A Stakeholder Approach

Spending more and more time positioning both academic and practical literature on a theoretical grid of corporate governance.  Dr Shann Turnbull's article entitled "Defining and Achieving Good Goverance" was an easy paper to position on my grid after reading the first paragraph and finding this line" "Do no harm and act ethically" as a simple means to define good governance.  Turnbull is a governance authority at the International Institute for Self-Governance in Sydney.

Well positioned in the stakeholder theory of corporate governance with a strong dose of its normative approach that embraces moral and ethical guidelines of governance, this paper posits one reason for the continual lack of effectiveness of current governance systems (crisis, fraud, accountancy failings, etc) is their failure to fully adopt a self-governing and ethical approach. Turnbull holds out the John Lewis Partnership as a shining example of self-governance: welcoming of contrary ideas or self criticisms, the existence of checks and balances, and the pursuit of happiness of its members. The author identifies several potential advantages of this approach which includes the below points:

1. Director monitoring of the C-suite on an independent, regular basis, 
2. A commitment to self-governance and self-regulation, and
3. A continual questioning of management and identification of any "unknowns" as a means of risk management.

Turnbull recommends adoption of these ideals to become part of external governance frameworks, or regulatory oversight of firms (commercial and banking) to promote thier effective use.