Abstract

The article explores the concepts of behavioral governance and behavioral accountability both of which look at the quality of the behavior of organization members, especially directors, as the foundation for sound corporate achievement. This author posits that the effectiveness of governance in general and corporate governance in particular is dependent on the behavioral effectiveness of those who govern and manage. That governance fails is often because more effort is devoted at creating and sustaining structures and processes while almost no meaningful attention is given to genuine institutionalization of behavioral and ethical accountability which are accomplished by the hands of genuine integrity. The quality of corporate performance is hinged on the quality of behavioral performance and accountability with which members of the organization are associated. But given that the elevation of human animality in our organizations has tended to diminish the moral value of organizations, directors should adopt the concept of behavioral governance and behavioral accountability, to raise the quality of behavior and accountability in our organizations, as the route to genuinely raising the quality of performance in their organization.

Key words: Corporate governance, behavioral governance, behavioral accountability, ethical behavior, human animality, moral tone at the top, core organizational values.