AMGT 606 Board of Directors Management Spring 2014

Instructor: Leila SmithMonday: 7:20-10:00pm

Founders Hall 313

FromNonprofit Lifecycles by Susan Kenny Stevens Hurwit & Associates

Course Description, Goals, and Objectives

This course will provide you with a theoretical and practical grounding in the legal, ethical, and fiduciary roles of the boards of directors of nonprofit organizations with attention given to those in arts and culture.

Using readings, case studies, guest lectures, and real-life observations, you will examine the operating characteristics of these volunteer groups and community leaders. You will explore both the nuanced and the conspicuous distinctions between theory, often called best practices, and what actually transpires as managers, artists, and their boards navigate in the real world. You will consider techniques and tools you can use to be a good board member yourself, and/or to support your board members and encourage them to work effectively.

Course assignments are designed to stimulate discussion and critical thinking skills as you work individually and collaboratively. You will be required to attend a board meeting.

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

  • Demonstrate understanding of the responsibilities of boards and board members
  • Recognize and analyze governance issues within organizations and their boardsat different stages of development.
  • Demonstrate understanding of the staff roles and practices for working with and empowering board members to best serve their missions and their communities.
  • Use governance terminology

Course Reading

The following required texts can be purchased on-line or at the GMU bookstore.

  • Chait, Richard P., et al. Govenance asLeadership: Reframing the Work of Nonprofit Boards. Hoboken NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2005
  • Kaiser, Michael. Leading Roles: 50 Questions Every Arts Board Should Ask. Lebanon, NH: Brandeis University, 2010.

The following books are excellent resources on grammar and writing style. I strongly recommend them to guide your writing in this course and in your career.

  • Chastain, Emma. Ultimate Style: A Concise Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Style. New York, NY: Spark Educational Publishing, 2005.
  • Strunk, William Jr. and White, E.B. The Elements of Style. 4th Edition. New York, NY: Longman Publishers, 1999.
  • Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots and Leaves. New York, NY: Gotham Books, 2004

Additional reading assignments, marked Bb, are posted on Blackboard under Course Content.

For the weekly “In the News” assignment, read the following on a regular basis:

  • The New York Timesfor governance related articles, which may appear in any section, including U.S or New York News, Education, Business and Arts
  • Chronicle of Philanthropy. Sign up for the free daily Philanthropy Today newsletter. Also available through GMU Library.
  • Rick Moyer’s blog Against the Grain provides excellent commentary.
  • Arts Journal: Subscribe to the free daily newsletter
  • Nonprofit Quarterly.

There is a list of other resources on governance and management at the bottom of the Course Content section on Bb.

Weekly Class Topics (subject to change)

Reading assignments are noted for the week they will be discussed, to be read in advance.

8/25Course Introduction

ReadCase: A Not-So-Happy Hour

9/1NO CLASS (Labor Day)

9/8History and Legal Structure of Nonprofits, and Legal Responsibilities of Nonprofit Board Members.

Read:“A History of Nonprofit Boards in the United States”, Peter Dobkin Hall, Bb

(scan )

Malaro, Marie. Museum Governance. Chap. 1. Bb

Case: “Simon Says”

9/15Life Cycles of Organizations and Boards

(Guest lecturer: Prof. Claire Huschle)

Read: Kaiser,Lifecyclechapter

Mathiasen, Karl, “Board Passages” Bb

Stevens, Susan Kenny. Nonprofit Lifecycles: Stage-Based Wisdom for Nonprofit Capacity, Chap. 3 and 4 Bb and handout

Case: “A Symphony in G” Bb

DUE by email: Names, URL’s, and mission statements of two cultural organizations in the same genre (opera, theatre, art museum, history museum, dance)

9/22Roles & Responsibilities: Set Mission and Direction

Read: Kaiser, Board and Mission chapter, Section 7, and Board and Planning/ Budgeting chapter.

Malaro, Marie. Museum Governance, p. 82-90. Reserve

Kaiser, Michael. “Strategic Planning in the Arts: A Practical Guide” Bb (Scan)

Finney, Chris. “ Mission Haiku: The Poetry of Mission Statements” Bb

Case: “Friends of Marine Animals” Bb

DUE: Board Visit Assignment: Part I

9/29Roles & Responsibilities: Resources & Oversight

Read:Kaiser, Board and Fundraisingand Board and Governance chapters.

Governance as Leadership (GAL), chapters 1-3

Case 1: “A Good Board that Won’t Give” Bb

Case 2: “Committed Yet Conflicted” Bb

10/6Turning Duties, Roles, & Responsibilities into Functioning Boards

GAL, chapters 1-3

Case 3: “Stealing the Spotlight” Bb

TUESDAY, 10/14 (no class on Monday, Columbus Day)

Mid-term

10/20Whose Art Is It Anyway? Governance/Management Issues in the Arts

Guest Speaker: Mark Ohnmacht

Read:Kaiser: Board and Staff, andBoard and Programming, and Board and Marketing

Klein, “Art of Serving on a Performing Arts Board," especially p. 23-29, Bb

“How Not to Handle Succession in the Arts” Bb

Case 4: “Rewarding Good Behavior”

10/27The Impact of Process on Effectiveness

Read: GAL, chapters 4-6

Kaiser, “Board in Crisis”

Case 5:

Case 6:

11/3Recruiting, Orienting, and Motivating to Build a Board

Read:GAL, chapters 7-8

Kaiser, Sections 8-17

Roche, Nancy, The Art of Governance. “Board Development” Reserve

Case 7:

Case 8:

11/10Infrastructure Choices: Bylaws, Conflicts of Interest & Committees

Read: (review for class discussion)

Malaro, Marie. Museum Governance. Chap. 2 “Why Ethics” Bb

“ByLaws Checklist” Blue Avocado. Bb

Kaiser: International Boards, Arts Organizations of Color and Subsidiary Boards chapters

Bylaws examples, Bb. Review for group work in class.

Case 10:

11/17Recognizing and Fostering an Effective Board Culture

Read:Axelrod, Nancy. “Curious Boards ”Bb”

Abilene Paradox Bb

Bailey, Mark. "Troublemakers"

DUE: Board Visit Assignment: Part II

11/24Panel Discussion TBA

DUE: Critical Essay

12/1Board Visit Presentations (Parts III and IV)

Evaluation and Grading

  • Participation & analysis 20%
  • Case Analysis 15%
  • Critical Essay15%
  • Board Visit Paper & Class Discussion 20%
  • Mid-term15%
  • Final exam15%

Grading scale:

95-100A77-79C+

90-94 A-74-76C

87-89B+70-73C-

84-86B65-70D

80-83 B-

Plan to attend all classes; absences will affect your participation grade. Should you miss a class, obtain notes, assignments, and handouts from classmates.

Written assignments and due dates. All written assignment should be submitted in hard copy, double-spaced, with one-inch margins and a commonly-used 12 point font. If you must be absent on a day that an assignment is due, consult with me in advance and make arrangements to hand it in ahead of time.

Grades on assignments received after a deadline (without prior approval) may be reduced by 5 points if received within one day, and 2 points each day thereafter. Plan your schedules accordingly.

Electronic submissions: Include your name and assignment name in the title of the document, e.g. “Featherstone – mid-term.” Include the name of the assignment in the subject line of the email.

Edit and proofread your work. Writing skills can beas important as content in determining your grade. Spelling and grammatical errors that affect readability will affect assignment grades. Give careful attention to your writing style. The three books on writing under Course Texts are inexpensive and useful references.

Cite references carefully and document them in a bibliography. Sign up for Zotero. You may use either footnotes or parenthetical citations – be consistent throughout the document.The library offers online tutorials/workshops that you may find helpful.

Be sure to evaluate websites you use for quality and reputation. For guidance, contact a site such as And remember to document web sources and include them in your bibliography.

Most email to the entire class will go through Blackboard. I will use your GMU address as required. If you use another account, be sure to forward GMU mail, and empty your GMU mail account on a regular basis to ensure that messages go through. Do not endlessly recycle emails with irrelevant subject lines – it does not help the environment and it does make me cranky.

Please turn off your cell phone at the beginning of class. As a courtesy to your professor and classmates, cell phones, text, and email may be used only during formal breaks in the class session. Class lectures and discussions may be recorded. However,these recordings are to be played only for your own personal use and may not be reproduced in any way or under any circumstance without the express written permission of the instructor. Reproduction or distribution of these materials without permission will be acted upon as a violation of the Honor Code.

University Policies

GMU has numerouspolicies and resources to facilitate student success. Information on Counseling and Psychological Services, Learning Services, University Career Services, the Writing Center and others are at University policies are at

Disability

If you have a disability and need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Office of Disability Resources at 703-993-2474. Any need for accommodation should be identified at the beginning of the semester and the accommodation arranged through the Office of Disability Resources.

Grading Reminders

Once final grades have been recorded, instructors may not accept any work to change a grade. Grade changes can only be approved when they are due to a calculation or recording error on the part of the faculty. For graduate level courses, any grade below a B- is considered to be a non-passing grade.

Faculty may assign an IN only if the student has a limited amount of work to complete and there is a non-academic reason they can’t do so within the semester and if, in their best judgment, the student actually stands a good chance of passing the course by finishing the work satisfactorily. Typical situations for giving incompletes involve a final exam (missed due to illness) or a final paper (not completed because of a family emergency). Faculty are not to assign incompletes if the student has missed a substantial portion of the work of the semester and wants extra time to do it; faculty are not to assign incompletes to give a student time to improve on work already completed.

Privacy

Federal law (FERPA) requires us to protect the privacy of student information. Faculty should not speak about a student’s record with anyone other than the student. The record includes how a student is doing in a course, whether a student has attended class, information about performance or grades, whether a paper has been turned in, etc. This prohibition includes parents, siblings, spouses, anyone. All students, and faculty, are to use their GMU.EDU email address. No official information, including messages related to this course, can be sent to students except on the Mason email system.

GMU Honor Code

To promote a stronger sense of mutual responsibility, respect, trust, and fairness among all members of the George Mason University community and with the desire for greater academic and personal achievement, we, the student members of the university community, have set forth this honor code: Student members of the George Mason University community pledge not to cheat, plagiarize, steal, or lie in matters related to academic work.

Writing Improvement and Writing Center

Students in need of help with grammar, structure or mechanics of writing should contact the Writing Center,on the Fairfax Campus in Robinson A116 (703-993-1200). Services are available by appointment, online and, occasionally, on a walk-in basis.

Official Communication with Students

Mason uses the gmu.edu email system to provide official information to students, including changes, corrections, or interpretation to rules, regulations, requirements, and academic policies, notices from the library, notices about academic standing, financial aid information, class materials assignments, questions, and faculty feedback.

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