Issues Facing Maori in Governance
This article (modified from an article written originally by Helmut Karewa Modlik, Ngati Toa, Ngati Tama, Te Ati Awa) looks at issues particularly relevant to Maori directors. The article doesn't seek to resolve these issues, merely to flag them for future analysis and action. The issues identified comprise three broad areas:
1. Accountability Tensions
Although public sector appointment policies may explicitly acknowledge the tribal linkages that Maori directors have, the author argues there is little real understanding around what such linkages actually mean to an individual director (who may be there because of an iwi/hapu nomination).
The formal expectation is that whatever responsibility the director may feel towards his/her tribal grouping, the director's primary accountability (in a public sector context) is to the responsible Minister through the usual formal board hierarchy. However, this may or may not be true for individual directors - some may in fact see their primary responsibility and accountability as being to their iwi or hapu, regardless of formal expectations (bearing in mind that Maori directors are frequently held to account at a very personal level though their multiple close relationships and interactions with uncles, aunties and cousins, i.e., tribal members, as well as at a very public level though consultation and other engagement obligations).
Compounding this even further is, that:
- many non-Maori NZers who appoint or work with Maori directors have little understanding of the breadth and depth of influence that tribal affiliations can have; and
- many Maori and non-Maori NZers have very divergent views on the place of tribes within NZ's constitutional framework.
2. Cultural Influences
For Maori in governance a particularly relevant set of culturally derived values, behaviours and issues are those that relate to leadership, the essence of a director's role.
a) Traditional Leadership Concepts. Traditional Maori leadership is based on two dynamically interacting influences: genealogy (which provides the opportunity) and capacity. Being a successful leader enhances the mana or ascribed authority of the leader, which in turn builds capacity to act and influence. This "virtuous cycle" of increasing mana/capacity/capability continues unless the leader behaves in a way that diminishes his mana (and, therefore, leadership capacity).
A common example of mana-diminishing behaviour is self aggrandisement, such as speaking at length about one's abilities or accomplishments, as might be expected in an interview or board performance/self-assessment process. Humility and selflessness, by contrast, are examples of mana-enhancing behaviours that resonate strongly with many Maori.
Many Maori still value such concepts. This can put a Maori director in a very difficult position, however. If, for example, a Maori director doesn't act with sufficient humility or selflessness (as perceived by Maori), he may well end up with less authority to lead and influence Maori directors or other Maori stakeholders. On the other hand, a director or chair unwilling to praise himself or his accomplishments, may be perceived poorly by non-Maori associates.
b) Governance-Management Split. Although an unquestionably sound concept, the author notes that very clearly separating the strategic direction-setting and accountability roles of governance, with the operational and implementation roles of management, is not one that exists in traditional Maori leadership models. Any informed observer of the way that tribal meetings work in practice, says the author, will note that blurred lines of accountability and overlapping of decision-making between governance and management seems to be the norm (this is because virtually all the stakeholders are literally related to each other, and in a real sense, everybody is working for everybody else).
The point is, Maori directors recruited from this background may find it hard to act according to the prevailing non-Maori way of doing things. And, finally, when a director is personally called to account (as discussed before), members of his or her own tribe may find it hard to understand that some things are the preserve of management, not governance.
c) Ways of making decisions. Maori decision-making processes (exemplified by the adage that "the long way is the short way") are very different from the formalised decision-making processes that normally occur in board meetings. Enforced compliance of either cultural preference around such issues inevitably leaves one or both sides feeling uncomfortable at best, and aggrieved at worst.
d) Pervasive non-Maori Concepts. Common concepts in contemporary Western society can be in stark contrast to traditional Maori preferences. Examples are:
- the fact that leadership is still largely the preserve of men in traditional Maori society (which can give rise to challenging situations, for example, placing a respected kaumatua in a subordinate role to a woman, particularly if she is Maori);
- that, by comparison to Maori society, Western society is generally both secular and materialistic;
- as language is central to any leader's effectiveness, the fact that te reo may not always be available to a Maori speaker in a board situation, can make it harder for that person; and
- that all Maori are not alike - Maori raised in urban settings may have little experience or understanding of Maori culture, for example (which makes it harder for non-Maori colleagues to genuinely address many of the issues raised in this article).
3. Inherent Difficulties
Because many Maori directors come from communities that are characterised by "serious and persistent social and economic dysfunction", and that there are seldom simple problems facing Maori communities and their leaders, Maori directors are generally only found operating "between rocks and hard places" in fulfilling their duties.
There is the bind for Maori directors that they can generally only expect to operate in these difficult contexts because it is only in such contexts that they appear to be explicitly invited to participate! The implications of this include, all other things being equal, that Maori directors can expect on average to be less successful, and expect to be seen to be less successful, on average, in fulfilling their role.
Finally, there is the challenge of finding enough adequately skilled and experienced Maori directors in the first instance. This could mean, for example, skilled Maori persons being asked to accept more than they can reasonably handle, as well as the question (for those nominating directors) of whether it might be better to have no Maori director than an inadequately skilled Maori director.
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