3.0 POLICY TITLE: GLOBAL GOVERNANCE COMMITMENT
The purpose of the board, on behalf of our legal ownership (the people who hold shares in the MSU Student Housing Cooperative) and our moral ownership (the people who invest themselves for the common good, quality of living and expansion of the cooperative movement), is to see to it that the MSU Student Housing Cooperative (SHC) (a) achieves what it should, and (b) avoids unacceptable actions and situations.
3.1 POLICY TITLE: GOVERNING STYLE
The board will apply the Cooperative Identity, Values and Principles and govern with an emphasis on (a) outward vision rather than an internal preoccupation, (b) encouragement of diversity in viewpoints, © strategic leadership more than administrative detail, (d) clear distinction of board and chief executive roles, (e) collective rather than individual decisions, (f) future rather than past or present, and (g) proactivity rather than reactivity.
On any issue, the Board must ensure that all divergent views are considered in making decisions, yet must resolve into a single organizational position.
Accordingly:
3.2 POLICY TITLE: SHARED VALUES
The Board shall work toward establishing clarity in its values. Those values that have been explored, discerned and represented here shall influence the thinking of all other policies created by the board. These are the values that we believe:
3.3 POLICY TITLE: BOARD JOB DESCRIPTION
Specific job outputs of the board, as an informed agent of the ownership, are those that ensure appropriate organizational performance.
Accordingly, the board has direct responsibility to create:
3.4 POLICY TITLE: BOARD MEMBERS' CODE OF CONDUCT
The board commits itself and its members to ethical, cooperative, and lawful conduct, including proper use of authority and appropriate decorum.
3.5 POLICY TITLE: AGENDA PLANNING
The board will follow an annual agenda which (a) explores and advances development of Ends policies and (b) enhances board performance through board education and enriched input and deliberation.
3.6 POLICY TITLE: OFFICER ROLES
Officers are annually elected to facilitate the work of the Board in its governing role. Officers may delegate their authority, but remain accountable for its use.
Accordingly:
3.7 POLICY TITLE: BOARD COMMITTEE PRINCIPLES
Board committees are formed to help the board do its job, not to help or advise the staff.
Accordingly:
3.8 POLICY TITLE: BOARD COMMITTEE STRUCTURE
A committee is a board committee only if its existence and charge come from the board, regardless whether board members sit on the committee. The only board committees are those which are set forth in this policy. Unless otherwise stated, a committee ceases to exist as soon as its task is complete.
3.9 POLICY TITLE: GOVERNANCE INVESTMENT
Because poor governance costs more than learning to govern well, the board will invest in its governance capacity.
Accordingly: