring Strategy and Board Structure in Nonprofit Organizations.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, September 2004, 33, (3), 377-400. This research explores how nonprofit managers conceptualize their organization’s strategic orientation toward products and services and in what way the governing board is structured to match that orientation. Using the Miles and Snow typology of strategy and a survey of 132 nonprofit organizations, organizations were categorized into four strategic types (e.g., defenders, prospectors, analyzers, or reactors), and distinctive structural patterns in board committees and composition were found. Prospectors had broader, more inclusive structures, whereas defenders tended to have tighter, more focused structures. Although some patterns appeared muted, through in-depth interviews with selected exemplars, several characteristics were found that helped define and clarify nonprofit strategy. This included the use of mission statements to help communicate the organization’s strategic orientation. Brudney, J. & Murray, V. "Do Intentional Efforts to Improve Boards Really Work? The Views of Nonprofit CEOs." Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 1998, 8 (4), 333-348. Commentators on the effectiveness of nonprofit boards of directors usually find them wanting in a number of ways and urge that they reform themselves. A study to ascertain how many boards actually accept this advice and intentionally attempt to change the way they operate also examines what changes boards attempt to make, what provokes their efforts, and what outcomes result. Brudney, Jeffrey L, & Dautel Nobbie, Patricia. “Training policy governance in nonprofit boards of directors: The views of trainer-consultants.” Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 2002, 12 (4), 387-408. Although scholars widely discuss John Carver's (1990) Policy Governance model for nonprofit organizations, they have conducted little formal research on the implementation of the model. For this study, the researchers surveyed ninety-two trainer-consultants who graduated from Carver's Policy Governance Academy. Survey responses indicated that 1. consultants predominantly teach the model as a whole, 2. particular policy areas appear to be problematic for nonprofit boards of directors that implement the model, and 3. two contextual factors may negatively affect the ability of a board of directors to successfully implement Policy Governance boards larger than fifteen members, and organizations with no hierarchy, where the board also functions as staff. Overall, consultants' responses indicated that they feel Policy Governance is far superior to other models, but they recognize the problems and challenges that boards face in trying to implement it. Bulkley, Katrina. "Charter School Authorizers: A New Governance Mechanism?" Educational Policy, 1999, 13 (5), 674-697. This article explores the practices of charter school authorizers in Arizona and Michigan, including the two Arizona state boards and Central Michigan University (CMU). The author focuses on the role of authorizers in authorizing new schools, overseeing operating schools and holding them accountable, and providing technical assistance. When this study ended, CMU had developed a larger and more bureaucratic organization than the Arizona boards and tended to focus more on issues of compliance. An examination of the isomorphic pressures, or pressures to become similar to preexisting organizations (such as districts and state education agencies), helps to explain why authorizers in each state have taken rather different directions. Byers, Mary M. “Rethinking Governance.” Association Management, 2001, 53 (8), 94-104. Associations that have been through the governance restructuring process have discovered several benefits. Common results of a well-implemented initiative are the opportunity to increase efficiency and become more responsive to member needs, the ability to make volunteer service more meaningful, and the ability to respond more fully to environmental changes. Callen, J.L., Klein, A., and D. Tinkelman. “Board Composition, Committees, and Organizational Efficiency: The Case of Nonprofits.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, December 2003, 32 (4), 493-520. This article investigates the relationship between nonprofit board composition and organizational efficiency. Overall, we find a significant statistical association between the presence of major donors on the board and indicators of organizational efficiency. Although causality cannot be demonstrated, our findings are consistent with the Fama and Jensen (1983) conjecture that major donors monitor nonprofit organizations at least in part through their board membership. The multivariate analysis shows that the ratio of total expenses to program expenses is significantly and negatively associated with higher donor representation. Decomposing the total expense ratio into its two components, we find that different factors affect the administrative and fundraising expense ratios. The percentage of major donors on the finance committee, a key committee overseeing budgets and administrative expenses, is negatively related to the organization’s administrative expenses ratio. The presence of major donors on other board committees is not significantly statistically associated with nonprofit efficiency. Callen, Jeffrey L., April Klein and Daniel Tinkelman. "Board Structure, Committees and Organizational Efficiency: The Case of Nonprofits." Paper presented at the ARNOVA Conference, Arlington, Virginia, November 4-6, 1999. This paper investigates the relationship between nonprofit board structure and organizational efficiency. The central hypothesis, first advanced by Fama and Jensen, is that the presence of large donors on the board and on key monitoring committees is associated with greater organizational efficiency due to large donor monitoring activities. The multivariate results appear to suggest that higher donor representation on the board is associated with greater (price) efficiency as measured by the percentage of expenses spent on programs. However, after further breaking price efficiency into its two component parts, namely fund-raising and administrative expenses efficiencies, the analysis indicates that this association is due to greater fund-raising support generated by large donors rather than to board-level monitoring. As far as board committees are concerned, the univariate tests do not support the hypothesis that large donors gain disproportionate membership on monitoring committees (e.g., auditing) contrary to the implications of the Fama-Jensen conjecture. The multivariate tests provide some evidence that the percentage of large donors on the finance committee is positively related to the organization’s fund-raising efficiency. Otherwise, large donors and nonprofit committee structure are unrelated. Overall, these results suggest that large donors are effective on the board because of their fund-raising abilities rather than because of monitoring, contrary to Fama-Jensen. This study also implies that, with the possible exception of the finance committee, it is the presence of large donors on the board that matters and not their presence on committees. Campbell, S. "The Future of Hospital and Health System Governing Boards Depends on SUCCESS." Health Care Strategic Management, 1998, 16 (3), 18-19. According to a new report by the American Hospital Association and Ernst & Young LLP, hospitals’ evolution, characterized by their and other providers’ movement into successful integrated delivery systems, will require new knowledge, talent, and training at the governance board level. In the future, boards not only will have to respond to market change, they will have to lead it. As the enablers of organizational change, boards should seek alignment in the following areas: 1. Board structure, 2. Membership and selection, 3. Leadership effectiveness, 4. Medical staff alignment, 5. Communication and information, 6. Measurement and evaluation, and 7. Education and development.
Cargo, Russel A. “Changing Fiduciary
Responsibilities for Nonprofit Boards.” The Journal of Arts Management, Law,
and Society, Summer 1997, 27 (2), 123-137. Carter, D.A., Simpkins, B.J., and W.G. Simpson. “Corporate Governance, Board Diversity, and Firm Value.” The Financial Review, February 2003, 38 (1), 33-53. This study examines the relationship between board diversity and firm value for Fortune 100 firms. Board diversity is defined as the percentage of women, African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics on the board of directors. This research is important because it presents the first empirical evidence examining whether board diversity is associated with improved financial value. After controlling for size, industry, and other corporate governance measures, we find significant positive relationships between the fraction of women or minorities on boards increases firm size and board size, but decreases as the number of insiders increases. Carver, John. “A Theory of Governing the Public’s Business.” Public Management Review, 2001, 3 (1), 53-72. The job of the board of directors is the least developed element in enterprise, whether public, business, or nonprofit. Incorporating insights from Mill, Hume, and the social contract philosophy of Rosseau, as well as the servant-leadership concept of Greenleaf, the author’s Policy Governanceâ model constitutes a theory of governance applicable to any governing body. The model enables public boards to govern by making public values explicit, crafting the expression of those values for practical managerial effect. The new governance model compels radical change in the way boards conduct their business. One effect is more authoritative boards and more empowered management simultaneously; another is greater integrity in the relationship between the public and its boards. Castor, T. “Language Use During School Board Meetings” Journal of Business Communication 44(2) (2007): 111-136 Governing boards serve an important policy-making function in for-profit, nonprofit, and governmental sectors. Boards may consist of members from diverse backgrounds whose only common tie is board membership, making them particularly susceptible to misunderstandings and miscommunication. This project examines a school board's discussion of a communication policy as a way of understanding the communication problems that the board had recently experienced. A relationally responsive social constructionist perspective is applied to analyze board members' talk during a meeting and how meanings of communication and the communication problem are discursively negotiated in the interactions of board members. The analysis describes differing contexts of accountability to which board members orient in their organizational communication practices; these contexts consist of the organizational and the political. Chaney, Paul, & Fevre, Ralph. “Inclusive Governance and “Minority” Groups: The Role of the Third Sector in Wales.” Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 2001, 12 (2), 131-156. Following the establishment of a national legislature in Wales in 1999 the third sector has entered into a pioneering cross-sectoral partnership with the Welsh government. This paper presents the results of a research project that has studied the new structures of devolved governance through the expectations and participation of voluntary organizations representing three marginalized or “minority” groupings: women, disabled people, and those from an ethnic minority background. The findings reveal that despite varying levels of expectation expressed by “minority” voluntary groups, active engagement of minority groups in policymaking has been a feature of the Assembly’s first months. Nevertheless, formidable challenges face both sectoral “partners” in the new system of governance, not least in creating organizational structures that facilitate partnership working in the devolved polity. Conger, Jay A., David Finegold and Edward E. Lawler III. "Appraising Boardroom Performance." Harvard Business Review, 1998, January – February, 136-148. More than a few good reasons come to mind why companies should annually review the effectiveness of their boards. Over a two-year period, we interviewed and gathered written surveys from CEOs and board members at a dozen companies that are aggressive pioneers in performing and applying boardroom appraisals. Our research has allowed us to develop a set of best practices that represents a composite of the most effective techniques used by all these organizations. Connelly, Michael D. “The Sea Change in Nonprofit Governance: A New Universe of Opportunities and Responsibilities.” Inquiry - Excellus Health Plan, Spring 2004, 41(1), 6-20. During the past two decades, our nation s nonprofit sector has undergone a tremendous increase in size and complexity causing a sea change in nonprofit governance. Today's standard of performance expected of trustees in nonprofits is much higher than it once was. Yet many trustees do not possess a clear understanding of their role, thus jeopardizing the future of nonprofits. This paper explains the causes and implications of this sea change in nonprofit governance and presents five success factors that the senior management of nonprofits can apply to improve board performance. Connolly,
Paul & York, Peter. “Evaluating Capacity-Building Efforts for Nonprofit
Organizations.” OD Practitioner, 2002, 34 (4), 33-39. Evaluating
capacity building can be difficult. It is hard to develop measurements for
assessing organizational effectiveness and management assistance success. It is
especially difficult to do so for nonprofit organizations since, unlike
for-profit companies there is not financial bottom line to appraise. Yet there
are many compelling reasons to thoughtfully evaluate these organizational
development efforts. Evaluation generates new knowledge and enables the
discovery of what works, for whom, and in what circumstances. Systematic
evaluation helps management assistance providers increase their accountability,
articulate the value of their work, and compare the effectiveness of different
capacity-building activities and it also allows funders to improve their
capacity-building grant strategies. This article explains how nonprofit
organizations, consultants, funders and evaluators can evaluate
capacity-building activities. The process should begin by determining who will
conduct and participate in the evaluation and understanding the multi-layered
nature of capacity building. The next steps are stating evaluation questions and
potential success indicators and developing a framework for the evaluation
design. The process concludes with implementing evaluation methods and using and
sharing the results. Conyon, M.J. & Peck, S.I. "Board Control, Remuneration Committees, and Top Management Compensation." Academy of Management Journal, 1998, 41(2), 146-157. Using panel data on large, publicly traded U.K. companies gathered between 1991 and 1994, we examined the role of board control and remuneration committees in determining management compensation. Board monitoring, measured in terms of the proportion of nonexecutive directors on a board and the presence of remuneration committees and CEO duality, had only a limited effect on the level of top management pay. An important conclusion was that top management pay and corporate performance are more aligned in companies with outsider-dominated boards and remuneration committees. Corbett, Christopher. "Nonprofit in Crisis: Implications for Governance and Regulatory Solutions - An HMO Study." Paper presented at ARNOVA conference, Seattle, Washington, November 1998. This research presents a case study of an HMO in crisis and examines various governance implications and regulatory solutions with potential applicability to healthcare organizations and other nonprofits as well. It is hypothesized that while there is a role for legislative, litigated and government regulatory solutions--cooperative, voluntary and community based solutions to advance self-regulation have been largely overlooked. The research proposed that improved governance and accountability can best be achieved through improved self-regulation and several specific recommendations are identified. In order to most effectively help communities served, the research proposes that nonprofit managers and researchers first look within and pursue solutions conceived and implemented at the organization and Sector levels of intervention--before looking outside the Sector, and calling for more litigation and Government regulation at the federal and state levels in an attempt to improve nonprofit functioning and remedy Sector ills. Corbett, Christopher. "Preventing and Remediating Nonprofit Dysfunction: Enabling Trustee Participation for More Effective Governance." Paper presented at the ARNOVA Conference, New York, November 7-9, 1996. This research surveyed about 100 "A" rated nonprofits and requested copies of their bylaws. Corbett obtained some 65 sets of bylaws that many organizations consider confidential. While the paper is not light reading – it does contain the collective wisdom of dozens of "A" rated nonprofits’ bylaws with many insights summarized for possible use by others. Also, the paper identifies various key themes of nonprofit governance that can be proactively addressed through thoughtful bylaw design. While the best bylaws unenforced will make little or no difference – they at least create the potential for more effective and more ethical nonprofit governance. In Corbett’s view, one strategy to improved nonprofit governance is to promote heightened consciousness of boardmembers coupled with properly constructed bylaws. Cornforth, Chris. "Power Relations Between Boards and Senior Managers in the Governance of Public and Nonprofit Organisations." Paper presented at the ARNOVA Conference, Arlington, Virginia, November 4-6, 1999. This paper presents the findings of an in depth study of power relations between boards and senior managers in four organisations: a school and a FE college from the public sector and a national overseas development agency and a community-based organisation from the voluntary sector. Unlike many previous studies of boards this study draws on observations of what happened inside the boardroom as well as interviews and the analysis of board documents. Pettigrew and McNulty’s (1995) tripartite model of power and influence is used to analyse and compare power relations in the four organisations. The paper argues that neither agency theory nor managerial hegemony theory adequately explains board power relations. In particular it highlights how differences in expertise and skill, and board processes and procedure helped shape different patterns of power. Cornforth, Chris. “Understanding the Governance of Non-Profit Organizations: Multiple Perspectives and Paradoxes.” Draft paper prepared for the Annual Conference of ARNOVA, Miami, Florida, November 29-December 1, 2001. The paper has a theoretical orientation. Its main purpose is to present a new framework for understanding the governance of non-profit organizations in terms of multiple theoretical perspectives and a number of key paradoxes or tensions that boards face. The paper addresses two related problems. First, the governance of non-profit organizations is relatively under-theorized in comparison with the governance of business corporations. In addition, the literatures on corporate governance and non-profit governance have developed largely separately from each other (Middleton, 1987; Herman and Van Til, 1989, Hung, 1998). Noticeable exceptions include resource dependency theory and the study of elites (Middleton, 1987). In contrast a variety of competing theories have been proposed to try to understand the role of boards in the private sectors e.g. agency theory, stewardship theory, stakeholder theory, and managerial hegemony theory. The paper briefly reviews each of these theories and discusses how they can be usefully extended to throw light on non-profit boards. A framework is presented for comparing and contrasting these different theoretical perspectives on boards. However, this raises a second related problem. Taken individually the different theoretical perspectives are rather one dimensional, only illuminating a particular aspect of the board’s role. This has led to calls for a new conceptual framework that can help integrate the insights of these insights of these different perspectives (Hung, 1998: 108-9; Tricker, 2000: 295) The paper argues that a paradox perspective offers a promising approach to providing this new conceptual framework. It argues that taken together these multiple theoretical perspectives are helpful in highlighting some of the important ambiguities, tensions, and paradoxes that non-profit boards face. Cornforth, C. “What Makes Boards Effective? An Examination of the Relationships Between Board Inputs, Structures, Processes and Effectiveness in Non-Profit Organisations.” Corporate Governance, 2001. Based on a survey of charity boards in England and Wales this paper examines what influence board inputs, structures, and processes have on board effectiveness. The findings provide mixed support for the normative literature on board effectives. Using stepwise logistic regression the research suggests that board inputs and three process variables are important in explaining board effectiveness. Cornforth, Chris and Christine Morrison. "Developing a ‘Government’ Strategy for Improving Governance in the Voluntary and Community Sector in the UK." Paper presented at the Boards and Beyond Conference, Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership, Kansas City, Missouri, Spring 2005. In 2003, the United Kingdom’s Home Office commissioned The Foundation for Good Governance and a team of consultants to develop an integrated strategy for improving governance across the voluntary and community sector in the U.K. This paper examines the governance system in the U.K., briefly explains why the government felt that improvement of the system was necessary, describes the process of gathering evidence to guide development of the strategy, summarizes the findings drawn from that evidence, discusses the strategy recommended to the government, and outlines the development of that strategy when eventually implemented by the government. In closing, the paper reflects on the process of policy development and implementation in a multi-stakeholder system. Cornforth, Chris & Simpson, Claire. “Change and continuity in the governance of nonprofit organizations in the United Kingdom: The impact of organizational size.” Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 2002, 12 (4), 451-470. This article reports on the results of a survey of charities in England and Wales, which examined how their boards are changing and whether various external initiatives to improve board performance are having an effect. In particular, the research explored the impact of organizational size. The findings suggest that the size of the organization does matter, as a variety of board characteristics and changes vary with size. The article concludes by examining some of the implications of these findings for theory and practice. Crampton, P., Davis, P., Lay-Yee, R., Raymont, A., Forrest, C.B., & Starfield, B. “Does community-governed nonprofit primary care improve access to services? Cross-sectional survey of practice characteristics.” International Journal of Health Services, 2005, 35 (3), 465-478. This study compared community-governed nonprofit and for-profit primary practices in New Zealand to test two hypotheses: (1) nonprofits reduce financial and cultural barriers to access; and (2) nonprofits do not differ from for-profits in equipment, services, service planning, and quality management. Data were obtained from a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of GPs. Practices were categorized by ownership status: private community-governed nonprofit or private for-profit. Community-governed nonprofits charged lower patient fees per visit and employed more Maori and Pacific Island staff, thus reducing financial and cultural barriers to access compared with for-profits. Nonprofits provided a different range of services and were less likely to have specific items of equipment; they were more likely to have written policies on quality management, complaints, and critical events, and to carry out locality service planning and community needs assessments. The findings support the shift to nonprofit community governance occurring in New Zealand and elsewhere. Cutting, Bruce & Kouzmin, Alexander. “Evaluating corporate board cultures and decision making.” Corporate Governance, 2002, 2 (2), 27-45. This paper relies on a "trinity of menetypes" of group knowing which captures the essential decision-making dynamics of board membership. Formal, corporate decision-making processes require higher commitments of time and cognitive energy of directors - certainly, the requirement is of the "political" process that determines corporate commitment to appropriate courses of action. There is a fundamental shift from "managerialism" to "politicism" in the corporate dynamics of organization - a shift in "menetype" driving governance dynamics. This wholesale shift in orientation has accentuated personal and group values as key determinants of corporate efficacy. The paper proposes structural reforms to corporate/agency governance conventions, including a greater focus on performance and strategy, greater independence of more effective and extensive audit processes and a greater transparency in the nomination and remuneration of top-executive appointments. Daigneault, Michael G. "The Nonprofit Board Secretary: A New Role." Paper presented at the Boards and Beyond Conference, Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership, Kansas City, Missouri, Spring 2005. The author argues in favor of a “re-conceptualization” of what he considers a central, but often overlooked and underutilized, role in board governance: the Secretary of the Board. He states that the contemporary view of the Board Secretary has been largely relegated from its historical role as a critical element of the leadership team and confidant to the Chairman of the Board to that of a note-taker and file clerk. Starting broadly, the author briefly describes the creation, history, role, and structure of modern nonprofit boards, including eight external trends that affect the ways boards govern. He then makes his case for re-establishing the Board Secretary as Chief Governance Officer, or Chair of a governance committee that can objectively help the board develop its governance practices. He offers reasons why Board Secretary is an ideal position for this new role and outlines several potential and specific duties and responsibilities. Daley, John M. and Angulo, Julio. “Understanding
the Dynamics of Diversity Within Nonprofit Boards.” Journal of the Community
Development Society, 1994, 25 (2), 172-186. Dalton, Dan R., et al. "Number of Directors and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analysis." Academy of Management Journal, 1999, 42 (6), 674-686. Although a host of theory-driven rationales suggest a relationship between board of directors size and firm performance, the literature provides no consensus about the direction of that relationship. A meta-analysis of 131 samples (N = 20,620) provided systematic evidence of nonzero, positive, true population estimates of board size-performance relationships.
Dart, Ray, Pat Bradshaw, Vic Murray, and Jacob
Wolpin. “Boards of Directors in Nonprofit Organizations: Do They Follow a
Life-Cycle Model?” Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 1996, 6 (4). Dawson, Ian & Dunn, Alison. “Governance codes of practice in the not-for-profit sector.” Corporate Governance: An International Review, January 2006, 14 (1), 33-42. In the area of not-for-profit organizations the role, scope and desirability of governance is an emerging field. Both in academic literature and in practice the attempts to provide for governance of not-for-profit organizations are currently discrete and disparate. This is set to change with the sector. This article examines the appropriateness of the new Code as a tool of regulation for the not-for-profit sector. In particular it focuses upon the challenges facing codes of practice for not-for-profit organizations, such as the identification of shareholders and organizational vision, and for the purpose that such codes could have in the not-for-profit sector. The article concludes that whilst there is much value in the new Code as a governance and regulatory tool, significant aspects the Code remain unclear; particularly the extent of the Code’s constituency and the balance to be stuck on the issue of compliance. de Andres-Alonso, P., Cruz, N.M., & Romero-Merino, M.E. “The governance of nonprofit organizations: Empirical evidence from nongovernmental development organizations in Spain.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2006, 35 (4), 588-604. To verify the existence and relevance of control mechanisms that impede the expropriation of resources by the managers of nonprofits and that improve efficiency, we use a representative sample of Spanish nongovernmental development organizations (NGDOs). The authors study how donors’ structure and board of trustees relates to organizational efficiency. Results show that the presence of an active institutional donor provides a control mechanism for these NGDOs, thus favoring the efficient allocation of resources, and that the structure of the board of trustees is irrelevant in this respect. Results are robust to alternative measures of technical and allocative efficiency. Dyl, Edward A., Frant, Howard L., & Stephenson, Craig A. “Governance and Funds Allocation in United States Medical Research Charities.” Financial Accountability & Management, 2000, 16 (4) 335-352. How can boards of directors influence managers to act in the interest of the organization, rather than in their personal interest? Much financial economics literature has focused on answering this question for directors of for-profit corporations. Less is known about governance arrangements in nonprofit corporations. Although some researchers have advanced theories, the finance literature contains little systematic, empirical work regarding nonprofits. The organization-theory literature does pay considerable attention to nonprofit boards, but as we will see, it focuses on the external role of boards. Relatively few studies consider the internal control function of boards. Nonprofit organizations are of interest not only in themselves, as a large and growing part of the economy, but also for what they may say abut the corporate control problem in general. Because their ownership is non-tradable, nonprofits face neither monitoring by equity markets nor the threat of takeover. Boards of directors are thus virtually the only mechanism for controlling nonprofit managers. In this respect, nonprofits, although unlike publicly traded corporations, resemble other types of for-profit organizations (e.g., privately-held or closely-held corporations). We examine the relationship between governance structure and resource allocation decisions in a sample of nonprofit corporations. Our sample comprises medical charities that fund medical research and patient services. We find strong evidence that board structure and composition make a difference in the performance of the organization. In short, managerial self-interest is an issue in nonprofits, as it is in for-profits. Eccles R.G. “Hopes and fears for financial reporting and corporate governance.” Balance Sheet, 1 February 2004, 12 (2), 8-13. The author, one of the leading business thinkers in the USA and a former Harvard Business School professor, puts forward his hopes and fears for the year 2004. He hopes that the worlds of financial reporting and corporate governance will become clearer and more effective but he worries that resistance from company directors and a preference for rules rather than principles will hinder this process. On balance he concludes that he is more hopeful than fearful for the year ahead. Egger, E. "Getting Boards on Board: A Major Challenge for Integrated Systems." Health Care Strategic Management, 1998, 16 (12), 11. Among the myriad of challenges a developing health system faces along the road to successful integration is helping its board make the transition from a historic community philanthropic board to a board with more of a business mentality. In the recently released 1998 Survey of Integrated Delivery Systems, subsidiary boards were also a major issue for many systems, with 84% of respondents saying their system has subsidiary boards. Another major issue is physician involvement on boards. Eldenberg, Leslie, Hermalin, Benjamin E., Weisbach, Michael S., & Wosinska, Marta. “Hospital Governance, Performance Objectives, and Organizational Form.” NBER Working Paper Series, April 2001. This paper studies the governance of a sample of California hospitals. We document a number of empirical relations about hospital governance: The composition of the board of directors varies systematically across ownership types; poor performance and low levels of uncompensated care increase board turnover, with this sensitivity varying by organizational type. Poor performance, high administrative costs, and high uncompensated care lead to higher CEO turnover, with these effects again varying across different organizational types. Overall, these results are consistent with the view that boards of directors of hospitals of different organizational forms are substantially different, and that these boards make decisions to maximize different objective functions. Eldenburg, L. and R. Krishnan. “Public Versus Private Governance: A Study of Incentives and Operational Performance.” Journal of Accounting and Economics, August 2003, 35 (3), 377-404. This study explores incentives and performance in organizations governed by publicly elected boards of directors and subsidized by taxes. Such organizations are likely to underpay Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), resulting in selection and incentive problems and hence poor operating performance. We compare municipal district hospitals to private nonprofit hospitals. CEO compensation in district hospitals is significantly lower than in the nonprofits. Operating margins in district hospitals are lower and deteriorate more rapidly over time. We rule out a number of other factors that could explain differences in performance. We conclude that the weak governance structure hampers district hospitals.
Feldman,
Martha S. & Anne M. Khademian. “To manage is to govern.” Public
Administration Review, 2002, 62 (5), 541-554. Governance
structures constrain and enable the actions of public managers. Principal-agent
theory has played a dominant role in the understanding of governance structures.
This theory suggests that politicians create relatively static governance
structures in a top-down fashion and hold managers accountable for mandated
results. In other words, public managers are influenced by governance structures
but do not affect governance structures. However, public managers to affect
governance structures and, in order to understand how this influence takes
place, a new way of thinking about governance structures is needed. This paper
proposes thinking about governance structures as relationships created through
the interactions of people in different and reciprocal roles that are relatively
dynamic. Public managers are an important source of the multiple, reciprocal,
and dynamic interactions that produce governance (relationship) structures. As
such, managers are accountable not only for policy outcomes, but also for the
appropriateness of the relationships they create and support. Felo, Andrew J. “Ethics programs, board involvement, and potential conflicts of interest in corporate governance.” Journal of Business Ethics, 2001, 32 (3), 205-218. Corporate ethics programs usually address conflicts of interest that may arise in the firm’s activities. This paper empirically examines the relationship between ethics programs and the potential conflicts of interest and the relationship between board involvement in a firm’s ethics program and potential conflicts of interest. Evidence in this paper shoes that firms with ethics programs have a lower percentage of inside directors on their compensation committees than do firms without ethics programs. Firms in which boards are actively involved in the programs have more independent boards (higher percentage of independent directors and lower percentage of inside directors) and are more likely to compensate outside directors with equity than are firms in which boards are not actively involved in the programs. Taken together, the evidence in this paper indicates that a board actively involved in an ethics program, and not the simple existence of an ethics program, is related to the incidence of potential conflicts of interest. Fisman, R. and R.G. Hubbard. “Precautionary savings and the governance of nonprofit organizations.” Journal of Public Economics, December 2005, 89 (11-12), 2231-2243. We present a model of nonprofit governance built on two assumptions: (1) organizations wish to hold precautionary savings in order to smooth expenditures; and (2) it is relatively easy for managers to divert these funds for personal use. Hence, donors face a trade off between expenditure smoothing and donation dissipation. We examine the model's predictions using panel data on U.S. nonprofits. We show that organizations in states with poor government oversight have managerial compensation that is more highly correlated with inflows of donations and allocate a smaller percentage of donations to the endowment for future expenditures relative to organizations in strong oversight states. (Scopus)
Fletcher, Kathleen B. “Effective Boards: How
Executive Directors Define and Develop Them.” Nonprofit Management and
Leadership, 1992, 2 (3), 283-293. Friedman, Andrew and Mary Phillips. “Balancing Strategy and Accountability: A Model for the Governance of Professional Associations.” Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Winter 2004, 15 (2), 187-204. Professional associations are operating in a context of uncertainty and change, with which their traditional governance structures struggle to manage. After describing this context and presenting a brief overview of relevant governance literature, a project aimed at supporting the redesign of governance structures and procedures among five professional associations in the United Kingdom is outlined. Three specific governance issues are examined: size of councils (council is the term used for a governing body of a UK professional association), their composition in relation to electoral processes, and the development of inner councils, or executive boards, within councils. Finally, we present a normative model, the cupped hands model, that has arisen from the research. This model offers a possible means of balancing the representation required by their status as membership associations with the requirement that professional associations become more strategic and proactive. Forbes, D.P. "Measuring the Unmeasurable: Empirical Studies of Nonprofit Organizational Effectiveness from 1977 to 1997." Nonprofit and Volunteer Sector Quarterly, 1998, 27(2), 183-202. The subject of organizational effectiveness in nonprofit organizations, although controversial, remains important to both practitioners and researchers. In spite of this, the empirical research on the subject has never been comprehensively reviewed. This article reviews empirical studies of nonprofit effectiveness from the past 20 years. The review reveals that researchers have conceptualized effectiveness in a variety of ways and that the research objectives pursued in the study of effectiveness have changed over time. The review also shows that much recent research has employed an emergent or social constructionist approach to effectiveness that emphasizes issues of process over measurement. Forrest, Molly. “Evolutionary governance in revolutionary times.” Journal of Jewish Communal Service, Spring/Summer 2006, 81 (3/4), 167-173. As Jewish communal professionals, one of our challenges is to educate our boards and communities about senior care needs, identify issues relating to the provision of care, and together provide leadership in developing the answers. Jewish nonprofits should be in the forefront of examining the breadth of senior housing and care needs and determining how best to meet them in fulfillment of their organizational missions. This article discusses the ongoing evolution of the governing board of the Los Angeles Jewish Home in pursuit of this goal. Garrett, D. “The Debate Regarding the Better Business Bureau’s Commitment to Neutrality: An Analysis of Local Better Business Bureau Boards of Directors” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 36(1) (2007): 22-40 The Better Business Bureau (BBB) states that it is a neutral party striving to serve equally the interests of both businesses and consumers. However, critics have alleged that the BBB’s policies and practices are biased in favor of businesses. This study analyzes the composition of the boards of directors of local BBB offices. Using resource-dependency theory, arguments are advanced to explain why the BBB may be more inclined to have board members from business backgrounds rather than board members who are “community influentials” (e.g., executives with nonprofit organizations and charities, academicians, and government employees). Results show that the vast majority of BBB board members are businesspeople from industries that generate large numbers of BBB consumer complaints. Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for the credibility and legitimacy of the BBB as a representative of consumer interests in the marketplace. Gibelman, Margaret and Sheldon R. Gelman. “On the Departure of a Chief Executive Officer: Scenarios and Implications. Administration in Social Work, 2002, 26 (2), 63-82. This article explores three different scenarios for mainly to the departure of the CEO: 1. the voluntary departure of the CEO for resignation or retirement, 2. dismissal for wrongdoing, and 3. dismissal (or lack of contract renewal) when causes not attributed in the decision appears to be driven by internal politics. Examples of actual cases of CEO termination are presented, and implications of the CEO's departure and the situation surrounding it are then analyzed in regard to the impact on the organization and its board of directors. Case examples and discussion are limited to nonprofit organizations concerned with civil rights, health and human services-people-serving organizations with missions focused on human well-being. The analysis of cases suggest that the circumstances surrounding the CEO's departure can provide the impetus for creative organizational changes or precipitate a crisis that brings into question whether the organization can survive.
Gibleman, Margaret, Sheldon R. Gelman, and Daniel
Pollack. “The Credibility of Nonprofit Boards: A View from the 1990’s and
Beyond.” Administration in Social Work, 1997, 2 (2), 21-40. Gill, Mel. “Governance DO’S & DON’TS: Lessons from Case Studies on Twenty Canadian Non-profits.” The Institute on Governance, 2001, www.iog.ca. There are approximately 175,000 Canadian voluntary sector/non-profit organizations in Canada, including more than 78,000 registered charities. These groups provide a variety of services for the benefit of the Canadian public, including community service, arts, recreation, religion, social services, education and health. They account for some $90 billion in annual expenditures, assets of $109 billion, and about 12% of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product. They employ 1.3 million Canadians and benefit from the service of some 7.5 million volunteers. Sixty per cent of their revenues derive from various levels of government. The effective governance of these organizations is therefore clearly in the national interest. The primary objectives of this research were to:
Responses derived from interviews and a Governance Self-Assessment Checklist completed by board members and the CEO’s were analyzed in conjunction with relevant documentation to assess the governance practices of 20 non-profit organizations in Canada. Gill, Mel. “Governance in the Voluntary Sector: Summary of Case Study Findings.” The Institute on Governance, 2001, www.iog.ca. As part of a larger study to ‘Strengthen Governance Capacity in Voluntary/Nonprofit Organizations’, twenty case studies looking at governance capacity and structure in Canadian voluntary organizations were completed. These case studies looked at factors influencing the selection of appropriate governance models, good governance and organizational effectiveness. Their primary focus was on current governance practices. However, the organization’s history and an analysis of financial trends over the past ten years were used to provide context and additional anecdotal material. The actual process for studying individual organizations involved:
An attempt was made to include a diverse number of ownership and governance structures from several jurisdictions in the case study sample. Case studies included four national organization, one provincial crown corporation, thirteen local non-profit organizations and the two more ‘generic’ studies noted above. This document summarizes the findings from the case study sample. Gill, Mel. "Prospecting for Practical Methodologies to Examine Links Between Governing Boards’ performance and Organizational Effectiveness." Paper presented at the Boards and Beyond Conference, Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership, Kansas City, Missouri, Spring 2005. This paper examines difficulties in linking the performance of governing boards to organizational effectiveness. It discusses the complexities inherent to defining and measuring effective performance of either organizations or boards independently of each other, let alone drawing causal links between the two. It discusses research that has attempted to establish correlations between board and organizational performance, describes typical methodology and summarizes findings. The paper raises the concern that CEO and staff performance, perhaps the major intervening variables between board performance and organizational effectiveness, is too often ignored in such research. It also raises questions about some of the commonly used proxy measures of organizational effectiveness. It argues that boards have not commonly assessed their own performance or that of their organizations, because of a lack of time, resources, expertise and a readily applied evaluation framework. As a means to maximize the return on investment of scarce research resources, the paper offers an evaluation framework that might be more readily applied by boards and proposes that near-term research efforts focus on organizations that already conduct some form of performance evaluation. Gill, Mel, Robert J. Flynn, and Elke Reissing. The Governance Self-Assessment Checklist: An Instrument for Assessing Board Effectiveness. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Spring 2005, 15 (3), 271-294. This article describes the development and validation of the Governance Self-Assessment Checklist (GSAC). The GSAC was designed to assist boards of directors of nonprofit and public sector organizations to identify strengths and weaknesses in the governance of their organizations, educate board members about the essentials of good governance, and improve their governance practices. The instrument comprises 144 items organized into twelve subscales. The results of the study indicated that the subscales have excellent internal consistency reliability, exhibit good criterion-related validity, and are able to discriminate between stronger and weaker aspects of board functioning. The relative strengths and weaknesses in board effectiveness were identified, and the implications of the findings for the assessment of board effectiveness and field applications of the GSAC were discussed. Glaeser, Edward L. “The Governance of not-for-profit firms.” NBER Working Paper Series, May 2002. Many factors including incentive-pay, powerful shareholders, and takeover threats push for-profits managers towards maximizing shareholder value. One of the most striking factors about non-profit firms is that they have no comparable governance institutions, and the only check on managers are boards that are themselves rarely responsible to anyone outside the firm. This essay discusses the implications of these weak governance institutions on non-profit behavior. A primary implication is that non-profits will often evolve into organizations that resemble workers' cooperatives. The primary check on this tendency is the need of the organizations to compete in outside markets. After presenting a model of non-profit behavior, I look at four different sectors (hospitals, museums, universities and the church). All display significant signs of capture by elite workers, but all still perform their basic missions reasonably, probably because of market competition. Golensky, Martha. “The Board-Executive
Relationship in Nonprofit Organizations: Partnership or Power Struggle?”
Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Winter 1993, 4 (2), 177-191. Goodspeed, S. "Building Health Communities: Six Steps for the Board." Trustee, 1998, 51 (1), 14-19. Many trustees believe that health care reform must begin in the communities that their organizations serve. Based on the collective knowledge of boards that have successfully led their organizations through change, a plan that consists of a systematic 6-step process is discussed. The 6 steps are: 1. Create awareness of community health issues. 2. Engage others in dialogue. 3. Collaborate with others. 4. Redesign the system. 5. Evaluate the outcome. 6. Sustain the gains. Gottesman, A.E. “Blueprint for Public Company Reform.” World Economics, 1 October 2003, 4 (4), 171-184. The crisis of confidence in corporate governance and the opacity of public company reporting are growing concerns. These flaws in the market system have been highlighted by the stock market bubble and pose a threat to orderly capital flows. Reform is needed, but legislation may have little effect and can carry unintended consequences. Better solutions can be found by examining the way in which private companies are directed and the type of financial and operational reports they use for budgeting and control. Institutional investors, bankers, professional advisers and Boards of Directors can implement the changes needed to provide more reliable information for valuation of public company securities and to counteract the casino mentality that infects capital markets. Gough Jr., Samuel N. “Five Reasons for Nonprofit Organizations to be Inclusive.” New Directions for Philanthropic Fundraising, Spring 2005, 2005 (47), 125-141. Nonprofit organizations should be governed and managed by representative numbers of their constituents but not limited to certain groups of people. Even organizations founded to empower or serve specific groups should have governing boards and managers that can look at issues from a range of different points of view. Green, Jack C. and Griesinger, Donald W. “Board
Performance and Organizational Effectiveness in Nonprofit Social Service
Organizations.” Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Summer 1996, 6 (4),
381-402. Green, Jack C. and Farzin Madjidi. "Board Governance: What Boards Do." Paper presented at the ARNOVA Conference, Arlington, Virginia, November 4-6, 1999. This paper examines the tasks and responsibilities of nonprofit boards of directors of social service organizations, what they do, and how their activities relate to organization effectiveness. The paper builds on the work of Green and Griesinger and compares their findings with data collected from two national nonprofit organizations, each of which has local affiliates or units with their own boards of directors. Greer, Alan and Paul Hoggett. "Public Policies, Private Strategies and Local Public Spending Bodies." Public Administration, 1999, 77 (2), 235-256. Local Public Spending Bodies (LPSBs) occupy an important position in the contemporary structures of governance in the UK. As exemplars of many of the diverse characteristics of the New Public Management, LPSBs inhabit the fuzzy space between the public and private spheres, both in terms of organizational structure and service delivery. One finding from recent research into the internal governance of three kinds of LPSBs – Further Education Colleges, Housing Associations and Training and Enterprise Councils – was that the language of strategy predominated over that of policy on the boards of such organizations. In this article we assess the significance of this finding. We contend that the two terms are not interchangeable and that a vital distinction needs to be maintained between them. Specifically we argue that policy refers to collections of decisions grounded in public values whereas the concept of strategy, particularly as currently understood in the context of the New Public Management, refers to the positioning of an organization in its struggle to survive and grow. We conclude that LPSBs have been invited to behave strategically within a framework of increasingly centralized policy objectives and resource allocations. Groudine, Candice J. and Judith L. Miller. “Nonprofit Board Culture and the Public Trust: Reconciling Rival Ideals.” Public Integrity, Spring 2002, 4 (2), 115-131. This article explores the relationship between the underlying culture of a nonprofit board of directors and its ability to negotiate conflict, which in turn may enable the board to better uphold the public trust. Using three “hard cases,” the article highlights the importance of values such as inclusiveness, responsiveness, and communication in developing a shared way of thinking that helps the board reconcile competing legal and moral obligations. It is shown that boards with clearly articulated goals and objectives are apt to develop strong norms around the sharing of knowledge and the integration of multiple perspectives. These stable group norms are essential if the board is to become a reflective community of interpretation and uphold the public trust. Gulati, Ranjay and James D. Westphal. "Cooperative or Controlling? The Effects of CEO-board Relations and the Content of Interlocks on the Formation of Joint Ventures." Administrative Science Quarterly, 1999, 44 (3), 473-506. This study examines the influence of the social network of board interlocks on strategic alliance formation. Our theoretical framework suggests how board interlock ties to other firms can increase or decrease the likelihood of alliance formation, depending on the content of relationships between CEOs (chief executive officers) and outside directors. Results suggest that CEO-board relationships characterized by independent board control reduce the likelihood of alliance formation by prompting distrust between corporate leaders, while CEO-board cooperation in strategic decision making appears to promote alliance formation by enhancing trust. The findings also show how the effects of direct interlock ties are amplified further by third-party network ties. Guo, C. “When Government Becomes the Principal Philanthropist: The Effects of Public Funding on Patterns of Nonprofit Governance” Public Administration Review 67(3) (2007): 458-473 This study uses board governance as an analytical lens for exploring the effects of government funding on the representational capacities of nonprofit organizations. A typology of governance patterns is first developed that captures the board’s strength relative to the chief executive and its representation of community interests. Using this typology and employing multinomial logit analyses of survey data from a sample of urban charitable organizations, the study tests how nonprofit governance is mediated by levels of government funding. Controlling for other relevant environmental and institutional factors, reliance on government funding decreases the likelihood that nonprofit organizations will develop strong, representative boards. In recent years, government has emerged in the United States as a major “philanthropist,” the major philanthropist in a number of the principal, traditional areas of philanthropy. Hage, Jerald. "Reflections on Emotional Rhetoric and Boards for Governance of NPOs." Private action and the public good, New Haven : Yale University Press, c1998, 291-301. Only the new institutionalism has been critically involved in the study of NPOs, particular expressive organizations, precisely because the problem of social beliefs about the most appropriate form of structure and control is likely to be quite critical within this kind of governance structure. This article focuses on nonprofit organizations that have at least one of three distinct qualities: 1) SMOs involved in attempting to bring change to the society--whether conservative, populist, or equalitarian; 2) organizations that rely upon a considerable proportion of volunteer labor; and 3) organizations with expressive outputs s |