This session is designed to explore changing definitions of 'good' governance in the context of underperformance. The Oxford English Dictionary defines 'good' as “having the right qualities; of a high standard…” while definitions of 'governance' are many and varied. Drawing on our longitudinal ESRC-funded research into 'Leading FTSE Companies' together with a series of recent case studies, we will draw on examples of where individual “underperformance” has had a direct impact on end users, customers and 'owners': for example, British Airways and the opening of Terminal 5, and the failure of Northern Rock and other financial cases such as Credit Suisse.
Performances measures generally focus on, for example, meeting financial targets, delivering consistent customer satisfaction or providing ongoing dividends for shareholders. Yet the link between individual or even board behaviour and performance remains opaque. Hence key questions to be addressed are: so what does individual and/or collective underperformance look like and what are the governance implications of this? In so doing, this session will explore what happens where there's failure at an individual and corporate level to help us understand in more detail what characterises 'good' corporate governance and the proposition that it's 'a code of many colours'.
Dr Williams is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Leadership Studies. She is working on an ESRC-funded project examining developments in UK company direction as part of a three phase longitudinal study.
She is an Australian international affairs specialist with a doctorate in information technology and law. She has served on numerous public sector Boards of Directors and continues her interest in the intersection of public policy and technology. Dr Williams has worked extensively in Europe, North America and developing Asia Pacific economies.
Her publications listing can be accessed at www.lizwilliams.net along with more detailed biographical information.
Annie Pye is Professor of Leadership Studies and Director of Research at the University of Exeter. She joined the Centre for Leadership Studies in Sept 2007 from the University of Bath where she first worked with the late Professor Iain Mangham on what has now become a series of ESRC-funded projects, exploring how small groups of people (most often men) 'run' large, complex organizations. Now about to start the third such study, this research involves interviewing Chief Executives, Chairmen and a sample of board members in firms such as Prudential, Marks & Spencer, Hanson and LloydsTSB, every ten years since 1988, tracking the changing roles, responsibilities and rhetorics of the upper echelons: investors, regulators and auditors will also be part of the next study.Other ongoing research projects include a study of how directors learn and develop over time with Dr Phyl Johnson (Cass Business School) and also continuing research into network leadership and learning with Dr Louise Knight, University of Aston. Annie works with both private and public sector organizations and publishes her work widely in outlets ranging from Organization Science to the FT.
