A First Impression of the Carver's
Policy Governance® Model

Nipawin - September 19, 2000 - by: Mario deSantis
   

a model ...adopted by many of
our health agencies

Last week end I was casually reading the booklet "YOUR ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
AS A BOARD MEMBER(1)" and I became dismayed at what Dr. John Carver and his wife
Miriam Carver were saying. Specifically, I am going to quote a passage of this booklet so that
we can have a feeling of outrage at their Policy Governance®(2)(3) model, a model which has
been adopted by many of our health agencies, school boards and non profit organizations. This
is the passage:

Hands Off!!

"Hands Off!! Examples of What the Board Should Keep Hands Off
-Establish services, programs, curricula, or budgets

-Approve the CEO's personnel, program, and budgetary plans
-Render any judgments
-or assessment of staff activity where no previous board expectations have been stated
-Determine staff development needs, terminations, or promotions (except for the CEO)
-Design staff jobs or instruct any staff member subordinate to the CEO (except when the CEO has assigned a staff member to some board function)
-Decide on the table of organization and staffing requirements"

 

 

hold power

The above passage is very troublesome and it is reflective of an elitist and bureaucratic
leadership void of any creativity, beyond the interest to hold power at the expense of
everybody else. Now, we must know that many health district boards have adopted the
Policy Governance® model preached by the Carvers.

 

 

cannot

Can you believe that in accordance to the Policy Governance® model our health boards
cannot establish services, cannot establish health programs, cannot establish curricula,
cannot establish budgets, cannot approve the CEO's personnel, cannot approve program,
cannot approve budgetary plans... health boards cannot decide on the table of organization
and staffing requirements!

 

 

no say whatsoever

The communities own the health districts, yet the communities have no say whatsoever in
the running of their own health organizations; as usual, our specialists take care of the
health services: our CEOs, our health economists, Saskatchewan Health, and the Saskatchewan
Association of Health Organizations (SAHO). This is another magic of our reductionist
Premier Roy Romanow.

 

 

health districts are puppets

In our past articles we have been dealing with no-fault Tort reform and we have emphasized
the need to restore our individual rights taken away from our governments; and now I find
out that the Policy Governance® of our health districts tell their CEOs that they are above
the law, that they are above the Health Districts Act and that they are above their own
districts' bylaws. No wonder that our health districts are puppets of this government and
no wonder that health care is a gambling casino.

 

 

maintain the status quo

This is not what Timothy's Shire has described in his article "Chaos Theory(4)", this is
utter predetermined confusion caused by our corrupted leadership in their attempt to
maintain the status quo and exercise their greedy power. We must restore due diligence
and good faith to our governments, to our public agencies, to our schools, and to our
health districts.

 

 

socially responsible

We cannot continue to have no-fault governments along with their adopted Policy
Governance® model. We don't need models anymore, we need examples of good
leadership, we need examples on how to be more creative and socially responsible,
we need examples on how to learn more and express ourselves, we need to have back
our own individual rights taken away from this government.
   
-----------References/Endnotes:
   
  General Reference: economic and political articles written by Mario deSantis and published in Ensign http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/authors/desantisNG.html
   

1.
-

YOUR ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES AS A BOARD MEMBER, Guide #2, page 13, by John Carver and Miriam Mayhew Carver, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996
   

2.
-

Dr. John Carver has been called the new guru of the Nonprofits. The wording Policy Governance® is a copyright of Dr. John Carver http://www.health.state.nd.us/gov/hotnews/leader/carvrbio.htm
   

3.
-
-
-

Policy Governance® Defined: "John Carver's Policy Governance® model is the world's only complete, universal theory of governance... The model enables boards to ensure that organizations achieve board-stated goals and conduct themselves with probity..." http://www.carvergovernance.com/model.htm
   

4.

Chaos Theory, by Timothy Shire, September 16, 2000