Interaction between Board of Directors and University Management

The governance structure in many public sector institutions has over the past decade been reformed. One part of these reforms has been an introduction of boards (Hinna, De Nito, Mangia 2010). The introduction of boards is... [ view full abstract ]

The governance structure in many public sector institutions has over the past decade been reformed. One part of these reforms has been an introduction of boards (Hinna, De Nito, Mangia 2010). The introduction of boards is inspired by the governance structure in private companies, where the board of directors is an intermediary between the firm’s stakeholders and its top management team (Thomsen & Conyon 2012: 142). In a public sector setting the boards are intermediary between the political level (the relevant ministry) and the management of the public institution. The boards have several roles such as controlling and holding the management accountable, giving advice, acting as representatives or as contact to networks and external actors (Farrell 2005; 93; Van den Berghe & Lavrau 2004, McNulty & Pettigrew 1999, Conforth 2003). However, we have little knowledge about how the board interacts with other internal actors and how the board influence different levels of the organization. In general, the literature on boards questions the influence of boards. Most of the literature on boards and studies of boards are done on private companies. With an increased use of boards in the public sector institutions we lack knowledge about the functioning and interaction of boards in public sector. Based on a behavioral approach this paper will give new knowledge about the interaction between boards and management at different levels of the organization by addressing the following research questions. How do boards interact with management and what influence this interaction?
These questions are answered by applying results from a research project on governance and performance at Danish universities. The data include a survey with all members of the Danish University Boards, qualitative interviews with chairmen of the board at Danish universities, and survey with department chairs at all university departments in Denmark. This design presents a unique opportunity to provide a detailed description of university boards interaction with management and to provide an understanding of what determine this interaction.