Management Online REview

10 March 2010 | Home

ISSN 1996-3300

Organisation

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Non-executive Directors in the Profit and Non-profit Sector: A Different Approach Towards Governance?

Luckerath-Rovers, M

Quadackers, L

De Bos, A

After the recent scandals and the introduction of new corporate governance codes, non-executive directors (NED's) and supervisors have started playing an increasingly important role in providing the ‘checks and balances’ of organizations. Little is known about the way in which NED's fulfill their supervisory role. This article compares NED's in profit organizations to those in non-profit organizations. The underlying research is only exploratory. The article is a closer analysis of the results obtained from the Dutch Non-executive Directors Survey 2007 . The results show that significant differences exist between NED's in profit and non-profit organizations. The practical relevance of this study is that it aims to highlight the differences of NED's within non-profit and profit organizations. An analysis of the differences may lead to a debate within society.

Female Directors on Corporate Boards Provide Legitimacy to a Company - A Resource Dependency Perspective

Mijntje Luckerath-Rovers

This study addresses the research question why some companies do and others do not have women on their boards. This study provides evidence on the organizational characteristics that affect the likelihood of women being appointed. The results show that in The Netherlands company size, board size, industry and the exchange segment the company is traded on, significantly impact the female representation on the board of directors. This study supports resource dependence theory that boards of directors serve as a linking mechanism between companies and their stakeholders, and that they provide legitimacy to different stakeholders or groups within our society. While societal pressure to appoint female directors to corporate boards has increased in the past decade, this is more likely to have influenced companies which are more inclined to conform to societal expectations. Moreover, the presence of female directors on company boards provides legitimacy to the outside world regarding the company’s values on diversity. These results add new evidence to the existing literature whether corporate boards act as a linking mechanism to society. Any comprehensive investigation of the impact of providing legitimacy by female board members on corporate performance should not be limited to profitability (which is mostly concerned with shareholders profit), but should include, for example, social and market performance and the satisfaction of relevant stakeholders.

Entrepreneurs in Organised Crime

Gottschalk, P.

Organised crime by criminal entrepreneurs is not a new phenomenon. Felsen and Kalaitzidis (2005) describe historical cases such as piracy, slavery and opium smuggling. The most famous and far reaching pirates in medieval Europe were the Vikings - warriors and looters from Scandinavia. They raided the coasts, rivers and inland cities of all Western Europe as far as Seville. While being admired as entrepreneurial heroes at home, they were the most feared enemy abroad.

The Long Work Hours Culture and the Female Manager

Christine Cross

The dearth of women in senior management positions internationally has been the subject of much debate and research in recent years. Previous studies have highlighted that female managers encounter more obstacles to career progression than their male counterparts. Building on this background the current study investigated the impact of organisationally created barriers on female career progression. The research takes as its unique focus women in middle-level management positions in Ireland, as it is individuals at this organisational level who are the successors to the executive suite. The findings reveal that women perceive they are faced with a set of insurmountable obstacles in their quest for senior management positions. One of these barriers, the impact of the long work hours culture is examined in this short paper. The majority of the respondents highlighted that there is an expectation in both middle and senior management positions that managers are available almost 24/7. Moreover, this requirement places female managers at an undue disadvantage in comparison to their male counterparts, as it is women who face the greatest obstacles to managing work and home life.

Politics and Worthy Management Agendas

David Butcher

Martin Clarke

The rational model of organising and managing is widely recognised to have significant limitations and equally, organisations of all types are understood to be characterised by internally competing goals and managerial agendas. However, this political dimension, despite its prevalence and inevitability has yet to gain acceptability as the key to managing the plurality of internal organisational interests. This article sets out to explain why this situation continues to exist, describe the necessary political mindset required of an effective manager, and offers some starting points for developing political capabilities.

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