We now come to the last two topics of the course – dealing with governance.

Over two topic areas it is difficult to cover governance in a thorough way but then again, we don’t really set out to do that.

The main objective here is to explore how governance is linked to the ideas we have looked at in the previous topics.

So with the governance part of this course, we are really looking at governance along the lines of the OECD definition of “Corporate governance involves a set of relationships between a company’s management, its board, its shareholders and other stakeholders. Corporate governance also provides the structure through which the objectives of the company are set, and the means of attaining those objectives and monitoring performance are determined."

To do this, we are really concerned with 5 key things the 5 key things at the organisational level:

(1) If the organisation has a clear understanding of its purpose for existing, the parties it serves, and what it means to fulfil the interest of those parties. This mostly sits at the Enterprise level of strategy.

(2) If the organisation has a clear ethical and values framework around which it seeks to achieve its purpose and meet the interests of those whose interests it serves. This again sits at the Enterprise level by way of setting this ethical and values framework.

(3) If the organisation has a coherent strategy for fulfilling its purpose. This aspect is covered in detail in the MBA Strategy course although we certainly delve into this in the EGS course when we look at things like the Phases model, and discuss how an organisation might strategically position itself in the market by way of its reputation and/or sustainable business initiatives.

(4) If the organisation has an effective means for embedding the 3 items above in its operations and culture. The “How to build and ethical organisation” and the “Governance” worksheets both have items on them that look into this aspect, and both offer ways this embedding can be furthered.

(5) If the organisation has proper control and monitoring mechanism in place to identify if the 4 items above are being achieved, including control processes to identify wrong doing.

So when looking at governance in this way, what we cover in the EGS course can be applied to any organisation, even down to small family firms.

In short, topic 9 proposes that dealing with shareholder or broader stakeholder interests, ensuring an organisation operates ethically and treats people justly, and that a business becomes a ‘sustainable business’ in the sense of it contributing positively to a sustainable world, all hinges on good governance: without appropriate governance structures in place, then these other outcomes simply won’t come to pass other than by accident or pure luck.

This gives a much broader view of what governance covers in that it goes well beyond a historic focus on financial issues.

So when working through the topic 9 material, try and think about this broader view of governance and in particular, what it might mean in your own work setting.

In topic 10, we pick up on 3 corporate governance themes: governance for small and medium size businesses, for non-government organisations such as charities and activist groups, and the issue of board composition, in particular, gender.

The first two issues – SMEs and NGOs is done as a number of our MBA students come from these sectors and, even if you are not working in these areas, you are likely to encounter them in your professional lives regardless.

For example, it’s not unusual for larger firms to interact with NGOs by way of partnership or through charitable foundations so understanding governance issues in the NGO sector can be quite important here.

The subject of Board composition and gender has been included as it remains a highly topical issue in business and will likely do for some time.

The reading on this subject is also interesting in that it suggests a greater representation of females on Boards can help a firm better address issues we cover in earlier topics.