Role of the Board from Legal and Regulatory Perspectives

Executive Leadership
and Governance
Role of the Board from Legal and Regulatory Perspectives
Agenda
Review of Prepare Activities
Stakeholders and Validity of Stakeholder Theory
Board Structures and Representation
Review of Apply Activities
Critical Analysis of Boardroom Behaviour
Reflection

Topic Learning Outcomes
Explain and evaluate the purpose and function of a
board of directors
Explain the purpose of different elements of a board
report
Critically evaluate board structures and performance

Prepare
“The directors of such companies, however, being the
managers rather of other people’s money than of their
own, it cannot well be expected that they should watch
over it with the same anxious vigilance with which the
partners in a private copartnery frequently watch over
their own.”
– Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations (1776, p.408)
The Role of a Board
Source: King IV Report for
Corporate Governance, Institute of Directors
Southern Africa (2016)

Agency Theory and Post Agency Ideas
Source: Slyke, 2006, as cited by Snippert et al (2015)
Information Asymmetry in real life
Source: Slyke, 2006, as cited by Snippert et al (2015)
Source: Johnson et al (2017), adapted from Freeman (1984)
Source: Rajablu et al (2014 )
Source: Johnson et all (2017), adapted from Mendelow, (1991)
Essential Reading
• Ambrose Business Solutions, 2013. Ten Reasons Boards Fail. [online] Available at:

• IAS Plus, 2020. Sustainability Reporting. [online] Available at: https://www.iasplus.com/engb/resources/sustainability-reporting/sustainability-reporting
• Inside America’s Boardrooms, 2019. How Should Corporate Boards Evaluate Their
Effectiveness? [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/gFYxqNvUc4c
• Kakabadse A., Kakabadse N.K, Moore, P., Morais, F, Goyal, R. 2017. Conflict and Tension in
the Boardroom. How Managing Disagreement Improves Board Dynamics.
Published: ICSA,
The Governance Institute, [online] Available at:
https://www.icsa.org.uk/knowledge/research/the-conflict-and-tension-in-the-boardroomreport
• Kauffman FoundersSchool, 2015. Startup Boards: Board Functions and Responsibilities.
[online] Available at: https://youtu.be/0UB2Y86N7Vw
• Tan, C, 2011.
The One-Tier and Two-Tier Board Structures and Hybrids in Asia –
Convergence and What Really Matters for Corporate Governance.
[online] Available at:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2140345

Stakeholders and Validity of Stakeholder
Theory
20 minutes
• Download the activity worksheet and review the
questions and prompts
• Discuss your answers as a group using the chat box
and give your answers to the polls
• We will debrief after this where we review the
discussion and poll answers together as a group

Board Structures
Source: Tricker (1994 ) as cited DuPlessis (2009)
Close Company Close Company Majority Outsider Two Tier
Board Structures and Representation
20 minute – group discussion
• Download activity worksheet and review questions and
prompts

Apply
Apply
The Board of a company has to make strategic decisions
about the direction of the company, for example whether to
launch a new product, whether to enter a new market etc.
What sources of information should the board use in
order to make well-informed decisions?

Source: Governance Today, 2020
Critical Analysis of Boardroom Behaviour
30 minutes
• Read the instructions in the activity worksheet then
discuss your thoughts as a group
• Nominate one group member to act as your
scribe, who
will capture your thoughts using the
notes pod
• Your output in this pod will feed through to the main room
and we will discuss this after your group work is complete

Reflective Practice
1. What learning will you take away from this webinar?
• Was anything new to you or came as a surprise?
• Is there anything that you will now think about differently?
• What have you found particularly useful?
2. How might you develop you approach to leadership as a result
of these reflections?
• Where do you see these concepts reflected in your own leadership practice?
• Do you have strengths/weaknesses in these areas?
• What concrete things that you can do over the next week or two to improve
your practice?
• What things can you do in the longer term to improve your practice?
• Where do these things fit in your personal development plan?

Recap
• Review of Prepare Activities
• Stakeholders and Validity of
Stakeholder Theory
• Board Structures and
Representation
• Review of Apply Activities
• Critical Analysis of
Boardroom Behaviour
• Reflection

Any questions or
comments?

Thank you for your
participation
Next Steps – Consolidate
• Topic roundup
• Topic quiz

References
• Ambrose Business Solutions, 2013. Ten Reasons Boards Fail. [online] Available at:

• IAS Plus, 2020. Sustainability Reporting. [online] Available at: https://www.iasplus.com/engb/resources/sustainability-reporting/sustainability-reporting
• Inside America’s Boardrooms, 2019. How Should Corporate Boards Evaluate Their
Effectiveness? [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/gFYxqNvUc4c
• Johnson, G. Whittington, R., Regner, P., Scholes, K., Angwin, D., 2017. Exploring Strategy,
Eleventh Edition Pearson Education UK. [Online] Accessed at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bpp/reader.action?docID=5185938&ppg=166
• Kakabadse A., Kakabadse N.K, Moore, P., Morais, F, Goyal, R. 2017. Conflict and Tension
in the Boardroom. How Managing Disagreement Improves Board Dynamics. Published:
ICSA, The Governance Institute, [online] Available at:
https://www.icsa.org.uk/knowledge/research/the-conflict-and-tension-in-the-boardroomreport
References
• Kauffman FoundersSchool, 2015. Startup Boards: Board Functions and Responsibilities.
[online] Available at: https://youtu.be/0UB2Y86N7Vw
• Tan, C, 2011.
The One-Tier and Two-Tier Board Structures and Hybrids in Asia –
Convergence and What Really Matters for Corporate Governance.
[online] Available at:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2140345
• Rajablu, M., Marthandan, G., Yusoff, W. F. W., 2014. Asian Social Science; Vol. 11, No. 3;
2015 Managing for Stakeholders: The Role of Stakeholder-Based Management in Project
Success. Recommend a specific page subset. [online] Available at:

Click to access fd6d56b3e46de5c3f608cd87122c044b87b8.pdf

• Smith, A. 2002. The Wealth of Nations. [Online] Available from:
https://lccn.loc.gov/2002564559.