How to Improve Governance

How to Improve Governance PDF

Author: David Ferranti

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2009-09-01

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0815703538

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In recent years, the developing world has seen a burst of efforts to reduce corruption, increase transparency and accountability, and improve governance. Needless to say, this is an important and encouraging development. However, the lack of a reliable compass to describe where a country is at a given moment—and where it could be heading in the absence or acceptance of proposed reforms—can result in disastrous missteps. The unfortunate absence of such a guide has helped lead to innumerable failed governments or ineffective regimes. This important book aims to fill that void. How to Improve Governance emphasizes the need for an overall analytical framework that can be applied to different countries to help analyze their current situations, identify potential areas for improvement, and assess their relative feasibility and the steps needed to promote them. A country-specific analysis needs to be comprehensive, in the sense that it includes the four concepts of transparency, accountability, governance, and anticorruption throughout the calculus. Without such an analytic framework, any reform attempt is likely to flounder for lack of a shared understanding of the underlying problems and of the feasible reforms. The book gives special emphasis to the potential for civil society groups to play a stronger role in holding governments accountable for their use of public resources, and to the importance of developing politically feasible, prioritized country strategies for reform. "Whether one looks at how to increase domestic demand for good governance, how to make government more accountable to the public, or how to build democratic processes that deliver results, the underlying issues are essentially the same.... As development actors of various types... seek to help, more and more of them are calling for a clearer conceptual framework to guide their efforts."—From the Introduction

Improving Governance

Improving Governance PDF

Author: Laurence E. Lynn Jr.

Publisher: Georgetown University Press

Published: 2001-04-05

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9781589013452

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Policymakers and public managers around the world have become preoccupied with the question of how their goals can be achieved in a way that rebuilds public confidence in government. Yet because public policies and programs increasingly are being administered through a complicated web of jurisdictions, agencies, and public-private partnerships, evaluating their effectiveness is more difficult than in the past. Though social scientists possess insightful theories and powerful methods for conducting empirical research on governance and public management, their work is too often fragmented and irrelevant to the specific tasks faced by legislators, administrators, and managers. Proposing a framework for research based on the premise that any particular governance arrangement is embedded in a wider social, fiscal, and political context, Laurence E. Lynn Jr., Carolyn J. Heinrich, and Carolyn J. Hill argue that theory-based empirical research, when well conceived and executed, can be a primary source of fundamental, durable knowledge about governance and policy management. Focusing on complex human services such as public assistance, child protection, and public education, they construct an integrative, multilevel "logic of governance," that can help researchers increase the sophistication, power, and relevance of their work.

High Performance Boards

High Performance Boards PDF

Author: Didier Cossin

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2020-06-22

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 1119615658

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A comprehensive guide to transforming boards and achieving best-practice governance in any organisation. When practising good governance, the board is the vital driver of organizational success, while fostering positive social impact and economic value creation. At all levels, executives around the world are faced with complexities rising from disruptive business models, new technologies, socio-economic changes, shifting political circumstances, and an array of other sources. High Performance Boards is the comprehensive manual for attaining best-in-class governance, offering pragmatic guidance on improving board quality, accountability, and performance. This authoritative volume identifies the four dimensions, or pillars, which are crucial for establishing and maintaining best-practice boards: the people involved, the information architecture, the structures and processes, and the group dynamics and culture of governance. This methodology can be applied to any board in the world, corporate or non-profit organization, regardless of size, sector, industry, or context. Readers are introduced to a fictitious senior board member – an amalgamation of board members from well-known organisations – and follow her as she successfully handles real-life challenges with effective governance. Drawn from the author's 20 years of practice and confidential work with boards across the world, this book: Demonstrates how high-performance boards innovate and refine their practices Discusses examples of board failures and challenges, including case studies from both for-profit and non-profit organisations including international organizations and state-owned agencies or even ministries Provides a proven framework to create best-in-class governance Includes a companion website featuring tools for board assessment and board practice High Performance Boards has inspired more than 3000 board members around the world. This book is essential reading for professionals and managers interested in governance and board members, senior managers, investors, lawyers, and students of governance.

Executive's Guide to IT Governance

Executive's Guide to IT Governance PDF

Author: Robert R. Moeller

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-02-11

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 1118138619

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Create strong IT governance processes In the current business climate where a tremendous amount of importance is being given to governance, risk, and compliance (GRC), the concept of IT governance is becoming an increasingly strong component. Executive's Guide to IT Governance explains IT governance, why it is important to general, financial, and IT managers, along with tips for creating a strong governance, risk, and compliance IT systems process. Written by Robert Moeller, an authority in auditing and IT governance Practical, no-nonsense framework for identifying, planning, delivering, and supporting IT services to your business Helps you identify current strengths and weaknesses of your enterprise IT governance processes Explores how to introduce effective IT governance principles with other enterprise GRC initiatives Other titles by Robert Moeller: IT Audit, Control, and Security and Brink's Modern Internal Auditing: A Common Body of Knowledge There is strong pressure on corporations to have a good understanding of their IT systems and the controls that need to be in place to avoid such things as fraud and security violations. Executive's Guide to IT Governance gives you the tools you need to improve systems processes through IT service management, COBIT, and ITIL.

Improving Water Policy and Governance

Improving Water Policy and Governance PDF

Author: Cecilia Tortajada

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-09-13

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 1317985567

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Old forms of governance in both public and private sectors are becoming increasingly irrelevant because of rapidly changing conditions. Because of these changes, both governance processes and the scope of the institutions through which power is exercised throughout society may have to undergo a radical break with the past and prevailing models of governance. Water sector is an integral part of the global system. Consequently, its governance processes and the institutions responsible for its management must change as well in order to cope with the current challenges and potential future changes. Because of these current and future changes, water governance may have to change more during the next 20 years compared to the past 2000 years, if societal expectations are to be successfully met. All these changes will make water governance more complex than ever before witnessed in human history. Improving water governance will require good and objective analyses of case studies from different parts of the world as to what has worked, why and the enabling environments under which good governance has been possible. The present volume analyses case studies of good water governance from different parts of the world, and for different water use sectors. It concludes with an analysis of the critical issues that should be considered for water governance and a priority research agenda for improving water governance in the future. This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

Well Spent

Well Spent PDF

Author: Mr.Gerd Schwartz

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2020-09-03

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 1513511815

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Drawing on the Fund’s analytical and capacity development work, including Public Investment Management Assessments (PIMAs) carried out in more than 60 countries, the new book Well Spent: How Strong Infrastructure Governance Can End Waste in Public Investment will address how countries can attain quality infrastructure outcomes through better infrastructure governance—an issue becoming increasingly important in the context of the Great Lockdown and its economic consequences. It covers critical issues such as infrastructure investment and Sustainable Development Goals, controlling corruption, managing fiscal risks, integrating planning and budgeting, and identifying best practices in project appraisal and selection. It also covers emerging areas in infrastructure governance, such as maintaining and managing public infrastructure assets and building resilience against climate change.

Improving School Governance

Improving School Governance PDF

Author: Nigel Gann

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-10-04

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1135713529

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This text is about governing schools - about how a body made up of "ordinary" people with no professional educational experience can make a postitive contribution to the management of schools. The core of the book lays out a strategic model of school governance and considers the three key roles of planning, monitering and evaluating. Practical examples and sample procedures which governing bodies can adapt are provided. The book also looks at: the accountability of govenors; their formal duties; how they should behave in schools; the crucial relationship between govenors, staff, headteachers, communities and local authority; and the issue of inspection.

Building Better Boards

Building Better Boards PDF

Author: David A. Nadler

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2005-12-30

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 078798180X

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Praise for Building Better Boards "Building Better Boards bridges the gap between talk and action. A must-read for board members, CEOs, governance experts - really for anyone who cares about the future of the corporation." —Anne M. Mulcahy, chairman and CEO, Xerox Corporation "Building Better Boards covers all the key issues facing boards in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley era. It provides practical advice based on the authors' wide-ranging experience with major companies that have built successful boards." —Marty Lipton, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz "This important new book uses concepts gleaned from the collective wisdom of our Blue Ribbon Commission on Board Leadership and adds practical, real-world board examples. The section on crisis management is particularly helpful." —Roger W. Raber, president and CEO, National Association of Corporate Directors "This book provides a comprehensive review and effective guide to making any board an effective team, and thus an asset, for their company." —Richard H. Koppes of Counsel, Jones Day, and former general counsel, CalPERS "A balanced, insightful, thoughtful, and, above all, useful look at what can be done to create excellent boards." —Edward E. Lawler III, director, Center for Effective Organizations, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California "Improving board effectiveness is easier said than done. Building Better Boards lays out the how-tos in a clear and compelling way that is of practical value for directors and CEOs alike." —Kenneth W. Freeman, former chairman and CEO, Quest Diagnostics Inc.

The Essential School Board Book

The Essential School Board Book PDF

Author: Nancy Walser

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13:

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The Essential School Board Book highlights effective practices that are common to high-functioning boards around the country--boards that are working successfully with their superintendents and communities to improve teaching and learning.