Mission-Based Governance

Earlier thinking on governance thought there might be “one best way” to set up governance arrangements. This is reminiscent of the work of early writers about management who sought to identify the “one best way” of doing something. Proponents of this search for universal truths became known as the scientific school of management.

However, as thinking about management became more sophisticated, the idea that there must be universally valid best practices was abandoned in favor of a situational approach. That is, the right way to manage an organization depended greatly on its situation: its business or mission, its market, its stakeholders or clients, its history and traditions, and so forth.

Contemporary thinking on governance, and the work of the Institute On Governance, is rooted in our belief that just as there is no single model of management, there is no one “best” model of governance. Governance arrangements need to be tailored to take account of an organization’s mission, in addition to other factors like people, culture, traditions and relationships. We call this approach: mission-based governance. In our experience, one of the great strengths of this approach is that it accommodates the great diversity of organizations within the non-profit sector.

For more information on the problems associated with the notion that there is a universal model or “one best way” for approaching governance, click here.