Corporate governance and governance/management relationships: examining the role of systems thinking in organisational design

Contemporary interest in issues of corporate governance within the business sector has been mirrored worldwide by similar interest in matters of governance in the voluntary and sports sectors where it has been evidenced by major changes to organisational structures, in general, and constitutional structures and governance/management relationships, in particular. This paper signals the use of Beer’s viable system framework to facilitate comparison of the nature and functioning of corporate boards with the functioning of governing boards of major sporting organisation. The comparative analysis links the literature on corporate governance to specific case studies of bodies drawn from individual and pan-sport organisations. The analysis highlights similarities and differences between the functioning of governance systems in business and the world of sport. Guided by Beer’s framework, conclusions are drawn linking organisational design to aspects of organisational effectiveness and systemic organisational functioning. As such, the author not only demonstrates the diagnostic value of Beer’s notion of systemic functioning, and Beer’s framework, as management tools in the evaluation of organisational design and effectiveness, but also makes evident the necessary meta-systemic nature of effective governance.