Viewpoint: governing the governance of the governors. Motivating accountability at the top of public organizations
| Date | 13 May 2014 |
| Pages | 114-119 |
| Published date | 13 May 2014 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-08-2013-0026 |
| Author | Donald Nordberg |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Viewpoint: governing the
governance of the governors
Motivating accountability at the top
of public organizations
Donald Nordberg
Business School, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this “viewpoint” is to consider developments in the governance practices in
UK public organizations, showing how ideas from the governance of listed companies have translated
into public bodies.
Design/methodology/approach – It discusses the literature of corporate governance and public
service motivation and reflects it against practice evidenced in documentation for the UK Corporate
Governance Code, codes for boards of different levels of public organizations, and both formal and
informal evaluations of practice.
Findings – The use of independent, non-executives directors in public bodies encapsulates the
tension in the private sector between the service role of directors and how they control managers.
The paper gives a preliminary investigation of three public bodies, comparing how reform of their
governance has affected tensions in accountability and director motivation. The changes involve
greater emphasis on extrinsic goals, potentially at the cost of the intrinsic ones.
Research limitations/implications – The paper suggests avenues for future research, linking
notions of the tensions between the service and control functions in corporate governance with the
balance between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.
Practical implications – Directors in both public and private bodies face a need to hold at bay
forces that push in opposing directions to accommodate demands for greater accountability while
sustaining the altruism social mindedness.
Originality/value – The area of public sector boards is undergoing considerable change in the UK
and this paper, although preliminary, is one of the few to examine the links to motivation.
Keywords Accountability, Corporate governance, Motivation, Government, Public sector,
Employee motivation, HRM in the public sector, Organisationalleadership and leadership development
Paper type Viewpoint
1. Something had to be done
In May 2009 – in the depths of what we came to call the Great Recession and after years
of obstruction from government and parliament – the Daily Telegraph newspaper in
the UK published a series of articles based on leaked documents concerning abuses of
expense claims by members of parliament from all the major p arties. The details
were shocking, even lurid. Mortgages on houses for MPs paid from the public purse,
but then let out, to the MP’s personal gain; a duck house – a duck mansion, really –
built in the garden of an MP’s stately home; pornographic movie rentals. Something
had to be done.
In central government departments – after decades of failed attempts to trim costs
and in the face of deficits ballooning because of bank bailouts – the trajectory of
public spending was clearly unsustainable. Procurement for defence in particular
seemed out of control, welfare budgets were climbing with the economic slowdown,
and – worryingly for the long term – baby-boomers were heading into retirement on
under- or unfunded pension plans. Something had to be do ne.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/2049-3983.htm
Received 25 August 2013
Revised 23 December 2013
Accepted 23 December 2013
Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship
Vol. 2 No. 1, 2014
pp. 114-119
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
2049-3983
DOI 10.1108/EBHRM-08-2013-0026
114
EBHRM
2,1
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