Professional Documents
Culture Documents
International Business
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Weighting: 50%
Assessment Brief/ Task Boards of directors are at the apex of organisations decision-making structures (Fama & Jensen, 1983), and are generally considered to be the most important internal governance mechanism. However, several corporate scandals and the recent financial crisis have re-ignited a debate on the role of boards and their effectiveness. Your task is to review the theoretical and empirical literature on boards, focusing specifically on the concept of board independence. Your report should include the following: a) An introduction to the domain of corporate governance and within it the role of boards. b) A critical review of the concept of board independence and its theoretical derivation. c) A review of the empirical literature on board independence, including a summary of findings regarding the impact of board independence on firm performance. d) A conclusion in which you put forward recommendations on how board independence can be achieved. Important requirements
Mode of Working: Presentation Format: Grade required to pass: Assessment limits: (in accordance with assessment tariffs) Hand in date: Assessment should be marked for the attention of: Preferred hand in location: individual Report D no more than 3,000 words
th
1. To critically compare and contrast theoretical perspectives on organisations and their implications for organisational objectives and goals 2. To critically evaluate organisations and their international activities from a strategic management perspective
Assessment Criteria
1. Thoroughness of understanding and evaluation of organisational theories related to corporate governance. 2. Comprehensiveness of review of empirical studies on board independence and firm performance. 3. Quality of recommendations and their evidence base 4. Coherence of argument; accuracy of spelling, grammar and referencing A grade The question has been fully and comprehensively addressed and fresh insights are provided, clear evidence of a comprehensive understanding of organisational theories and their application in the context of corporate governance and boards, excellent capacity to synthesise views which are theoretically well-founded and underpinned with appropriate empirical evidence, excellent ability to communicate argument, wide-ranging and accurate use of referencing in Harvard convention The key aspects of all question are completely addressed, there is wide-ranging understanding of organisational theories and their application in the context of corporate governance and boards, very good capacity to express theoretically-founded views which are underpinned with appropriate empirical evidence, very good ability to communicate argument, very good range of sources used and accurate referencing in Harvard The key aspects of the question are addressed, there is a sound understanding of organisational theories and a clear attempt to apply these in the context of corporate governance and boards, a solid capacity to put forward views which are theoretically grounded and have supporting evidence, the key points are soundly argued and a good range of sources is used, Harvard referencing is used Most aspects of the question are addressed, there is evidence that key organisational theories are understood and the student has the capacity to apply these to corporate governance and boards albeit incompletely, satisfactory capacity to express views which have some basis in theory, awareness of some of the empirical studies in the domain, referencing is used but with some errors and/or omissions, an argument is constructed and the key points communicated Missed the point of the question and/or failed to address the key parts sufficiently, there is limited (incomplete, erroneous, simplistic) understanding of organisational theory and little relevant application to boards and corporate governance, insufficient capacity to express views based on theoretical or empirical foundations arguments are largely descriptive, limited, erroneous or absent referencing, None of the above did not attempt question(s)
B grade
C grade
D grade
E grade
F grade
Weeks 1-4 will cover the domain of corporate governance and the traditional organisational theory perspectives on boards and board composition. Each week, you will be given revision questions which will help you in preparing for the assignment. See module guide and guided reading issued in class