Beyond Leadership: Balancing Economics, Ethics and Ecology, Revised Edition

Conclusion: Functions of the Group Board

The chief functions of the group board consist of: initiating (objectives), integrating (policies), and evaluating.

In carrying out its functions, the group board is supported by a number of small staff departments with highly qualified staff whose task it is to share the board's work in policy-making (but not to provide services for the companies). These staff departments cover (as necessary):

• commercial matters – sales policy, market research
• technical matters – product development policy and production allocation
• economic and financial matters and internal accountancy
• social matters – management development
• communication policy, including information-processing policy
• (possibly) legal matters, public relations, etc.

The four main tasks of the group board are:

• strengthening and developing the commercial basis of the group
• management development (development of the human resources in the group)
• financing of commercial and technical developments
• long-term development policy (internal and external)

Organization

• If possible there should be collective management (but in times of extensive reorganization it can be desirable to have a chairman).
• The top should be as small as possible in relation to the extent of the task.
• There should be no “super” specialists at the top.
• Three kinds of task can be distinguished:

  (a) A number of tasks are the joint responsibility of the whole board (see below).

  (b) Other tasks are the concern of a particular ...