From the outset, I must declare that the Practicality and Efficiency Quotient which I will abbreviate as PEQ, is but a figment of my imagination!
I came up with it in my quest to reconcile different experiences on the subject I share today.

Once again, I will relate my discourse to the corporate as an artificial person that relies on other persons for its continued existence as a going concern.

Operationally, at all levels of governance the organizational behavior is guided by accepted norms, practices, procedures, protocols and so on.

A typical example is an organization’s disciplinary code. Apart from having a schedule of offences and corresponding sanctions, it contains a disciplinary and grievance procedure to be followed by both the employer and employee. Failure to follow procedure has led to disciplinary action against employees and for the employer, the risk of litigation against it by an affected employee which has in some cases led to financial loss to the company.

In governance, especially with decision making, failure to follow the provisions of established policies may compromise the quality of decisions. For example, a company’s Articles of Association may provide that some matters are reserved for shareholder approval. Therefore a Board that sits to consider and approve a shareholder reserved matter acts in excess of its authority, having neglected to abide by the provisions in the Articles of the company.

It has been argued that some protocols, procedures and processes have hindered efficiency and in some cases are not practical. That is where my notion of the EPQ comes in.

I think that some governing bodies find themselves making an assessment about whether or not to regard procedure on the basis that if it is more efficient and practical to disregard the procedure, they would be able to explain their conduct on that basis.

My thoughts are that if the procedure is established, it should be recognized and abided. However if it transpires that there could be more practical and efficient ways of doing something, formally reviewing the procedures and amending them is the course of action to be taken.

Governance is dynamic and has capacity to accommodate change…and there are protocols, procedures and processes to assist you with that.

Thank you!