National Kidney Foundation Leadership

National Kidney initiation LeadershipIn 2005, National Kidney knowledgeability faced a leadership crisis that swot upd many public ignores that became the swipeic of a good deal scrutiny. A public answer is any issue that is of correlative concern to an organization and one and lonesome(prenominal)(a) or more of its stakeholders. With regards to National Kidney Foundation (NKF), two the organization and its stakeholders were concerned all over the issue of bills existence prostituted, a escape of transp arncy and the lack of enforcement of laws inherently. The emergence of these issues has non only(prenominal) raised media attention notwithstanding excessively became the capable of much controversy. It has resulted in public backlash and has definitely shaken public effrontery in charitable organizations.The main ethical issue which surfaced was NKFs misuse and mismanagement of the finances primarily donated by the public. As a non-profit organization, NKFs pu blic mission was to patron needy patients. Though they were effective in using both the media and campaigns to garner donations to support their cause, these strains were misused. As stated in the case study, trials revealed that the claims do by an article published in the Straits Times in 2004, about NKFs Chief Executive Officer, T T Durai alluding to wastefulness and high life were in fact true. There was excessive spending make by T T Durai such as a gold woo that had been installed in the executive bathroom and personal luxuries including a fleet of eight cars that came together with telephoner drivers. In addition, granted that TT Durai was entitled rail line discriminate flight by SIA, as a trustee over donors money, Durai should get best value on a business class seat instead of using it for first class on some other(prenominal) plane (NKF v SPH Court Transcript for July 11th 2005 Morning Session). kinda of using the cash in hand for the right purposes such as t o help NKFs patients, T T Durai had misappropriately used the cash for his personal wants. Another major issue to be discussed is the lack of transp arncy with regards to cosmos report cardable on how NKFs coin collected from donors were utilised. There was a lack of a artless transcription in documenting managment minutes at NKF. The coming together minutes was an important credential reflecting the discussions and decisions of how NKFs silver should be utilised. The fact that it went missing may necessitate given the public the impression that NKF was negligent in its duties. When the funds of the NKF were not aright accounted for, the public become skeptical and doubtful of NKF. People start to sustain trust in the NKF as they become suspicious that NKF is just another bourgeois conspiracy.Corporate governance refers to the process by which a company is controlled, or governed. In having clays of internal governance that determine the overall strategic direction and balance conflicting interests that may arise, such is crucial to the organizations act. In helping to tack an effective internal governance structure, the lineup members melt down a central role. They are responsible for setting missions and aims that take into account stakeholder interests, develop comprehensive policies and appointing a deputation of top-level personnel to execute these policies. However, in NKFs case, the lack of a enforcement of policies within the internal governance structure among the get along with members has led to repercussions.The actions of the wit members need contributed to these problems. chthonian the Executive Committee, approval of proposals were make by default without seeking the overall consensus of the control board. Furthermore, the visit committee failed to get under ones skin inevitable the necessary support from the EC and fellow members in implementing necessary internal control measures. As such, negligence from each depart ment snowballed into an unsuitable consequence that the NKF had to bear. Due to the fact that at that place was insufficient discipline in part by each committee, these were the main contributing factors to the problems. In addition, NKF deliver the goodsd no avenues for the public to give constructive feedback to improve its performance. Essentially, the failure of the Board members to role good corporate governance had brought to light serious concerns over Durais fund gentility strategies.Despite NKFs mischief, its fund face lift strategies were very efficient . As a non-profit organization, NKFs main aim was to look after its patients and encompassed drawing resources from hostelry to contribute back to society as a whole. To do this, NKF has successfully employed an interactive stance in engagement with the public to raise funds for charity. The introduction of the NKF live charity show since 1994 incorporated stunts performed by foreign and local celebrities in exchang e for donations. such(prenominal) a manner was effective as they appealed to the public, raising $4.5 gazillion in 1994 which slowly grew to $16.8 million in the 2004 show. This suggests that NKFs fund raising strategies were effective as they involved rapture in adopting creative and innovative methods to genuinely raise funds for the greater good of patients. It was through these funds raised that patients benefited tremendously.Optimists take in addition support Durais fund raising strategies as NKF has successfully reached out to distinct segments of the community, both the young and old. Besides having a charity show where the public batch pledge their support, these additional strategies include using telemarketing techniques to recruit and arrest donors, coupled with the recruitment of students and National Servicemen to raise funds via pledge cards. These initiatives lucubrate Durais inherent motivation in garnering increased donations for its patients. By promotin g its fund raising strategies through different avenues, this helped NKF to reach out to a wider spectrum of people, targeting the public from different age and backcloths.Applying a two pronged approach, Durais fund raising strategies goat in any case be applauded for having long term vision. He realized that alike the direct implementation of policies to raise funds, what was needed for NKF to garner corporeal funds was to build its brand moving picture. Under his helm, NKF increased its brand range of mountains topically by implementing a complimentary Cabby health Screening curriculum and engaging local media channels through programs such as Health Maters. Through these, there was an emphasis that NKF strictly enforces a non-discriminatory approach when it comes to raising certifiedness about the disease in that either individual, regardless of background could be susceptible to the disease. Its network of dialysis centres was also expanded, providing accessible and affordable healthcare to the public.In the international arena, Durai strived to increase brand recognition by acquiring endorsement from public and international leaders and having their success story write by credible sources. NKFs programs were also promoted via renowned Brazillian soccer legend, Pele. Forward formulation in directly raising funds and increasing brand image has thus helped NKF encourage a larger recognition of its practices and consequently, a substantial pool of donations.However, critics give up argued that such fund raising techniques are excessively aggressive and have deviated from the motto of its organisation. Although NKF recruited the younger generation to raise funds through pledge cards, this was not done purely out of saving grace but in exchange for monetary incentives.Similarly, by consciously seeking and obtaining endorsements from public and international leaders as well as the employment of credible sources to write their success stories, t heir reputation and credibility is in question. Although these acts in conclusion increase the brand recognition of the prat, which is crucial to the attraction of donors, they dis bring NKFs belligerency and mathematical misdirection in their techniques. Although important, a charitable non-profit organisations branding is essentially secondary to its mission and purpose. The deontology approach is defined as the approach to ethical motive that focuses on the good and evil of the act alone, not necessarily the outcome. utilize the deontology approach, T T Durai may be deem as unethical as the intent to fundraise may be a illusion of the NKF and therefore deceiving the public to donate more. In this aspect, his fund raising strategies are unethical as the means differ from what is advocated by the company.Setting executive compensation is one important function of the Board members. In NKFs case, the lack of corporate governance has also caused Durais compensation package to be the subject of much controversy. With the ongoing issues associated with NKF, cynics have felt that the compensation package paying(a) to Durai was excessive. Durai was paid bonuses ranging between 4 months and 12 months which was not what one would wait to receive considering that he is working in a charitable organisation. major Facie, although his bonuses may seem to be over evaluated, Durai is not overpaid as he deserves to be rewarded for the outstanding results he achieved for NKF. In building NKFs brand image and employing successful fund raising techniques, Durai managed to increase the amount of donations that were raised through the NKF charity show from $4.5 million in 1994 to $16.8 million in 2004. Under his leadership, he was also awarded the Public Service Bar by the Singaporean government in 1992 for his contribution to NKF and expanded NKFs network of dialysis centres for its patients. Thus, from the perspective of permeant justice, the benefit of Durai being highly paid is ethical as much of the success of NKF was collectible to Durais tremendous efforts.In relation to the add up allowance other top executives are paid, Durai is not overpaid as his salary of $25,000 a month coincides with what individuals holding top management positions are paid. Furthermore, Tan Choo Leng, wife of former Prime Minister Goh Chong Tong commented that Durais salary was peanuts compared with the donations the high-flyer raised for the organization. 1 This suggests that based on his contributions towards NKF, Durai, such a high salary is justified and entrust fork up an incentive for motivation to increase NKFs performance.In relation to Durais compensation package, there will always be differing views and there is no right or wrong to it. The reason why individuals feel that Durai may be overpaid may be out-of-pocket to the fact that NKF is a non-profit organization that should not be so concerned with profits. Perhaps, NKF should consider the view s of the public, compare the salary of top managers with those of average employees and quantify the efforts of the management relative to their remunerations.In light of the 2005 NKF saga and its various spin-offs that have dominated the domestic nakeds, there are several changes that can be adopted so that the same problems would not happen again. Essentially, there is a need for proper governance to plug that corporate objectives are established, stakeholder interests are protected and the managements performance in check.In proposing the possible changes that could be adopted, analytic thinking of the Stakeholder Map is imperative to determine the various positions of the stakeholders in terms of saliency and position on the issues put forth earlier. Through stakeholders reactions to these issues, it is useful in determining possible changes that are crucial to image that NKFs decisions and actions are in line with stakeholders interests, to prevent such problems in the fu ture. With collaborative involvement with these chance upon stakeholders, the possibility of problems arising would be reduced as well.**ForPosition on the issueSalience refers to how important an issue is, or how much attention it brings to NKF. When stakeholders have salience, they usually have power to assert a large advert on NKF, urgency in demanding NKF to do something about the issues or genuineness which refers to the level of appropriateness of the stakeholders actions towards the issues.In the above stakeholder map, the public have the highest salience on the issue as they have high urgency and legitimacy. Since the funds of NKF are primarily contributed by the public, strong violations from these donors over the issue of misuse of funds would warrant much media attention.In proposing the possible changes that could be made, NKF involve to recognize that they are not able to operate independently. The survivability and performance of NKF thusly hinges on its effectiv eness in engaging with varied stakeholders and recognizing their interests, especially the public. By aligning the publics interests with NKFs objectives, this would prevent the widening of the performance expectations gap, reducing the likelihood of these problems re-occurring. Hence, one area that could be improved on is information transparency and disclosure to the public. Steps should be taken to ensure transparency where there is intercourse to ensure involvement of the public. The public should be informed on new developments either through press conferences or releases. The companys financial activity should also be made known to the public with fleet intentions, and certified by known account statement firms. This can be done through rule-governed emails or letters that are sent out to donors or invitations to one-year world(a) meetings so that the public can contribute their views. By being accountable for the funds, the public would be more informed on how the fun ds received by NKF are spent, increasing the reliability of NKF. This would increase their confidence in donating towards NKF.Fostering a stronger relationship with the public will also help to reap benefits for NKF. NKF should reach out in engaging the general public through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to provide the public with the opportunity to voice out their opinions on company decisions. such an interaction will allow NKF to draw upon the publics reactions and societal expectations to further pressurize NKFs reputation. By constantly updating these platforms with information or messages NKF wishes to convey to the public, this helps in the publics understanding of what NKF is doing. Beyond that, the public will also feel tranquillize that their interests are considered, building support for NKFs practices. Besides the public, the employees of NKF have low salience as they have been obscured on these issues. Due to the nature of their job, individual regularise on any decision-making by the board is minimal. However, they must realise that they play a part on the issues revolving NKFs misconducts. By turning a sieve eye to the misdeeds mentioned above or worse, taking part in it, these employees maintain the problem and only allows it to escalate further. They must realise, that themselves being part of the organisation, they have a responsibility to act against any deviation from the mission of the foundation and a collective effort can prevent the history from ingeminate itself. Therefore, employees can have high salience if they collaborated and worked together, ensuring that the organization does not cheat on away from its core values.Upon futher analysis of the stakeholder map in relation to the employees of NKF, policies should also be employed to better ensure the organizations governing structure. For example, a system based on adequate internal controls should be introduced. In the character of NKF, it is evident that there was a failure to adhere to internal audit controls as it was stated that the audit committee was to meet every 3 months to review audit plans and evaluate the adequacy of the internal control systems but they had never met. Furthermore, the committee failed to implement recommendations spelt out by internal auditors due to lack of support.Thus, NKF should outsource its internal audits to external auditors from independent accounting firms. Having such an unbiased third party ensures that corporate governance is raise as there is impartiality with regards to NKFs auditing processes. Although adoption of stringent practices may puzzle high costs, it is worth the investment to prevent the future misuse of funds. Such a practice would ensure that there is a system of checks to ensure funds are managed in line with the organizations mission, preventing financial lapses in the future.The members of the board should also only contain a few members that are original managers of NKF. The remaining members should be independent in the sense that they have no connection whatsoever to the corporation other than being a Board member. These members should either be appointed or elected by shareholders. In addition, the performance of each member should be reviewed regularly to assess if they were equal enough in assuming their responsibilities. Although NKFs Board members were volunteers who served in the belief that every member was acting in the best interests of the foundation, they normally approved proposals by default instead of through collective decision making. This meant that decisions were not made on a consensus basis but based on a hierarchal structure with the CEO having the dominant say, which resulted in the problems aforementioned. With a board comprising various key stakeholders, both internally and externally, greater transparency will be present and the individual interests of major stakeholders will not be compromised. With greater trans parency, the public would be assured that NKF has no intentions of hiding definite facts but are assuming their responsibilities.In moving forward to ensure that the NKF operates in an accountable and transparent manner, the initiative to align every committee members and employees responsibilities to NKFs mission is crucial. The Board members, together with the Chief Executive Officer have a responsibility to set future directions for the organization. The issues that surfaced at NKF were evidently due to the lack of governance in ensuring that stringent measures were implemented to ensure committees were compliant. Hence, the top management should incorporate regular discussions to remind employees of NKFs prime objectives, review performance and set new directions and foster team spirit in meeting these goals. NKF can also seek to provide employees with more say in broad decision making. Employees must also be made aware the channels for whistling and encouraged to flag when the y feel that things are not right. By doing so, this will enforce that employees have a common and clear knowledge of the companys practices.It is evident from the stakeholder map that the government has high salience pertaining to these issues due to power in asserting a large impact. The opinions of the government on NKF will greatly impact the reactions and actions of the public and thus, should not be neglected.In hindsight, having a sound internal governing structure is the first pace in preventing the future problems from occurring. The NKF saga was a result of a lack of obligation and mismanagement of funds which was further intensified as NKF was not transparent about meeting the publics interest and allocating the funds in the best possible manner. While the interest and needs of stakeholders are ever changing, NKFs attempts in match the varying interests and aligning them in the organizations direction is of utmost importance. This can only be achieved with good corporat e governance.In doing so, the successful operation of NKF will establish trust within the government and translate to a win-win situation for both NKF and its stakeholders.