Policy Governance in Action, 2002

In this issue: Value Investing: A Governance Action Plan by Jannice Moore Implementing Policy Governance involves a significant investment oftime, effort, and money. This is the second of several articlesthat will examine behaviors of boards that invest wisely in PolicyGovernance. How can they be sure to make a "value investment" thatwill stand the test of time, rather than a "day trade" withpossible short-term gain but not necessarily substantive gain inthe long run? Based on her experience with a variety of boards thathave implemented the model, Jannice Moore shares some of theconditions and behaviors that contribute to value investing. Inthis article, she introduces the idea of a Governance Action Plan(GAP). A GAP is not the establishment of ends policies but rather atool that boards can use to set realistic objectives for themselvesand to monitor their own progress in their implementation of PolicyGovernance. The Cult of Efficiency" by Caroline Oliver In 1964, a professor named Raymond Callahan published a book titled Education and the Cult of Efficiency , and since then theconcept has worked its way into general organizational parlance. InPolicy Governance terms, the "cult of efficiency" describes adangerous preoccupation with means without first identifying ends.How can we know if we're efficient if we don't first understandwhat it is we're trying to accomplish? The cult of efficiency isthe subject of a recent lecture by a conflict management professornamed Janice Gross Stein, later published in book form. In thisarticle, Caroline Oliver considers the ways in which Stein's ideasabout the cult of efficiency coincide with, and differ from, thePolicy Governance concepts of ends and means.