An analysis of corporate, civic, and nonprofit governance that looks beyond policies to appropriate alignment, leading to greater effectiveness and sustainability.

For board members and executives, a clear path to organizational improvement. Within every organization is an “ecosystem” of influencers. In organizations with boards of directors and executives, that ecosystem is even more complex, and it is even more important to understand it for the benefit of everyone, including investors and donors. To date, governance models have provided little to no understanding of this ecosystem of influence, leaving this as an ongoing problem in organizations with the complexity of a board and executive. Governance experts have applied a number of inadequate solutions to a problem they still do not grasp. In Aligned Influence®, Ken Schuetz presents the Aligned Influence® model, which offers a unique perspective on this central problem—and a solution that addresses organizational alignment as a necessary prerequisite to effectiveness.

Climate change governance is in a state of enormous flux. New and more dynamic forms of governing are appearing around the international climate regime centred on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They appear to be emerging spontaneously from the bottom up, producing a more dispersed pattern of governing, which Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom famously described as 'polycentric'. This book brings together contributions from some of the world's foremost experts to provide the first systematic test of the ability of polycentric thinking to explain and enhance societal attempts to govern climate change. It is ideal for researchers in public policy, international relations, environmental science, environmental management, politics, law and public administration. It will also be useful on advanced courses in climate policy and governance, and for practitioners seeking incisive summaries of developments in particular sub-areas and sectors. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This open access book presents a topical, comprehensive and differentiated analysis of Germany’s public administration and reforms. It provides an overview on key elements of German public administration at the federal, Länder and local levels of government as well as on current reform activities of the public sector. It examines the key institutional features of German public administration; the changing relationships between public administration, society and the private sector; the administrative reforms at different levels of the federal system and numerous sectors; and new challenges and modernization approaches like digitalization, Open Government and Better Regulation. Each chapter offers a combination of descriptive information and problem-oriented analysis, presenting key topical issues in Germany which are relevant to an international readership.

Sustainability standards, their systems, role and impact -- VSS at a crossroads -- Is there any future perspective for VSS and what might it look like?

There has been a rapid expansion of academic interest and publications on polycentricity. In the contemporary world, nearly all governance situations are polycentric, but people are not necessarily used to thinking this way. Governing Complexity provides an updated explanation of the concept of polycentric governance. The editors provide examples of it in contemporary settings involving complex natural resource systems, as well as a critical evaluation of the utility of the concept. With contributions from leading scholars in the field, this book makes the case that polycentric governance arrangements exist and it is possible for polycentric arrangements to perform well, persist for long periods, and adapt. Whether they actually function well, persist, or adapt depends on multiple factors that are reviewed and discussed, both theoretically and with examples from actual cases.

Featuring numerous case examples from companies around the world, this second edition integrates theoretical advances and empirical data with practical applications, including in-depth discussion on the COBIT 5 framework which can be used to build, measure and audit enterprise governance of IT approaches. At the forefront of the field, the authors of this volume draw from years of research and advising corporate clients to present a comprehensive resource on enterprise governance of IT (EGIT). Information technology (IT) has become a crucial enabler in the support, sustainability and growth of enterprises. Given this pervasive role of IT, a specific focus on EGIT has arisen over the last two decades, as an integral part of corporate governance. Going well beyond the implementation of a superior IT infrastructure, enterprise governance of IT is about defining and embedding processes and structures throughout the organization that enable boards and business and IT people to execute their responsibilities in support of business/IT alignment and value creation from their IT-enabled investments. Featuring a variety of elements, including executive summaries and sidebars, extensive references and questions and activities (with additional materials available on-line), this book will be an essential resource for professionals, researchers and students alike