Boardroom Renaissance: Power, Morality and Performance in the Modern Corporation

Robert W. Sexty is a commerce professor at the Memorial University of
Newfoundland and author of Canadian Business: Issues and Stakeholders.

Corporations have had to adapt to a substantially changed business
environment, and a key institution in initiating change is the board of
directors. The corporate governance system revolves around the board,
which increasingly has the responsibility for ensuring effective
corporate leadership through change. This book is a report on some of
the research being conducted on boards and governance, at the National
Centre for Management Research and Development at the University of
Western Ontario. Gillies focuses on the use of power and the influence
of social responsibility and business ethics on board functioning. His
chapter on boards and ethics is especially important, for it emphasizes
that the personal principles of directors are not enough to ensure
responsible behavior. Similarly, the chapter on corporate social
responsibility examines how the concept has moved from static
irrelevance to dynamic imperative for board functioning. The author also
explains how Canadian boards have functioned in the past, and why former
practices are changing; this discussion culminates in the final chapter,
“Into the Twenty-First Century: Boards in Transition.”

Gillies, a professor of policy in the Faculty of Administrative Studies
at York University, has served on more than 30 corporate boards. This
background adds a valuable dimension of practical experience to the
book. Extensive notes and a solid bibliography are further bonuses.