Philosophical and paradoxical issues in corporate governance

Letza, Steve; Sun, Xiuping

doi:10.1504/ijbge.2004.004895

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…The board's role under a pluralist logic is thus political: to represent diversity of interests and balance stakeholder needs, to make policy, and to control management (Cornforth, 2004). Indeed, those who address the underlying philosophical and relational issues in corporate governance argue that it is a social and dynamic process, rather than an economic, fixed and enduring "reality" and therefore must be considered in relation to concepts of politics, power, culture, ideologies, modes of thought, and social relations (Letza & Sun, 2004). Stakeholder and democratic theories require corporations to move beyond their legal and statutory responsibilities and this immediately broadens the scope of accountability, constructing it as a combination of being "held responsible" by external actors and "taking responsibility" for one's own actions (Cornwall et al, 2000, p. 3).…”

Section: Theories Of Corporate Governance: Assumptions About Work Organizations and Accountabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonprofit Governance and Accountability

Coule

2013

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

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Drawing on comparative case studies, this article critiques the positioning of accountability as a benign and straightforward governance function. From a critical management studies perspective, I offer a conceptualization of the relationship between governance and accountability in which issues of power, beliefs about the nature of organizing, and social relations are integral features. The article clarifies how principal-agent governance assumptions, based on a central logic of unitarism, can drive narrow compliance-based interpretations of accountability. Such an approach appears at odds with the values embedded in the social missions of many nonprofits insofar as they prioritize small sections of powerful stakeholders over sustained periods of time. Conversely, a pluralist logic appears to create space for broad accountability to multiple stakeholders. Here, expressive, values-based accountability is seen as a source of legitimacy and can produce complex relationships, which challenge the instrumental orientation to social relations that principal-agent theories assume.

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Section: Theories Of Corporate Governance: Assumptions About Work Organizations and Accountabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonprofit Governance and Accountability

Coule

2013

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

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“…[4] Within this relationship, the problem arises when the agent acts in breach of the mandate and pursues self interests at the expense of the principal. [5] Under the agency theory:…”

Section: The Agency Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The theory argues that managers seek to maximise the shareholders interests with other reasons such as intrinsic values being the driving force. [5] Furthermore, it is argued that the divorce from ownership and control does not necessarily lead to conflict of interests but promotes management growth and professionalism. This, in turn, Jenfan Muswere et.al (2022) enriches the shareholders' returns (ibid).…”

Section: Stewardship Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

The agent/stewardship corporate governance analysis of soes in zimbabwe's ict sector

Muswere

Dube²

2022

J.M.S

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The paper examined the agent and stewardship models in light of corporate governance breaches in Zimbabwe’s SOEs in the ICT sector. SOEs have been plagued with accusations of poor corporate governance practices. In the agent and steward theory,directors as dictated by Zimbabwe’s Companies And Other Business Entities Act [Chapter 24:31] (2020) and Zimbabwe’s Public Entities and Corporate Governance Act [Chapter 10.31] (2018) are deemed to be agents and stewards respectively, care takers, thus having the common law duties of care, trust and acting in outmost good faith on behalf of the company. Zimbabwe has seven SOEs in the ICT sector, this paper inductively assessed the four major ones namely, NetOne, TelOne, Powertel, and Telecel.The paper was guided by the two forenamed statutes which govern the four SOEs. It identified the key tenet duties of a director from the statutes, anchored by the agency theory and the stewardship theory perspectives in governance vis a vi the interviews executed on the four SOE boards and the State actors. The interviews identified the breaches in corporate governance in the boards. These were in turn examined in the eyes of the agent and stewardship models. The paper revealed that these two models, whilst ideal are susceptible to breaches, creating a hub for corporate malfeasances and defected agents. Good corporate governance equates good business. It sends a good signal to the outside world of prospective investors.

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“…In recent years, we have begun to address the underlying philosophical issues in corporate governance (Sun et al, 2004;Letza and Sun, 2004). We argue that corporate governance is a social rather than purely economic/mathematical reality, a processual rather than fixed and relatively enduring reality.…”

Section: Concluding Remarks: a Pluralistic View Of Corporate Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst the debate around these theoretical poles has generated some insights, neither has the validity of this dualistic approach been questioned nor have the ideological assumptions underlying the opposed theories been examined until recently (e.g. Letza and Sun, 2004;Letza et al, 2004a, b). Those papers have started to reveal the inadequacy of conventional approaches employed in corporate governance theorising, but the details of underlying assumptions, presuppositions and ideologies behind the shareholding and stakeholding perspectives still need further scrutiny and explorations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corporate governance theorising: limits, critics and alternatives

Letza

Kirkbride

Sun

et al. 2008

International Journal of Law and Management

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Purpose -This paper seeks to examine the mainstream theories of corporate governance in an attempt to suggest that their underlying assumptions and ideologies are misplaced and ought to give way to an emerging pluralistic view of the governing process in order to understand any governance contribution to the dynamics of the business environment. Design/methodology/approach -The paper engages with the traditional literature and views on governance models from law, business and organisational studies perspectives. It then considers the environment and changes in the environment and how those challenge the relevance of the traditional approach, drawing upon the impacts on the fluidity of management and governance perspectives and practices in the global economy. Findings -The reflections and analysis confirm the view that the underlying assumptions of existing models and regulatory frameworks for governance are misplaced and it is suggested, with reason, that a pluralistic view and framework are better than the current dualistic approach to provide a better understanding of corporate governance in today's dynamic business environments. Originality/value -The paper develops a new model and framework for governance practice and regulation and seeks to persuade policy makers and commentators that the global business environment needs to recognise and engage with this new model and validate its assumptions.

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Philosophical and paradoxical issues in corporate governance

Cited by 7 publications

References 50 publications

Nonprofit Governance and Accountability

Nonprofit Governance and Accountability

The agent/stewardship corporate governance analysis of soes in zimbabwe's ict sector

Corporate governance theorising: limits, critics and alternatives

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