With no standards, effective complaints are virtually impossible except where socially unacceptable or illegal acts are performed - i.e. the organisation breaches social and legal standards.
Why are there no clear operational standards? Whose role is it to define those standards and police them?
Governance has the role of defining and communicating direction, so that everyone knows what the operation is about, and how to work with it. Governance in the case of say the museum would be advised to define a direction that both adds value to the community and justifies any costs and charges to that community. No management group is likely to do that (it means more work) nor set standards that they must adhere to (rod for own back). Only representatives of the community are likely to set a useful direction supported by standards to achieve that direction.
The key roles of governance include: Establish and communication direction, goals etc of organisation and how it relates to other organisations Set standards most likely to support achieving the direction – eg. reporting standards, performance standards etc Develop and operate effective policies to assure that 1 & 2 are carried out effectively.
All relatively straight forward really. The absence of these standards to guide governance and management would seem to be at the heart of a Council’s performance deficiencies wherever and whenever they are perceived. Candidates might well be asked about their commitment to establishing some standards that their constituency can judge them and the organisation’s peformance by.
Richard Barton
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