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Category Archives: Corporate Governance

Managing responsibility

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The responsibility for administering a business originates, unsurprisingly, in owners. They are the only group naturally possessed of the requirement to make decisions regarding the direction and management of the organization. They can delegate their authority to other groups, but not their responsibility. Except in circumstances wherein they become one or another sort of silent, or absentee, owner. . .

Also filed in Decision-making, Management | | Comments (0)

Hot potato

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Responsibility is a surprisingly slippery subject in the world of modern organizations. We talk about it easily and with assurance. But it turns out that we can often find ourselves talking past each other about quite different uses of the term. Let’s take a quick look at one way this works. . .

Also filed in Decision-making, Delegation, Management | | Comments (0)

Reconciling leadership

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The concept of the democratic workplace has gained a good bit of ground in recent times. A particularly interesting aspect of it is the idea that employees should be given “ownership” of the decisions they implement. One version of this theme goes so far as to insist that the more important the decision, the larger should be the group that makes it. The problem, though, is that in politics the core tenet of democracy is that . . .

Also filed in Management Trends, Organizational Leadership | | Comments (4)

Absentee owners and stakeholders

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

We observed, yesterday, that the workplace is just one of many social settings in the lives of its workers. This, if nothing else, compels managers to pay close attention to both employees and the community. That is, it is prudent for managers to do so well beyond the requirements of the law, and even beyond the provisions of contracts they may otherwise be able to negotiate, in order to more effectively discharge their primary responsibilities to enhance shareholder value. As uninspiringly calculating as this may sound, it does nothing to diminish . . .

Also filed in Capitalism | | Comments (2)

Legal persons and real people

Monday, February 2, 2009

It is common to think of corporations as entities separate from ourselves – as “things” with no human characteristics or motives. They are just profit making machines, the deadening instruments of distant and terrible masters. We are dragooned into service from the local villages, and all of us – we and our communities, in our ignorance, destitution, and dependence – are held hostage to the mysterious rulers of the silent keep in our midst. Or so it sometimes seems. But the truth is . . .

Also filed in Capitalism, Culture | | Comments (2)

Creating value

Friday, January 30, 2009

Capitalism is not a program of action designed to facilitate economic activity, but a model used to describe it. It depicts the consequences of the freedom to pursue economic self-interest. These include everything from markets to anonymous shareholder-owned companies, their interactions, and the individual and collective results of them. Many celebrate the accomplishments of this system, and others condemn the presumed costs entailed in achieving them. But it is worth pointing out that the model does not advocate the pursuit of self-interest . . .

Also filed in Capitalism | | Comments (2)