Abstract
Corporate governance is increasingly being viewed as essential to sound business practice. The recommendations of the Cadbury Committee in the United Kingdom will respect to the role of a chairman are similar to those later formulated in the King Report on Corporate Governance in South Africa. In the present study, the perceived qualities of 'good' chairmen are investigated among chairmen, chief executives and main board members in the UK and South Africa. In both the UK and in South Africa the same robust methodology was used, enabling an inter-country comparison of results. The UK study comprised 60 in-depth interviews followed by a mailing of 2418 questionnaires to which 274 main-board members responded. In both cases, in the analysis, four-factor and four-cluster solutions emerged. Not surprisingly, the results for the two countries are quite different from each other and different profiles of preferred chairmen were found. In the case of the UK, the most preferred profile supports the execution of roles recommended for good governance while in South Africa, the least preferred profile appears to be the most appropriate.
Highlights
In a quest to safeguard the interests of stakeholders. in general. and shareholders. in particular. the issue of corporate governance has increasingly emerged as a prominent issue in business
The facilitator (32% of respondents) The facilitator works with and through a chief executive and evidences a 'hands-off' managerial style, coupled with open and warm personal relationships that extend to board members
The thinker (25% of respondents) While the thinker is visionary. he/she is, at the same time, detached. While this chairman works through a chief executive, he/she subtly and discretely uses his 'her own power and private agendas
Summary
In a quest to safeguard the interests of stakeholders. in general. and shareholders. in particular. the issue of corporate governance has increasingly emerged as a prominent issue in business. The issue of corporate governance has increasingly emerged as a prominent issue in business. 1996; Rossouw, 1997) has endeavoured to highlight some specific issues of corporate governance in relation to the particular South African environment, such as employee participation, affirmative action programmes and work ethic. The Institute of Directors ( 1995) proposes four dilemmas that directors of boards face: - Being simultaneously entrepreneurial \\ hilst exercising prudent control: - Being knowledgeable about operations whilst retaining an objective. Long-term view: - Being sensitive to short-term pressures yet being inforn1ed about external trends; and - Being focused on commercial needs whilst acting responsibly towards stakeholders. The role and the qualities of the chairman will determine the success with which the board deals with these dilemmas
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