Governance

Governance deals with the processes and systems by which an organization or society operate. Frequently a government is established to administer these processes and systems. The term governance is sometimes erroneously used synonymously with the term government.

It is often used by corporate organizations to describe the manner in which a corporation is directed, and laws and customs applying to that direction.

The term governance is also applied in industry, and especially in the information technology (IT), sector to describe the processes that need to be followed in a successful department, team or project.

A fair governance implies that these mechanisms are organized in a way that allows the rights and interests of the stakeholders (the "principals") to be respected by the executives (the "agents"), in a spirit of democracy.

Global governance refers to a system-wide structure that both allows and constrains the behavior of actors in interdependent relationships in the absence of an overarching political authority. The global international system is the best example of this.

Contents

1 Corporate governance 2 Project governance 3 See also 4 External links

Corporate governance

See the main article at corporate governance.

The fundamental concerns of corporate governance are to:-

• ensure that conditions apply whereby a firm’s directors and managers act in the interests of the firm and its shareholders and workers
• ensure the means are in place whereby managers are held accountable to investors and employees for the use of assets.

Corporate governance specifies the relationships between, and the distribution of rights and responsibilities among, the main groups of participants:-

• the board of directors
• the managers
• the workers
• the shareholders or owners
• the regulators
• the customers
• the community (people effected by the actions of the organisation)
• the suppliers

The individuals within the above groups transact with the firm for their own individual purpose, so as the entire group can achieve more mutual benefit than any individual can alone. For instance director, workers and management receive salary, benefits and reputation, whilst shareholders receive capital return. Customers receive goods and services and suppliers compensation for their goods or services. In return these individuals provide their time, labour, expertise, capital, goods, services, consent etc required for the organisation to achieve its purpose.

The ediface of corporate governance includes:-

• the national laws governing the formation of corporate bodies,
• the bylaws established by the corporate body itself,
• the organisational structure of the corporate body.

The aim of corporate governance is to

• align the actions of the individual parts of the organisation toward aggregate mutual benefit
• provide the means by which each individual part of the organisation can trust that the remainder are each doing their part toward mutual benefit of the organisation and that none are unfairly gaining at the expense of others
• provide a means by which information can quickly flow between the various stakeholders to ensure that the changing nature of both the stakeholder needs and desires and the environment in which the organisation operates are effectively factored into decision processes

Project governance

The term governance is applied in industry (especially in the information technology (IT) sector) to describe the processes that need to be in place to for a successful project.

A project governance will:-

• Outline the relationships between all internal and external groups involved in the project
• Describe the proper flow of information regarding the project to all stakeholders
• Ensure the appropriate review of issues encountered within each project
• Ensure that required approvals and direction for the project is obtained at each appropriate stage of the project.

The key specific elements of good project governance:

• A compelling business case, stating what the objects of the project are and specifying what aspects are in scope and what are out of scope.
• A mechanism to assess the compliance of the completed project to its original objectives
• All stakeholders with an interest in the project have been identified
• A defined method of communication to each stakeholder
• A set of business level requirements that has been agreed by all stakeholders
• An agreed specification for the project deliverables.
• A project manger has been appointed
• Project roles and responsibilities are clearly assigned
• A current, published project plan that spans all project stages from project initiation through development, to the transition to operations.
• A system of accurate upward status and progress reporting
• A central document repository for the project
• A centrally held glossary of project terms
• A process for the management and resolution of issues that arise during the project
• A process for the recording and communication of risks identified during the project
• A standard for Quality Review of the key governance documents and the project deliverables.

See also

• Anarchism, Democracy, Government, Public choice
• Corporate governance, Principal-agent problem, Global governance
• unsolved problems in governance

External links

• Development Gateway Governance Community (http://topics.developmentgateway.org/governance)
• The Encyclopaedia about Corporate Governance (http://www.encycogov.com)fr:gouvernance