No description available.

A survey instrument, Coaches' Survey, was constructed for the purpose of collecting data for this study. Subjects were selected from the 1989-1990 National Directory of College Athletics. The survey instrument was mailed to 411 coaches; 273 usable instruments were returned. The coaches were asked to indicate their agreement or disagreement with 36 statements in both the Real situation and the Ideal situation. Major findings of the study led to the conclusions that (a) better communication between athletic directors and coaches resulted in better understanding and acceptance of limitations which may be beyond the athletic directors' control, (b) coaching stress was a real concern for the coaches surveyed, (c) the coaches believed that athletic directors should be strong leaders, (d) men have better access to community leaders than do women, (e) coaches generally believe that athletic directors perform adequately even though there are some weaknesses, and (f) the area of concern for most coaches is financial support for their programs. Even when seen as a fact, it was viewed as restricting the strength and growth of programs.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1985 C65 / Master of Arts

Research report presented to SBL, Unisa, Midrand. / The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of employees’ perceptions on the effectiveness of the board in the public sector. The units of analysis relevant to this research were the board of directors and the employees in the public sector. Thus, two questionnaires were designed: one for the board members, and the other for employees. The questionnaires were designed around various themes aimed at establishing the following: whether employees in the Public Sector perceive their Board of Directors to be effective, whether the Board of Directors in the Public Sector believe that their effectiveness is impacted by employee perceptions, and to determine what factors need to be in place to promote a positive relationship between employee perceptions and board effectiveness. The survey confirmed that the board members do believe that they are effective in the execution of their functions. The employees do agree that the board plays an important role in organisations, that organisations will be impacted negatively without the direction of the board, and that the board is conducting its roles and responsibilities as effectively as possible. In terms of whether the board of directors in the public sector believe that their effectiveness is impacted by the employees’ perceptions, the results from both the employees and members of the board were inclined towards ‘agree’ on the Likert scale. The survey also revealed that the prevalence of other factors in the organisation, (Transparency and Accountability, Communication, Stakeholder Relations Strategy, Board’s high Ethical Standard, Speedily Resolution of Labour disputes, Commitment to employee development, and Consistency in policy implementation), will have a high impact in their organisations, particularly in promoting a positive relationship between employee perceptions and board effectiveness.

AIMS OF THE RESEARCH: To explore the decision making processes of top management, CEO's and boards of directors - to gain ne~ insights into the causes of management decision failures, management risk and decision process weaknessess. To identify important factors that play a pivotal role in effective decision making in business situations. To draw up a frame~ork for effective decision making based on the correlations between decision theory and empirical findings amongst senior executives and board members. To find ways how management can minimize the risk of decision failure in complex problems, what questions they have to ask themselves about the way in which they make decisions, what decision risks they have to be aware of at each stage of the decision process and how they can gain from available decision theory. The aim is to improve the decision process to obtain better overall quality of decisions produced by kno~ledgeable senior managers and board members. This will provide a framework for effective third generation risk management. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH FINDINGS Board members and top executives rely on experience and personal knowledge to analyse complex problems and do not consciously involve concepts from decision theory (see section 8.5). They describe these phenomena in their organisations, but they have not formally done a decision process analysis to minimise decision risk. Current risk management practises in modern financial institutions focus mainly on risk classification techniques and structural mechanisms (see section 15) to control risks, with little or no attention to decision process dynamics. The Board of Directors and Top Management are generally very good at identifying corporate risks, economic risks and financial risks, but they have great difficulty in identifying internal decision process risks within the management hierarchy/system or amongst themselves. Introspective analysis of their own decision process dynamics can help to improve this. A step by step analysis of the decision process in the board and top management team as described in section 18.2 is proposed as a further contribution to improve the quality of decision making in financial institutions. Structural changes to boards like those introduced by Cadbury improved second generation risk management practices. This research proposes that further advances can be made by third generation risk management improvements in the decision process dynamics. We teach decision makers about economic and financial analysis and derivatives and risk management, but the fundamentals of decision science and the human decision process seem to be ignored. To prevent the financial failures that so often destroy shareholder value, we need to focus on decision science and financial decision process analysis Analysis of the decision process dynamics is proposed as a way to reduce the number of decision failures in large financial institutions and other organisations. By increasing the a~areness and kno~ledge of board members and top executives about the potential causes of decision failure, their own ability to identify and prevent these will be improved. New risk management structures and recent changes to board structures have contributed greatly to corporate governance but could not prevent many of the financial failures. Combining these structural improvements with an additional focus on decision process analysis can increase our ability to manage risk successfully. / Business Leadership / DBL

The business judgment rule is used by American courts to establish whether a director has fulfilled his duty of care. It is based on the concept that the directors are legally empowered to manage a corporation's affairs, and the courts accordingly do not interfere with the exercise of those powers unless a board's action is tainted by fraud or self-interest. The courts will not review a business decision where, acting in good faith, the board has truly applied itself to making an informed decision. In certain circumstances, where self-interest on the part of directors is more likely to be a factor, a stricter test is applied. The business judgment rule is implicit in the judgments of English and South African courts and the King Committee has recommended its formal recognition in South Africa. The need for such formal recognition and stricter interpretation of the duty of care and skill discussed. / Private Law / LL.M.

Motivation: In the Sub-Saharan Africa countries there are several factors contributing to the collapse of firms. Most firms have failed due to poor corporate governance practices. The recent collapse of some firms in the financial and non-financial sectors in the Sub-region shows that there are challenges hindering effective corporate governance of firms in the Subregion. Consequently, this study uses empirical evidence to identify views about the important components of good corporate governance practice for listed firms: institutional characteristics; the board of directors; and the effects of external factors. Research question: The pertinent research question that this study addresses is the identification of the components that are essential for good corporate governance of firms in the Sub-region. This study tries to prioritise the components. Methodology: Data were collected by questionnaire administered to stakeholders of corporate governance of listed firms in Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. Regression is used to estimate the relationship between institutional characteristic, responsibilities of the board of directors and external factors on corporate governance system. Main findings: 1. Enforcement, disclosure, transparency and regulatory frameworks may be necessary to improve corporate governance practice in all the countries in the Sub-region (SSAA). 2. There is evidence that commitment of board members to disclosure and communication may provide effective corporate governance practice. 3. Board duality (separation of role between chairman and CEO) is likely to hinder corporate governance practices. 4. We found that in all the countries in the Sub-region accounting system plays a major role to promote sound corporate governance practice. However, the political environment, societal and cultural factor, corruption, and economic factors such as macro-economic policies may hinder corporate governance practices.Policy recommendations: This study recommends that corporate governance stakeholders should adopt a whistle blowing method and also that institutional bodies should be more prudent in monitoring of rules and laws with stringent penalties. In addition, there should be adequate information and disclosure on the rights and obligation of the shareholder of firms in the sub-region region. There is need to increase the number and role of independent directors, increase the use of advisory vote by shareholders on executive compensation and facilitation of shareholders activism. Furthermore, there is a need to have autonomous regulatory bodies and supervisory agencies free from any political/ government interference in the implementation of the Code and Guideline of corporate governance. The regulatory bodies and the supervisory agencies should be manned or be under the leadership of people of goodwill, good character and trust. The Code or Guideline of corporate governance of Sub-Saharan Africa Anglophone countries should take cognisance of and be aligned with socio-cultural environment of the countries in the Sub-region.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Picture the scene: It's Monday morning and the main article in Business Day is headlined ·Company X Board is under investigation for not diclosing the truth about its financial wellbeing". In recent times life has been very messy and difficult for many boards, but many of them are in a better position to direct their organisation and to add real shareholder value. A sequence of events triggered board changes in organisations. Many boards have realised over the last few years that the rules for direction-giving have changed. The need for accountability is high, the status quo needs to be challenged and sound strategic thinking is critical in their decision-making. Boards need to establish a performance culture with the correct people, equipped with the necessary competencies and capabilities. Leading shareholders demanded board appraisals to evaluate the continuous underperformance of board structures and processes. Some of the questions asked are, if the board is effective as a group to meet the organisation's purpose and if they can monitor the external and internal environment effectively. It is also asked whether the skills and competencies of individual members are sufficient to enable them to fulfill their risk assessment and decision-making director roles sufficiently. Board members must understand their roles to evaluate their personal development and board needs. Boards must ensure a process for appropriate development plans for their individual directorial duties. They need to define which essential strategic decisions are made during the various administrative and information sharing meetings. The annual cycles of boards are important, as is the need to check that all accountabilities are on track. This feedback does not merely concern financial matters. It is important to evaluate strategic decisions to ensure that they are carefully measured against the targets set at the beginning of the year. Many boards have adopted a triple bottom line approach, measuring their financial performance, physical environment and social responsibility reports against agreed targets. These targets need to be incorporated in a board scorecard which will graphically depict the board's value-adding activities. These scorecards will give any board an indication of its effectiveness. Boards have accepted evaluation processes and have gone through a steep learning curve in developing and implementing them. There are numerous approaches to evaluate board performance. Each board must decide whether it is better to do a peer level evaluation, outside evaluation or follow the bottom-up approach. Formal board evaluations have given boards more credibility and have helped to identify gaps in the development of board members. Boards must be developed to become more competent at direction-giving, ultimately in order to contribute to the effectiveness of the organisation. Boards must continue to drive the organisation ahead, while keeping it under control. Board members must realise that their ultimate tests are business effectiveness, in that they must add shareholder value to the balance sheet, and business efficiency, referring to the improvement realised on the profit and loss accounts. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Stel jouself voor : Dit is Maandagoggend en die hoofartikel in Business Day is as volg: "Daar is 'n ondersoek gelas na Maatskappy X se kredietwaardigheid rakende hulle finansiele welstand." Direksies oor die laaste paar jare was in 'n warboel. Ons vind tans dat organisasies beter gelei word en dat welvaart geskep word vir alle aandeelhouers. Heelwat faktore het aanleiding gegee dat direksies verander het. Die reels om leiding te gee het verander: direksies moet meer aanspreeklikheid neem, die status quo word meer bevraagteken en goeddeurdagte strategiese denke is almal bydraende faktore. Direksies moet streef om 'n prestasie-kuItuur te vestig met lede wat oor die nodige vaardighede en vermoens beskik. Aandeelhouers dring aan dat direksies se prestasie beoordeel moet word. Tipiese vrae wat gevra word is: is die direksie effektief as 'n groep om die organisasie se primere doel na te streef en kan hulle die interne en eksterne faktore effektief monitor? Individuele direksielede moet oor die nodige bevoegdhede beskik om voldoende risk-analise en direksie-besluitnemings uit te voer. Direksielede moet hulle onderskeie ontwikkelingsrolle verstaan. Dit moet duidelik gedefinieer word watter kritiese strategiese besluite word by watter vergaderings geneem. Jaarlikse siklusse vir direksies is belangrik, dit stel hulle in staat om te evalueer of al die strategiese besluite wat geneem is, uitgevoer is teenoor die ooreengekome doelwitte. Direksies evalueer meestal hulle finansiele prestasie, fisiese omgewing en sosiale verantwoordelikheid teenoor ooreengekome doelwitte. Hierdie doelwitte word meestal ingesluit in die organisasie se telkaart. Die doel van die telkaart is om vir direksies 'n aanduiding te gee of hulle effektief is of nie. Baie direksies het een of ander vorm van evaluasie geimplimenteer. Daar is verskeie benaderings om direksie-prestasie te evalueer. Elke direksie moet self besluit watter benadering is die mees geskikte - eksterne evaluering of "peer to peer" evaluering. Formele evaluering gee meer kredietwaardigheid aan die proses en help ook met die identifisering van ontwikkelingsmoontlikhede. Direksies moet fokus op ontwikkeling sodat hulle meer bevoeg kan raak om beter leiding te gee in die organisasie. Direksies moet onthou dat die bepalende toets is besigheideffektiwiteit, waar aandeelhouer-waardetoevoeging gemeet word en of daar verbeterde besigheidsdoeltreffendheid op die wins en verliesrekening is.

Kvinnor har länge varit exkluderade från ledarpositioner, såsom styrelser, men utvecklingen mot en mer jämställd könsfördelning går långsamt framåt. Syftet med uppsatsen är att skapa förståelse för hur kvinnor i styrelser kan bidra till utvecklingen mot en jämnare könsfördelning. Genom att intervjua fem kvinnliga styrelseledamöter har vi fått en inblick i deras upplevelser och erfarenheter av styrelsearbete och könsroller. Kvinnorna i undersökningen har, genom många års styrelsearbete i olika former samt genom gedigna arbetserfarenheter, arbetat sig fram till ledande positioner inom olika branscher och företag. Även om de överlag inte anser sig ha behandlats annorlunda i styrelsen på grund av sitt kön kan vissa av kvinnorna ändå uppleva att de ibland förväntas ansvara för specifika uppgifter just för att de är kvinnor, att de behöver tuffa till sig eller att de måste vara mer pålästa och duktigare än männen. De anser att kvotering kan vara det enda sättet att få jämställda styrelser men understryker att det bör vara kompetensen som avgör vem som får uppdraget. För att lyckas bra som ledamot krävs, enligt respondenterna, en viss baskunskap om ekonomi och ledarskap samt ett visst mått av självsäkerhet och att våga stå för sina åsikter. Kravbilden på styrelsemedlemmar i bolagsstyrelser har ökat under de senaste årtiondena och det krävs att medlemmarna som individer har en hög kompetens och att styrelsen i sin helhet besitter en bred kunskapsbas. Denna utveckling kan ha en positiv effekt på könsfördelningen då det är fler kvinnor än män som har universitetsutbildning och eftersom en mer heterogen grupp ger ett bredare spektrum av kunskaper. Kvinnorna i undersökningen har genom sina positioner bidragit till brytandet av normer och gör det därför lättare för andra kvinnor att följa i deras spår. Det råder ingen brist på kompetenta kvinnor men utmaningen ligger i att kartlägga och synliggöra dessa kvinnor och ge dem samma möjlighet som männen att nå ledande positioner. / Women have long been excluded from leadership positions, such as boards of directors, but the development towards an equal gender distribution is slowly progressing. The purpose of this paper is to create an understanding of how women in boards can contribute to the development of a more equal gender balance. By interviewing five female board members we have gained insights of their experiences of board work and gender roles. The women in our study have, through many years of board work in various forms and through extensive work experience, worked their way towards leading positions in different businesses and companies. Even though they don’t consider themselves being treated differently because of their gender some of the women can still experience expectations to do certain tasks just because they are women, that they need to toughen up or that they have to be better prepared and more capable than the male board members. They consider affirmative action to be the only way to make boards equal, but they emphasize that qualifications should be the determining factor of who gets the assignment. To succeed as a board member a basic knowledge of finances and leadership is required and also a certain degree of self-assurance and the courage to stand up for their opinions, according to the respondents. The requirements of corporate board members have increased in recent decades and it is required that the members, as individuals, have a high level of competence and that the board, as a whole, possesses a broad knowledge base. This development could have a positive effect on the gender balance since there are more women than men with a university education and since a heterogeneous group of people results in a wider range of knowledge. The women in the study have, through their positions, contributed to the breaking of norms and therefore make it easier for other women to follow in their tracks. There is no shortage of qualified women but the challenge is to identify and recognize these women and give them the same opportunity as men to reach senior positions.

Inledning: I tidigare forskning har det framgått att styrelsen har en inverkan på bolags CSR- rapportering, eftersom styrelsen är med och utformar bolags CSR-strategier. Denna forskning har dock visat sig vara begränsad till att endast undersöka ett fåtal karaktärsdrag hos styrelsen, vilket motiverar en kartläggande studie av styrelsens karaktärsdrag och dess inverkan på bolags CSR-rapportering. Problemformulering: Vilka karaktärsdrag hos styrelsen samt styrelseledamöter påverkar bolagets CSR-rapportering? Syftet: Syftet med studien är att identifiera vilka karaktärsdrag hos styrelsen samt styrelseledamöter som påverkar bolagets CSR-rapportering. Metod: Studien har en deduktiv ansats och har utifrån befintliga studier och teorier skapat hypoteser. Hypoteserna har sedan testats med kvantitativ tvärsnittsdata. Det urval som studien grundar sig på är 109 bolag listade på Nasdaq OMX Stockholm (large och mid cap) år 2013. Studiens data har främst samlats in från bolags årsredovisningar och hemsidor. Resultat: Studiens resultat antyder att styrelseledamöter: med juridisk utbildning, som är oberoende ledamöter, arbetstagarrepresentanter har en positiv påverkan på bolags CSR- rapportering. Detsamma gäller för styrelsens storlek och styrelseordförandens ålder. Det till skillnad från när familjeägare sitter i styrelsen, vilket enligt resultaten hade en negativ inverkan på bolags CSR-rapportering. Studien visar att de strukturella karaktärsdragen hos styrelsen har störst inverkan på bolags CSR-rapportering, vilket bland annat indikerar att de intressen som ledamöter företräder inverkar på dess styrelsearbete. Vi jämförde även bolag som var listade på large och mid cap-listan för att se om det fanns några skillnader dem emellan. Testerna visade att flera demografiska karaktärsdrag var signifikanta i de mindre bolagen men inte i de större. Detta indikerar att CSR-rapporteringsmentaliteten som dessa karaktärsdrag tidigare bidragit med, till viss del blivit institutionaliserat i de större bolagen. Ytterligare ett resultat som studien visat är att denna typ av forskning i framtiden inte endast kan begränsa sig till en teori. / Introduction: Previous research has shown that the board of directors has an impact on the companies CSR-reporting, since the directors are a part of developing the company's CSR- strategies. This research, however, has proven to be limited to investigate only a few character traits of the board of directors, which justifies a survey of the board's characteristics and its impact on companies' CSR-reporting. Problem: Which character traits of the board and board members affect the company's CSR- reporting? Purpose: The purpose of the study is to identify the characteristics of the board and board members that affect the company's CSR-reporting. Method: The study adopts a deductive approach and the hypotheses are therefore based on existing studies and theories. The hypotheses that have been tested in this study are based on quantitative cross sectional data. The sample for this study is based on 109 companies listed on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm (large and mid cap) in 2013. The data collected originates primarily from companies' annual reports and websites. Results: The results of this study show that those directors: with legal educations, that are independent, employee representatives have positive effects on companies’ CSR-reporting. The same applies to the size of the board and the age of the Chairman. These results are different from when family owners are members of the board, which has a negative impact on companies' CSR-reporting. The study also shows that the structural characteristics of the board have the greatest impact on companies' CSR-reporting, which, for example, indicates that the interests that the members represent have an impact on the board’s activities. We also compared companies listed on large and mid cap to see if there was any difference between the two. The test’s showed that several demographic characteristics had a significant impact in the smaller companies, but not in the larger companies. This indicates that the mentality of CSR-reporting that these traits previously assumed to contribute with, to some extent has become institutionalized in larger companies. Another result this study demonstrated was that future research regarding this relationship should not only limit itself to one theory.