Is Dutch vocational education homogenizing due to
institutional pressures? The implementation of the good
governance code
Master Thesis Controlling
University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business
Name: Martin Martens
Student number: s2408430
Supervisor: Dr. E. van de Mortel
Co-assessor: Dr. S. Girdhar
Date: January 2019
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Abstract
This thesis examines the implementation of the good governance code in vocational education using the new institutional sociology theory, which emphasizes the influence of isomorphic pressures. Institutional logics were also used to see whether there is (enough) freedom besides isomorphism and the collision of the good governance code with the own rules. The institutional logics are viewed in conjunction with the organizational culture. The main research question is: How do institutional pressures and institutional logics influence the implementation process of the good governance code in vocational education? Qualitative research is carried out in semi-structured interviews regarding the level of involvement in the implementation and application of the good governance code. The interviews found that coercive and normative pressures influence the implementation of the good governance code. Mimetic pressures are low. Furthermore, the executive board and supervisory board of the vocational education institute think that the executive board has enough space to make their own choices. Nevertheless, the executive board can be very limited in their actions by an incident-driven ministry and the changing environment, where more is expected from stakeholders from the educational institute. By incident driven ministry is meant that the ministry responds mainly on failures by educational institutes. Keywords: Good Governance Code, Vocational Education, New Institutional Sociology,
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Table of content
1. INTRODUCTION ... 3 1.1TOPICAL MATTER ... 3 1.2RESEARCH QUESTION ... 4 1.2.1 Sub-questions ... 4 1.3SCIENTIFIC RELEVANCE ... 5 1.4SOCIAL RELEVANCE ... 6 1.5READING GUIDE... 6 2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ... 72.1VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN THE NETHERLANDS ... 7
2.2GOOD GOVERNANCE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION ... 8
3. LITERATURE REVIEW... 11
3.1INSTITUTIONAL THEORY ... 11
3.1.1 Old Institutional Economics ... 11
3.1.2 New Institutional Economics ... 12
3.1.3 New Institutional Sociology ... 12
3.1.4 Institutional Logics ... 12
3.1.5 Contribution institutional theories to answer main research question ... 13
3.2INFLUENCE OF ISOMORPHISM PRESSURES ON THE SEMI-PUBLIC SECTOR ... 13
3.3.1 Influence of Institutional Logics on the semi-public sector ... 15
3.3.2 Influence of organizational culture on the semi-public sector ... 15
3.4INFLUENCE OF ISOMORPHISM PRESSURES ON EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTES... 17
3.5.1 Influence of Institutional Logics on educational institutes ... 18
3.5.2 Influence of organizational culture on educational institutes... 18
3.6CONCEPTUAL MODEL ... 19
4. RESEARCH METHOD ... 20
4.1RESEARCH METHOD ... 20
4.2DATA COLLECTION ... 20
4.3DESCRIPTION OF THE RESPONDENTS... 20
4.4DATA-ANALYSIS ... 21
4.5RELIABILITY, VALIDITY AND CONTROLLABILITY ... 21
5. RESULTS ... 22
5.1IMPLEMENTATION OF GOOD GOVERNANCE CODE ... 22
5.2COERCIVE ISOMORPHISM ... 26
5.3NORMATIVE ISOMORPHISM ... 27
5.4MIMETIC ISOMORPHISM ... 28
5.5ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND INSTITUTIONAL LOGICS ... 31
6. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ... 34
6.1ANSWERING THE MAIN RESEARCH QUESTION ... 34
6.2COMPARISON OF FINDINGS WITH PREVIOUS RESEARCH... 36
6.3LIMITATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ... 37
REFERENCES ... 39
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS DUTCH VERSION ... 44
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1. Introduction
The semi-public sector has faced pressure to work more effectively and efficiently and be more transparent. In addition, organizations in the semi-public sector have to comply with laws such as the good governance code. Requirement for schools are also changing regarding the content of teaching as well as the facilities, costs and governance. For instance, vocational education (Dutch: MBO1), higher professional education (Dutch: HBO2) and universities are expected to work with the public sector and companies in innovative projects. In short, the demands in the semi-public sector are quite challenging.
1.1 Topical matter
Board members and supervisors in semi-public sectors, such as education, are always under a spotlight. Additionally, board members and supervisors who work on public interests with public money may be subject to stringent requirements. In practice, however, schools cannot always meet the challenges. The challenges may be that the educational institutes are to a large extent responsible for policy, design and organization, and this entails major social responsibilities. Here is meant the connection between requirements and challenges. Known scandals are InHolland (2010) and Amarantis (2012) and more recently, the incidents concerning preparatory secondary vocational education in Maastricht (Dutch: VMBO Maastricht3) (2018) and Edudelta (2018). The InHolland scandal included unauthorized issuing of diplomas. Amarantis saw self-enrichment and conflicts of interest. Edudelta had to close its doors in August 2018 when faced with declining enrolment, as it did not respond well to this with its personnel policy. At VMBO Maastricht, administrative errors led to students undeservedly receiving a diploma.
Other incidents have occurred in the area of high declarations of the executive board in
education. In 2016, RTL Nieuws reported that some board members of educational institutes did not deal properly with declarations. The former executive board of Onderwijsgroep Noord claimed a total of €20,000 for dinners, overnight stays and lunches. In addition, the farewell reception cost another €21,000. A board member of the Zwolle HBO Windesheim took two courses in Beijing and the US for €30,000, where he took a one-and-a-half-day tourist train ride. The school stated that the courses are important for the board member’s development.
Because of all these scandals and incidents in education, discussions arose about the best way to control and supervise the educational institute. Various governance codes have emerged through these incidents. The first governance codes in education appeared in the nineties, after which sector codes were introduced. On the basis of this law, the minister of education, culture and science will have more powers to intervene when schools perform below par. The government wants to be able to continue to guarantee the basic quality of education by increasing freedom of act for school boards for the way in which they tackle this.
The government wants to have a better grip on how boards deal with the freedom of act and to be able to intervene if good governance is not in order or if school achievements lag behind in relation to the norms of the government. In addition, the minister of education, culture and science wants to further promote the principles of good governance and a legal basis is lay for (branch) codes for good governance. The question is how the good governance code in vocational education influences Dutch educational organizations. One way of investigating this issue is by studying the influence of institutional pressures that affect the implementation process of the good governance code in vocational education.
1
Middelbaar beroepsonderwijs
2
Hoger beroepsonderwijs
3
4 This leads to a discussion of the three forms of isomorphism (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983). It could be relevant for Dutch vocational education organizations to learn whether institutional pressures affect their implementation process of the good governance code in vocational education.
Additionally, this research is approached from institutional logics. Institutional logics are: “the socially constructed, historical pattern of material practices, assumptions, values, beliefs and rules” (Thornton and Ocasio, 1999, p. 804).
The institutional pressures of isomorphism and the influence of the environment, assumptions, values, habits and rules make it interesting and relevant to examine how educational institute deals with the various influences on institutional logics. The educational institutes experience institutional pressures or that there is still sufficient space to act within their own working methods, rules, norms and values. Thornton and Ocasio (1999) consider the perspective of new institutional sociology a structure-based approach based on the homogeneity of institutes. The heterogeneity of institutes can also be explained from perspective of institutional logics. These two perspectives offer a broader view of the influences on the implementation process of the good governance code.
What has been the effect of tightening legislation and regulations regarding the management of educational organizations? What influence does structural changes have on the educational performance of the educational institutes? Does changing the law and setting up and amending the code provide more insight into the ins and outs of the board and the supervisory board of the educational institutes? These questions inspired this research on the implementation of the good governance code in vocational education.
1.2 Research question
The good governance code covers several educational sectors. For example the primary
education, secondary education, vocational education, higher education and academic education. Among the educational sectors there are differences in legislation, regulations and other
performance indicators. Vocational education was chosen for this research, because the
researcher works in this sector. Keeping in mind the importance of good governance in MBO, the following main research question was formulated:
How do institutional pressures and institutional logics influence the implementation process of the good governance code in vocational education?
1.2.1 Sub-questions
To answer the main question, several sub-questions were formulated:
• How is the MBO education set up and which relevant laws and regulations apply to the MBO in the context of good governance?
• What is good governance? • What are institutions?
• What are coercive, mimetic and normative isomorphism? • What are institutional logics and the organizational culture?
• What is the theoretical relationship between good governance in vocational education and changes in institutions?
• What relationship exists between good governance, supervision and participation bodies in vocational education and changes in institutions?
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1.3 Scientific relevance
Especially in primary and secondary education there was a much of research in relation to the good governance code. Important facets, such as transparency and legitimacy, have received a lot of attention.
Hyden et al. (2004) identified six principles of good governance with a global consensus: participation, decency, fairness, accountability, transparency and efficiency. In the
implementation of the concept of good governance, values are created. In the context of public administration, this means public values. The concept of public values has played a prominent role in management and organizational research in recent years (Steenhuisen, 2009). The question often arises how politicians, civil servants and managers can and should deal with the tensions that the different, sometimes conflicting, public values create.
Values relate to ideas about good and evil, ethics and morality, and principles and guidelines. They become visible through choices, actions, preferences and attitudes (de Graaf, 2003). Honesty, transparency, efficiency, profitability and sustainability are examples of values. Their meaning depends on their context (Habermas, 1996).
As explained above, a lot of research has already been performed in good governance and behaviour written accountability takes place in annual reports. Counterforce is organized by entering into a dialogue with stakeholders, in which the public task of the educational institute is an important topic of discussion (Boers & Van Montfort, 2006). Counterforce is meant to keep each other sharp and to address each other if necessary. Having a good dialogue is a necessary condition for learning and improving. This requires an open culture (Hooge & Vermeeren, 2007). There is too little attention provide to the human factor in the negation of all kinds of good governance codes in education (Boers & Van Montfort, 2006). Good governance must therefore also be linked to all sorts of institutional and cultural factors (Van Montfort, 2012).
This research is innovative because it focuses on a different educational sector and uses a different theoretical perspective: the new institutional sociology (NIS) approach. The NIS
approach tries to explain the uniformity in the practice of organizations. NIS tries to explain how organizations shape themselves in a certain domain and why organizations are similar. NIS emphasizes that institutions are outside the organization and that they determine what an organization looks like (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983). Ashworth et al. (2009) found that
isomorphism helps explain changes in the environment. Isomorphism approach is applicable in the education sector. By linking good governance to institutional and cultural factors, this research contributes to existing scientific knowledge.
Because of the changing and complex environment of vocational education, it is interesting to examine how the executive board and supervisory board deals with the code, for example, how they keep the vocational education institutes sharp and how they confront their colleagues who have made a mistake. From the introduction of the good governance code MBO in 2006 to the introduction of the law to strengthen the administrative power in 2017, the demand in education is changing rapidly. Good governance can only be a living and guiding set of principles if the values and principles referenced are internalized in the behaviour of the employees of an
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1.4 Social relevance
Education must continuously improve its services and work more efficiently at lower costs. The social relevance of this research is that the executive board and the employees of the
vocational education institute working with public funds and that creates great obligations for the educational organization and supervision within the government management system used for system control.
Within the frameworks set by the government in the control model of system control, the educational institutes are largely responsible for their policy, which entails major social
responsibilities. According to NIS, organizations can establish certain management practices as a result of the institutional pressure to achieve legitimacy between stakeholders and increase their efficiency (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983). Therefore, in this study, it is important to determine how aware the educational institutes are about good governance in the MBO, how the code lives with the executive board and the supervisory board, how they deal with the code and to what extent the code is interwoven within the organization.
1.5 Reading guide
This research is structured as follows (see Figure 1). Chapter 2 provides background information about the problem and explains how the governance code in vocational education has taken shape. Chapter 3 discusses four forms of the institutional theory before choosing NIS and the three forms of isomorphism and as a counterpart, the institutional logics. This discussion results in four propositions. Chapter 4 describes the methodology, including the research approach, data collection method (interviews), the respondents, the data analysis, and the reliability, validity and controllability of the research. Chapter 5 presents the results of the research and discusses the results. Finally, Chapter 6 answers the main question using the findings. The findings compares with findings from previous research. The chapter ends with a discussion of the limitations and possibilities for future research.
Figure 1: Thesis structure
Background information Literature review Methodology Discussion and conclusion Results Discussion of results Description of results Limitations of the research and possibilities of further research Discussion main research question Institutional theory Coercive isomorphism Mimetic isomorphism Normative isomorphism Institutional logics
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2. Background information
First, this chapter discusses vocational education in the Netherlands and the sector organization that deals with it. In this context, the creation and development of the sector organization vocational education council (Dutch: MBO-raad4) and the good governance code are discussed. The governance code’s creation, the reason it was created and the results of various investigations after the introduction of the code are presented. This context description is the building blocks of this thesis. This chapter also explains the concept of good governance.
An important condition for improving the quality of education is good governance. The code aims to support this. A well-functioning board requires accountability and asks questions to improve the educational quality of the school. By creating the right conditions, managers and teachers can develop personally and professionally. Both the MBO council and the educational boards consider professionalization of education important. The good governance code of the MBO contributes to this because the code states that the competent authority must ensure a separation between the functions of management and internal supervision.
2.1 Vocational Education in the Netherlands
Vocational schools were established in the 1990s with the introduction of the Adult and Vocational Education Act (Dutch: WEB5). This act led to the merger of numerous schools and institutes into three types of educational institutes: regional training centers (Dutch: ROCs6), agricultural training centers (Dutch: AOCs7) and vocational schools (intended for a specific industry). The MBO council and the AOC council are the specific branch organizations. Vocational schools are active in the semi-public sector and are often foundations. The schools’ primary function is to prepare students for professional practice or for further education. The secondary educational function is about policy, management and governance and supports the primary process of the school. The training can take the form of a vocational training path (Dutch: BOL8) or a vocational choice path (Dutch: BBL9). BOL emphasizes learning and BBL working. The vocational school consists of four levels, where level four allows students to pursue higher professional education. The largest intake of students for vocational education is the preparatory secondary vocational education. This means that vocational schools also maintain contacts with educational institutes in the other educational sectors.
In addition to internal supervision in the form of a supervisory board (Dutch: RvT10), schools are subject to external supervision by the Inspectorate of Education (Dutch: IvhO11). The supervisory board has three roles regarding the board: supervising, being an employer and being a sparring partner. Inspectorate of Education mainly focuses on the quality of education, the financial situation and compliance with legislation and regulations. Every year, educational institutes must provide the annual report. In the annual report the executive board and the supervisory board takes responsibility for the operation of the code.
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Middelbaar beroepsonderwijs raad
5
Wet Educatie en Beroepsonderwijs
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Regionale opleidingscentra
7 Agrarische opleidingscentra 8
Beroeps Opleidende Leerweg
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Beroeps Begeleidende Leerweg
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Raad van Toezicht
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8 The education control protocol that is issued annually by the Inspectorate of Education to the auditors of all educational sectors is a protocol that is transparent and comes about through a careful process, but also reflects the complexity of the regulations and the audit.
At the end of 2012, five of the 70 existing vocational schools were subject to increased supervised by the Inspectorate of Education. As of 1 October 2018, only one of 66 were. Table 1 shows a schematic representation of information in the vocational education sector.
Table 1
Vocational education schools (Dutch: MBO-scholen) in the Netherlands per school year 2016-2017
Type
Regional Training Centers (Dutch: ROC)
Agricultural Training Centers (Dutch: AOC) Vocational school (Dutch: vakschool) Number of schools 43 12 11 Percentage of schools 65% 18% 17% Number of students 438.500 25.500 28.500 Percentage of students 89% 5% 6% Increased supervision 0 1 0 Source: DUO.nl, 2017 Source: Onderwijsinspectie.nl, 2018
Vocational education is a turbulent and complex sector, which has to do with its origin. The vocational education sector has a wide variety of programs, various income flows (Lump sum and project subsidy) and many interested parties. Therefore, the board and its management of vocational education schools should not only give attention to the quality of vocational education, but also have knowledge of financial matters. The sector is under a magnifying glass from the public and politicians. Politician’s vision for education is constantly changing, which places new demands on staff (managers and teachers), housing and other matters. In addition, vocational education is faced with cutbacks and complex requirements are set for cooperation with private parties. Incidents can quickly lead to loss of image for the entire sector and expansion of the already complex regulations. The trick is not to enact more rules when adjusting legislation and regulations, but to correctly apply the underlying principles of the code.
2.2 Good Governance vocational education
Before providing an outline of the good governance code in vocational education, good
governance is first defined. TheMBO council (2014) defines good governance as: “ensuring the mutual coherence of the way of managing, controlling and supervising an organization, aimed at an efficient and effective achievement of the objectives, as well as the communicate openly and account for the benefit of stakeholders” (MBO council, 2014, p.2).
The history of good governance codes in vocational education is as follows. In January 2006 the Governance Code Professional and Adult Education (Dutch: BVE12) came into force. In 2007, the MBO council monitored and evaluated the implementation of the code. The quality of education in relation to good governance was below average (Dijsselbloem committee, 2008).
After the evaluation of the Governance Code BVE, the MBO council (2009) presented a new code on good governance in the BVE sector, which came into effect on 1 January 2009.
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9 This code describes the guidelines for further development in practice. In 2009, the Education and Vocational Education Act included the obligation for institutes in the BVE sector to have a supervisory board.
The development of quality assurance as part of the administrative capacity is progressing, but the implementation is slow. This can be seen in the state of quality assurance at institutes where the Inspectorate of Education conducts quality research. There also appears to be increasing differences between institutes in the extent to which the institute is in control of the quality of education. After the Amarantis scandal in 2012, the MBO council came up with a new branch code that was put into effect on 1 August 2014. This branch code replaces branch code, which was in force between 2009 and 2013. Van Zijl, chairman of the MBO council (2014), said “The Amarantis case has contributed to a sharp increase in schools' awareness that they must also be able to appeal to each other if things are not going as they should.”13 The renewed sector code therefore contains agreements to address each other, should this be necessary.
Table 2 summarizes the timeline of the laws, regulations and incidents in education.
Table 2
Timeline with legislation and regulations and incidents in education
2006 Implementation code Good Governance BVE
2006 Report Education Council; how can governance take shape in education? 2008 Research Dijsselbloem Commission on the creation of educational innovations 2008 Report independent committee on the code Good Governance BVE
2009 Branch code Good Governance BVE 2010 Incident with InHolland
2012 Incident with Amarantis Education Group
2012 Report independent committee on Branch code Good Governance BVE 2014 Branch code Good Governance MBO
2017 Law strengthening Governance
2018 Incidents with VMBO Maatricht and Edudelta
The latest version (branch code 2014) formulates the principles of good governance to which educational institutes have to comply. The code must be more alive and Chapter 2 of the code focuses on good conversation, including how to address each other and how to express
disagreement. Chapter 3 of the code (responsibilities of the executive board) has consequences for membership and is linked to the MBO council. Chapter 4 (recommendations for the
supervisory boards) and Chapter 5 of the code (agreements on monitoring, evaluation and enforcement) are also discussed in this thesis.
In concrete terms means the law strengthening governance, which the act gives additional powers to the employees to participate in vocational education. Below a summary of the additional powers they given to employees:
- The participants’ council receives advisory rights regarding the appointment or dismissal of the members of the executive board.
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http://www.mboraad.nl/?news/4652392/Branchecode+goed+bestuur+in+het+mbo+definitief+lidmaa tschapseis+MBO+Raad.aspx
10 - The nomination of the members of the executive board and of the supervisory board is based on profiles made public in advance.
- Application committees for the appointment of a member of the executive board includes a member of the works council or the participants’ council or someone representing those councils. - The supervisory board consults at least twice a year with the participants' council and the works council of the institute.
The monitoring committee (2016) carried out an initial monitoring of the compliance with the branch code on good governance in the MBO that was introduced in 2014. This was an interim evaluation preceding the larger evaluation in 2018. The committee did not include all elements of the code in this monitoring, but focused on the following five themes:
1. Functioning of the code; 2. Strategic policy;
3. Checks and balances; 4. Public interests;
5. Employer role of the supervisory boards
The conclusion of the monitoring committee (2016) is that good governance in the MBO is better organized and there is an upward trend compared to the previous evaluations. The committee believes that there is still space for improvement. The most important recommendations made by the monitoring committee (2016) are:
● Use the code for the good and difficult conversation with each other about how good
governance is put into practice and is reflected in the structure, culture and behaviour within the institute.
● Ensure proper accountability for dealing with the code in the integrated annual report. ● Keep to the agreements in the code and to the legislation on (transparency about) the effectiveness of the training.
● The supervisory board must ensure that the executive board adequately conducts the horizontal dialogue with external stakeholders on the central strategic policy.
● Conduct the horizontal dialogue with relevant external stakeholders on the strategy and long-term policy of the institute.
● Actively enter into discussions within the sector about serving public interests and significance for the individual MBO institutes and for the sector as a whole. Create a low-threshold
consultation on this, including at the regional level. Pay attention to potential tensions between institutional interests and public interests and identify the opposing interests.
● Pay attention to the balance between legislation and regulations and self-regulation of the MBO sector itself.
● In accordance with legislation and regulations, the executive board and the supervisory board of vocational education institutes should serve both the institutes’ interests and public interests, weigh and prioritize these interests in their strategy and the realization of goals, and actively account for them.
Therefore, both the internal workings (the drafting of rules for good governance) and the external effect (responding to social movement) of governance give direction to the changes within the sector (steering and controlling), so that the sector justifies itself, exhibits transparent behaviour and promotes integrity (accountability and supervision).
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3. Literature review
This chapter starts with a brief discussion of several streams within institutional theory. Second, this discussion explains why DiMaggio and Powell’s (1983) stream of NIS was chosen adopted for this thesis. This is accompanied by an extensive explanation of the theory. Third, research applying NIS theory and institutional logics in conjunction with organizational culture to the semi-public sector is reviewed and discussed. Fourth, research applying NIS theory and institutional logics in conjunction with organizational culture to schools is reviewed and
discussed. This leads to the development of four propositions. Finally, the propositions are shown in a conceptual model at the end of this chapter.
3.1 Institutional theory
This research uses institutional theory, because this theory emphasizes the relation between organization and its environment. The environment plays a fundamental role in education. Institutional theory deals with the social structure. Institutional theory focuses on institutions. North (1994) describes institutions as “the human-developed limitations to structure economic, political and social interactions. The institutions consist of formal and informal rules. They are made up of formal constraints (e.g., rules, laws, constitutions), informal constraints (e.g., norms of behavior, conventions, self-imposed codes of conduct), and their enforcement characteristics” (p.360). North’s definition of institutions is used in this study because North is a historical economist and is the trendsetter of the concept of institutions.
North (1990) assumes that formal and informal institutions lead to an economic outcome. Institutions have emerged to create order and reduce uncertainty. Institutions are therefore about processes of rules, norms and routines, with which structures are formed as authoritative
guidelines for social behaviour (North,1990). It is not assumed that organizational choices are driven by efficiency and performance, as is the case with the neoclassical economic movement. Institutional theory emphasizes social integration, with the focus on social values, norms and rules that are validated by dominate organizational life (Modell, 2014).
Institutional theory is important to better understand management accounting change, because institutional theory see the role of social and political processes in and around organizations (Dillard et al., 2004). Institutional theory focuses on complex political processes that are involved in forming “belief systems” (Modell, 2014).
In recent years, various institutional theories is using to gain insight into organizational changes and changes in management accounting. This are the old institutional economics (OIE), new institutional economics (NIE), new institutional sociology and institutional logics (IL). Each of these theories has its own view on institutions. The four theories are briefly discussed below and NIS is chosen as the best fit for this research.
3.1.1 Old Institutional Economics
The OIE theory deals with why or how certain behaviour occurs and whether this behaviour is maintained or changed over time. Burns and Scapens (2000) describe management accounting instruments and processes as rules and routines that influence institutions in time and allow institutional change to take place. The following definition of institutions in OIE is widely used: “a way of thinking or action of some prevalence and permanence, which is embedded in the habits of the group of people” (Hamilton, 1932, p.84). That is, institutions are the prevailing way of thinking or acting that are embedded in the habits within a group.
12 The OIE is used for internal institutions within an organization. Burns and Scapens (2000)
developed a model in which the relation becomes clear between the actions, institutions, rules and routines.
The OIE also has its limitations. For example, this perspective focuses entirely on internal institutions, while external institutions can also influence institutional change. OIE consider the influence of the individual on the change, because from this perspective, institutions are social structures seen by individuals as given facts.
3.1.2 New Institutional Economics
The NIE perspective is closely related to the neo-classical model, with an emphasis on efficiency and rationality. NIE is therefore linked to other theories. The transaction cost theory and the agency theory are examples of the other theories. NIE focuses on structures at a certain point in time and is therefore not suitable for studying processes because they focus not at a certain point in time (Scapens, 2006).
3.1.3 New Institutional Sociology
NIS focuses on explaining the uniformity (homogeneity) in the practices of organizations. NIS is therefore occupied with the institutions in the environment of an organization that forms its structure and system (Brignall & Modell, 2000). NIS describes how organizations try to adapt to the expectations of their environment. NIS focuses on different forms of isomorphism. This thesis uses Hawley’s (1968) definition of isomorphism, as “a constraining process that forces one unit in a population to resemble other units that face the same set of environmental conditions” (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983, p.149)
The NIS approach tries to explain the uniformity in the practice of organizations, how organizations shape themselves in a certain domain and why organizations are similar. NIS emphasizes that institutions are outside the organization and that they determine what an organization looks like (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983).
Organizations must acquire legitimacy in relation to their environment and stakeholders.
Legitimacy gives organizations the right to exist and increases their chance of survival. To obtain legitimacy, organizations must conform to each other, creating isomorphism. DiMaggio and Powell (1983) distinguish three forms of institutional isomorphism. This are coercive-, mimetic- and normative isomorphism.
3.1.4 Institutional Logics
Institutional logics are a perspective within management control that is used to understand dynamic changes of control within organizations. The following definition of institutional logics is used in this study: “the socially constructed, historical pattern of material practices,
assumptions, values, beliefs and rules” (Thornton and Ocasio, 1999, p. 804).
This definition was chosen because of the connection between an individual or organization and the influence from the environment where the organization is active. IL arose in response to the NIS. IL does not try to explain the homogeneity but rather the diversity of organizational practices by describing and explaining processes that lead to diversity between organizations. IL uses the historical development of institutions and focuses on the future (Thornton and Ocasio, 2008).
13 There may be logics that fit together and logics that do not fit together, which can lead to
conflicts between the organization and the law and regulations (Besharov & Smith, 2014). Thornton and Ocasio (2008) developed a new method using IL to analyze institutions. Here, are institutional logics definitions of institutions in terms of content and meaning. Institutional logics relate to rationally thoughtful behaviour. Organizational actors have an important role in forming and changing institutional logics (Thornton, 2004). The IL theory is distinguished by stating that actors make a rational choice, where self-interest plays an important role.
3.1.5 Contribution institutional theories to answer main research question
These theories are all based on institutional influences but approach them in different ways. OIE focuses on the internal pressure of institutions within organizations, while NIE and NIS focus more on the external pressure of institutions within organizations. Some of the main features of the three streams of institutional theory are summarized in Table 3.
Table 3: Different streams of institutional theory
OIE NIE NIS
Unit of analysis Social (sub) group Transaction Organization
Assumptions on individual
Individual constructs social realities
Bounded rational Institutional
Determinism
Process view? Yes No No
Changes addressed
Behavioural Regularities
Governance structure Institutionalized formal practices (budgeting; activity based costing) Institutional focus Behavioural Regularities
Efficiency External legitimacy
Source: Van der Steen, 2005, p.30.
The code is introduced and approached at the organizational level. The main goal in education is to increase the legitimacy of the educational institute. For this reason, NIS offers the best
approach for this research. To make this research even more valuable, it also uses IL, as this theory emerged in response to NIS. IL is not included in the table, because it is a part of NIS.
3.2 Influence of isomorphism pressures on the semi-public sector
Having described the streams of institutional theory, this section discusses the three forms of institutional isomorphism. Coercive isomorphism emerges from enforced social norms and formal pressure exercised by institutions, for example, governments (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983). Coercive isomorphism may force companies to introduce certain quality standards (İskifoğlu and Guzer, 2012) or implement information systems (Liang, Saraf, Hu, & Xue, 2007). Also, by applying an adjustment to the governance code, pressure can be exercised on organizations by the government. For example, powerful institutions, such as the ministry, Inspectorate of Education, or MBO council could impose more stringent laws and regulations in relation to the governance code in the context of conflicts of interest.
Mimetic isomorphism occurs when companies imitate the practices, processes or structures applied by successful and recognized organizations to overcome uncertainty or respond to socially constructed expectations (Brown, 2011). Mimetic isomorphism often occurs through imitation of “best practices” (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983).
14 Educational institutes can adopt an innovation that has already been adopted by other
organizations and that has already proved successful. This can occur in several ways. For example, a new employee can take into account previous experience with the innovation and introduce it or a consultancy firm was hired that also introduced the innovation to other educational institutes.
Normative isomorphism results from business professionalization and the creation of standards in social networks (Galaskiewicz, 1985). Professionalization of management and professional organizations (MBO council) are important drivers of normative isomorphism. By developing and promoting shared values and common ideas, these institutions strengthen the formation of social expectations regarding appropriate practices and characteristics (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983).
The institutional environment where the educational institute is active is formed by rules, norms and values with which people structure the world around them (Garud et al., 2007). The goal of an educational institute is to obtain legitimacy, which is “a generalized perception or assumption that the actions of an entity are desirable, proper, or appropriate within some socially
constructed system of norms, values, beliefs, and definitions” (Suchman, 1995, p. 574).
Legitimacy is also essential for the right to exist of organizations (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978). For example, if the educational institute adopt a method, not because it seems effective, but because it has a good image.
Ashworth et al. (2009) explain that, according to institutional theory, organizations strive to legitimacy in the environmental isomorphic pressures. Previous research regarding institutional theory is extend by taking an extensive overview of organizational features that may be related to isomorphism pressures.
Frumkin and Galaskiewicz (2004) explain that the sensitivity of organizations in the (semi) public sector creates institutional pressure. Coercive and, to a lesser extent, normative isomorphic pressure play a major role in non-profit organizations.
Ashworth et al. (2009, p.167) point to Scott (1987, p. 502), who said: “An institutional
perspective gives special emphasis to authority relations: the ability of organizations, especially (semi) public organizations, to rely on legitimate coercion.” This shows that the public sector is primarily facing coercive and/or normative isomorphic pressures. Therefore, the same may hold for educational institutes.
Even though the literature points to the presence of normative isomorphism in the education sector, it is important to not exclude other possible influences. Pollitt (2001), for example, investigates the divergence of views on the degree of international convergence in public management reforms by combining different theoretical approaches regarding the concept of convergence. Pollitt (2001) points to mimetic isomorphism where local authorities, departments, health authorities or agencies do not know how to deal with uncertainty from other organizations in their peer group what they perceive as well-received innovations.
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3.3.1 Influence of Institutional Logics on the semi-public sector
An important new direction for institutional analysis is the study of organizational heterogeneity and practical variation (Lounsbury, 2001). Although some management researchers have
followed a more strategic approach, emphasizing how the instrumental rationality of actors leads to differences in motive and behaviour (Oliver, 1991), others have sought to remain consistent with a focus on institutional sources of actors’ behaviour (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983) by emphasizing how institutional rationality can form a basis for the explanation of practical variation. To accomplish this, organization fields consisting of multiple, competitive logic were conceptualized (Friedland & Alford, 1991).
To the extent that variation in practices was examined, it was typically conceptualized as stemming from actors acting strategically to resist institutional pressures (e.g., Oliver, 1991) or otherwise pretending to act in accordance with institutional demands while instrumentally pursuing their own agendas (Westphal & Zajac, 1994). The emergence of the concept of logic has been a key turning point in redirecting attention back to the kind of institutional rationality as well as the study of institutional sources of variation of practices (Meyer and Rowan (1977). Lounsbury (2007) emphasizes to show the strengths of logics. The actors in the field are guided in the decision-making process and must show how the broader cultural beliefs and rules fit within an organization.
A mainly part of research on logic is focused on shifts in logic over time. Scott et al. (2000) define how logical movements in health care led to the value creation of various actors, behaviours and management structures.
An organization must be attuned to the applicable logic and thus gain legitimacy. With the emergence of a new logic, attention must be shifted to aspects that are in accordance with the new logic. An organization must adapt to this, so that the structure and the strategy are in agreement again. This is also a precondition for an organizational field to become stable again after a radical change (Reay and Hinings, 2005). The adjustment in the structure, together with the emergence of a new logic, is an important condition for a change. A stable situation arises after a change if the logic and the structure match and are supported by the actors in the field. Ultimately, a dominant logic arises (Scott, 2000), to which the organization needs to adjust its structure and strategy to gain legitimacy.
Van Gestel and Hillebrand (2011) assume that no stable situation can arise when multiple logics are present, but that stability and change always alternate. In this view, logic is only temporarily dominant and there cannot be a long period of stability. For example, the actors in the field can avoid choosing a logic, but keep the logic intentionally vague. This avoids conflict with others in the organization that adheres to another logic. It is also possible that the actors find both logics not ideal, because there is a choice for the “least bad.” Both processes ensure a temporarily stable situation, because as soon as better alternatives are available, the choice of an actor changes. This can have consequences for the legitimacy of an organization.
3.3.2 Influence of organizational culture on the semi-public sector
The culture that prevails in an organization always influences the actions in the organization. This thesis examines whether the organizational culture, in relation to the institutional logics,
16 Schein (1985) defines organizational culture as: “A pattern of basic assumptions invented,
discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration – that had worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems” (Schein, 1985, p.9). Schein’s definition was chosen because, in addition to culture, it also addresses the values and norms that apply in the organization.
Schein’s (1985) argues that an organizational culture is very important, because the cultural elements are decisive for the strategy, objectives and working methods of the organization. An organizational culture is not easy to understand. Schein (1985) sees culture as a learning process. Since culture offers safety, people will often have difficulty with a cultural change. They will sometimes have to get used to the change, because they are used to dealing with things in a certain way. After all, their working method and way of thinking are part of the culture. The fact that culture is stable and difficult to change can make culture an obstacle to innovation or change (Brenters, 1999).
Sanders and Neuijen (1999) find the word “common” very important. An organizational culture can only be spoken if the employees of an organization are supports the organizational culture. Schein (1985) and Sanders and Neuijen (1999) indicate that organizational culture is an key factor for the performance of an organization. It means that if the employees of an organization support the organizational culture then is the change for success bigger for an organization. It has also been shown that a strong culture influences the effectiveness of the organization (Quinn & Rohrbaugh, 1983).
Van Meuijen (1996) concludes that in organizational culture, the involvement of the employees plays a prominent role for the proper functioning of the organization. The focus in the
organizational culture must in be on taking responsibility of the tasks of employees (Van Meuijen, 1996).
A widely used way to characterize an organizational culture is the theory of Handy (1985). The organizational types in this theory show significant cultural patterns in an organization. For this model, the choice was made to focus on the internal dimensions and to investigate which culture educational institutes should enact. The theory distinguishes the following two cultural
dimensions:
1. Power distribution: the way in which power is divided within an organization. The spread of power is more uniform in a decentralized organization than in a centrally managed one.
2. Cooperation: the degree of mutual cooperation within an organization.
If these two dimensions are placed opposite each other, a 2x2 matrix is created. This matrix is shown in Table 4. The following four culture types result from this:
1. Power culture (boss-oriented): an organization in which there is good cooperation, but the boss ultimately determines what cooperation works.
2. Role culture (function-oriented): Everyone must adhere to the roles given in the formal organization within which many rules and procedures apply.
3. Person culture: The person culture occurs in decentralized guided organizations with a low degree of cooperation. Individuals are central to organizational culture. The manager is clearly a part of the work execution. Development of the service and sufficient financial resources to satisfy the employees are paramount.
17 4. Task culture (results-oriented): the task culture can be seen in organizations where independent professionals work together on complex tasks. There is a flat and decentralized organization where the execution of tasks takes place in a project.
Power distribution
Low High
Cooperation degree
Low Role culture Person culture
High Power culture Task culture
Table 4: Source: Handy, 1985.
3.4 Influence of isomorphism pressures on educational institutes
In the institutional theory, schools are mentioned as a characteristic of organizations for which legitimacy is more important than technical aspects (Meyer & Rowan, 1977). Schools regularly have to deal with contradictory goals. For example, Regional Training Centers must train for good workmanship and the labor market and fit in with personal learning needs of participants. Education is a complex and uncertain environment. For example, students learn at different paces and the same approach can lead to very different results. For all these reasons, schools must above all have legitimacy. Schools that adhere to specific laws, rules, formats, and best practices are rewarded for this. Because their stakeholders see the schools as legitimate, they receive money from the government and the trust of parents and students.
According to institutional theory, organizations can acquire legitimacy in various ways. These ways correspond to the three aforementioned forms of institutional pressure. It is mainly
governments that provide the type of coercive pressure. A core quality of a government is that it can declare the same rules applicable to everyone. Organizations acquire legitimacy by adhering to these rules. In contrast, the MBO council can impose normative pressure. For example, entering the branch code in the MBO, which all members must conform to or explain why they are not. A third way to gain legitimacy is to mimic successful organizations and take over
elements of that type of organization. For example, a region vision as policy within the regions of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. Overall, the institutional context can influence organizations in many ways. The influence can be direct or indirect and take the form of clearly visible and recognizable rules, but also of difficult to grasp and often implicit views.
The three forms of institutional isomorphism lead to the first three propositions:
Proposition 1: Coercive isomorphism will influence the implementation process of good governance in vocational education.
Proposition 2: Normative isomorphism will influence the implementation process of good governance in vocational education.
Proposition 3: Mimetic isomorphism will influence the implementation process of good governance in vocational education.
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3.5.1 Influence of Institutional Logics on educational institutes
Ezzamel et al. (2012) conclude that institutional logics vary during a change process from one accounting system to another. Ezzamel et al. (2012) identify three issues that interact with each other and are therefore central to achieving institutional change and the possibility of variation within practices. These issues are the multiple institutional logics that play a role in an
organization, the new methods that play a role in the field and the significance that actors give to such methods. According to Ezzamel et al. (2012), change or variation arises because employees start a new way of working and face difficulties. For these difficulties, different solutions are invented that arise from interpreting the problems. These difficulties are influenced by its own prevailing logic. When the way of working changes within a department or organization, the way in which problems are solved can influence the prevailing institutional logics. When an
organization is unbundled, the working method will change, which has an impact on the prevailing institutional logics.
Ezzamel et al. (2012) discussed the changes to the prevailing institutional logic. By changing the good governance code, the prevailing institutional logic and the cooperation between the various institutional logics within an organization in education is changing.
3.5.2 Influence of organizational culture on educational institutes
Maslowski (2001) found there is an relation between performance and organizational of educational institutes. An appropriate approach will be sought that will lead to staff becoming responsible. In many organizations, the responsibilities of employees are lower in the
organization. This is where a culture fits together, in which people address each other and evaluate their own behaviour and adjust it where necessary. Van Ernst (1999) calls this a professional culture.
Schein (1999) concludes that the management of an organization plays a prominent role in establishing, maintaining or changing an organizational culture. In the organizational culture of an educational institute, the style of management also influences the way in which matters are organized and in the manner of working of the employees in the school (Ten Bruggencate, 2009). Van Muijen (1999) concludes that the relationship between leadership and culture concerns the influence of inspiring leaders on the organizational culture, who by their appearance clearly communicate the mission of the organization to their employees and who influence the attitudes, norms, values, behaviour and performance of their employees. Schein (1999) indicates that the creation and management of culture is leaders’ only important task. The fourth proposition is: Proposition 4: Organizational culture will influence institutional logics and the implementation process of good governance in vocational education.
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3.6 Conceptual model
The literature review, which resulted in four propositions, is graphically depicted in a conceptual model in Figure 2. The arrows indicate the proposed influence of institutional pressures on good governance in MBO. The other variant is IL in combination with the cultural effects on the good governance code. It is crucial to keep in mind the progress of dealing with the good governance code in the MBO.
Figure 2: The conceptual model Coercive isomorphism pressures (NIS) (P1) Mimetic isomorphism pressures (NIS) (P3) Normative isomorphism pressures (NIS) (P2) Implementation good governance code in MBO Institutional logics (P4) Cultural effects
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4. Research method
This section describes how the research was performed. It includes the overall research method, data collection method, description of the respondents, the data analysis and the study’s
controllability, validity and reliability.
4.1 Research method
An interpretative qualitative research method was chosen to answer the main question. This type of research has an exploratory and in-depth character. The use of good governance can be described and understood with the help of the interpretation of the board and its management (Boeije, 2010). This method can be used to describe the current situation of the board,
management and supervisors, who are central in this research. Qualitative research allows for significant input from the respondents, in addition to the literature. Qualitative research provides the insight into the cognitive world of the participant (Biggerstaff & Thompson, 2008). Choosing a qualitative research method made it possible to examine whether the board, management and the supervisors agree with the conclusions from the scientific literature regarding the use of good governance in vocational education. In addition, it offers the possibility to learn whether the board, management and supervisors also put other factors forward. Finally, an exploratory and in-depth method is suitable for this research because more knowledge is gained about characteristics of educational institutes and their influence on the transparency that educational institutes strive for.
4.2 Data collection
The most important method for data collection was in-depth, semi-structured interviews. This type of interview was chosen because it provides a combination of structure and flexibility (Maruster, 2013). The interviews were conducted on location and lasted about one hour. The interview questions (see Appendices A and B for an English and a Dutch version) are based on the literature study and the resulting conceptual model. The interview questions are divided into seven sections.
The first section contains questions about the interviewee’s background and function. The second section contains questions about the implementation of the code. The third, fourth and fifth sections deal with the first three propositions, regarding the influence of the three isomorphic pressures on the implementation process of good governance MBO. The sixth and the seventh sections contain questions about the fourth proposition, regarding the organizational culture in combination with institutional logics. The interview closes by asking whether the interviewee has any additional remarks that are important considering the nature of the research. The results of the interviews are analyzed in Chapter 5 based on the structure of these sections.
4.3 Description of the respondents
This section describes the selected respondents. One group of respondents is the executive board and the supervisory board, because the good governance code is directly related to these both functions. Due to time and feasibility issues, not everyone from the executive board and
supervisory board at all the schools the respondents worked at. Ten schools were approached to participate in the research, and five schools decided to participate. The reasons the other five gave for not participating is time and priority. Two schools wanted to participate with a board
secretary in relation to time and priority. The board secretary is link between the executive board and the supervisory board. All interviewed vocational educations are located in the north of the Netherlands. The interviewees had to be knowledgeable enough to answer the questions, which meant that they be involved with the educational organization’s implementation of the good governance code.
21 Table 5 lists the educational institutes covered by the interviews, including the type school and the function of the interviewee. Studying as many educational institutes as possible that are representative of the population increased the external validity. The findings can be generalized to other vocational educational institutes in the Netherlands.
4.4 Data-analysis
The interviews were held face-to-face in a quiet room and recorded with audio equipment. The interviews were then fully transcribed. Due to privacy considerations, the transcripts are not public. Of course, parts of the interviews are discussed in Chapter 5. To guarantee the anonymity and unrecognizability of the respondents, all organization names and personal names are replaced with position names. The written interviews were compared and summarized in three tables. The columns consist of the board and the supervisory board. These columns are not comparable in view of the different roles that the board and the supervisory board serve, although separation of management and supervision is important. The results may, however, provide insights into how the boards and the supervisory board think about each other in relation to the code. The tables are based on the topics from the questionnaire (see Appendices A and B for an English and a Dutch version).
A summary was written of the implementation of the good governance code, which is given in Table 6 in Section 5.1. The results were then summarized based on the various forms of isomorphism (coercive, mimetic and normative). These results are given in Table 7 in Section 5.2. A summary on organizational culture and institutional logic is given in Table 8 in Section 5.3. Quotes were also used when analysing the obtained data. Quotes were used when it is deemed useful to illustrate and substantiate findings. This strengthens the described results. Ultimately, the conceptual model was tested with the collected data. After that, the results and conclusions were compared with the literature.
4.5 Reliability, validity and controllability
Using a fixed extensive interview schedule ensured the internal validity of this research. Using the technique of listening further increased the internal validity, summarizing and asking further questions (Dutch: LSD technique). The reliability of the research was ensured by the appearance of saturation in the responses of the respondents. Furthermore, the accuracy of the results is verifiable because they are based on the interview recordings. The research is even more
verifiable because the interview recordings are completely written out. A verifiable study requires that the results be presented as accurately as possible (Swanborn, 1996).
Table 5
Interviewee vocational education schools (Dutch: MBO-scholen) in the Netherlands
School A School B School C School D School E
School type ROC AOC AOC ROC ROC
Executive Board Executive Board Executive Board Supervisory Board Supervisory Board Supervisory Board
Position* Board Secretary Board Secretary
* For school A and school E only an interview with board secretary has taken place.The reason is that due to limited time it has not been possible to organize interviews with the executive board and supervisory board. This has no effect on reliability, because board secretary has the knowledge about the code good governance that is present at the board of the other schools.
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5. Results
This chapter presents the interview results. The results are discussed in relation to the theoretical model given in Chapter 3. First, the results of the implementation of the good governance code are discussed (Section 5.1). Then the results of the different forms of isomorphism are discussed (Section 5.2). Finally, the results of the organizational culture are discussed in conjunction with the institutional logics (Section 5.3).
5.1 Implementation of good governance code
First, the most important developments in recent years at educational institutes are described. Then the results of the implementation of the code for good governance are shown. The results are summarized in Table 6 in relation to questions 4 through 9.
A number of key features have emerged in areas by the educational institutes during the past years. The first is from transition to transformation. This is meant at the moment that the change is realized. Responsibilities are placed lower in the organization and this is accompanied by the professionalization of staff. This transformation continues throughout the organization. In particular, it requires a culture change by the schools. Second is more visibility in the environment. Schools focus on educational innovation in relation to relevant stakeholders.
Traineeships or jobs can also be acquired in this way. The interviews showed that students follow more education at the company location than in the school itself.
Third is increasing quality assurance. There was a negative Inspectorate report about the quality of education from the Inspectorate of Education. Therefore, the quality of education had to be improved. Fourth is to preserve identity of the educational institute. In the rapidly changing environment and market where vocational education is active, it is important to express the vision and failures of the educational institute externally. Fifth is switching from the Ministry of
Economic Affairs to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science for the AOCs. This influences the funding of the educational institute. The AOCs received less money per student until 2018 and are already smaller in size than ROCs. This ensured that the organizations needed to work more effectively and efficiently. In 2019, the funding will be equalized throughout the entire national education and the AOCs will work hard to retain their identity in the mass of the ROCs.
The last feature is unrest about governance. The administrative strength of school B was insufficient. The quality assurance for a number of courses and examinations was not in order. Inspectorate of Education indicated that it was concerned about the financial situation of school B. Thus, school B has come under strict supervision. On the basis of recovery plans, care is taken to get the quality in order. Good governance is thus a hot topic at this educational institute. The interviews showed that both all the executive board and the supervisory board consider it important that the good governance code is included in the planning and control cycle. The planning and control cycle gives insight where the educational institute stands in relation to the objectives. The supervisory board has developed a vision that relates to the code. If there are current issues regarding the code, this is discussed internally or with the MBO council (see table 6, question 4).
All interviewees fully support the code. The code contains a number of logical aspects but it is good that the code is there. Especially when people are balancing on the edge, the code provides something to fall back on.
23 The interviewees also stated that the code will be improved regarding conflict of interest. The code has provided a number of additional schemes, such as a whistleblowing scheme and integrity code (see Table 6, question 5).
Keeping each other sharp and addressing each other when necessary are considered very
important by all interviewees. The basis of the relationship between the executive board and the supervisory board is that work is performed based on trust. The supervisory board is often seen as a sounding board group for the organization by the executive board. The executive board feels that giving counterforce to the supervisory board, engaging in a good conversation and being open to each other are by far the most important thing in good governance. All supervisors also considered the good conversation if very important. The visibility of the prospective owner at the school is also becoming more of an issue. It is needed to create support and just to be visible. One of the members of the supervisory board said about the relationship with the executive board: “we are soft on the relationship and hard on the content.”
The interviews showed a difference between the educational institutes in terms of the status in addressing each other if necessary. Addressing each other is the most important rule, which is mentioned in the code and means that the executive board to address each other by mistakes. For the supervisors is it important to be open and transparency between the executive board and the supervisory board or the connection can be lost. The world has changed in terms of a board and supervisor dealing with each other. Over the years, this relationship has become much more open, whereas in the past, the board saw the supervisor as a burden. Supervisors now see their role as supervisor, employer and sparring partner. In particular, educational institutes see the role of sparring partner as an important significant change in recent years. For example, a board member said: “In the past, a supervisor was seen as inconvenient, but now we are more consciously for the social purpose that we stand for as an educational focus.”
Being critical to each other is important if the educational institutes want to take steps in the right direction. Especially in small educational institutes, there is the danger that the supervisor and board are too close to each other (see Table 6, question 6).
All interviewees are of the opinion that coherence between the soft and hard controls is
important. In the last couple of years, considerable effort has been placed on the soft controls of the organization. A code also only comes hot topic when the agreements are specifically visible in the behaviour and attitude of the board and supervisors. Especially in the soft controls, a number of educational institutes have gone bad in recent years. At one of the interviewed schools, it became clear that the connection between the board and the supervisor was completely gone. By writing recovery plans and focusing on the soft controls, the cohesion between the soft and hard controls were brought in proportion to each other again. One of the board members said: “We are content that the soft controls have entered the code. Usually it goes wrong in this case.”
The interviews showed that the code indicates that a supervisory board is appointed for four years with a possible reappointment for four years. The council would also like to increase the diversity of the supervisory board. One of the supervisors said: “We are constantly looking for the right composition of the supervisory board. In practice it appears that it is difficult to get women on the supervisory board.” The interviews showed that the nomination process for the executive board has changed at a number of educational institutes.
