Better Boards Conference 2025
Master the Art of the Boardroom
25-26 July • Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Center
Presentation
Rules, Governance, and Leadership: The Challenges to Ethical Decision-making
Dr Kate Robinson
Director, Woman Veterans Australia
Dr Kate Robinson is the founder and Director of CommuniKate Consulting and a Women Veterans Australia Board Member. She holds a Bachelor of Business, Master of Business Administration, Master of Applied Social Research, a Graduate Certificate of Professional Writing, and is a Doctor of Philosophy. Her career has spanned leadership, consulting and advisory roles and though specialised in change management and communication has shifted her expertise to turning complex research into meaningful and tangible insights with practical application.
Kate is passionate about ethical and moral leadership and behaviours underpinned by a positive virtuous culture. Kate has worked both nationally and internationally (Australia and the US) for top ASX-listed companies and notable not-for-profit national organisations at senior levels. She is an accomplished professional with extensive experience with C-level executives and an ability to communicate across all levels within an organisation.
In completing her PhD, Kate explored how ethical and values-based leadership increasingly challenges leaders in rules-based organisations, focused on industries such as Defence and other highly codified organisations. Kate's research has appeared in leading journals such as the Journal of Business Ethics and she has presented at notable international conferences (ICBEML - Paris and AOM - Boston). Her research has been developed into a seminar education and training video for the Australian Defence Force. Kate’s book has been internationally published based on her research.
This presentation guides not-for-profit (NFP) organisations entrenched in a highly competitive and economically challenged environment for the philanthropic dollar, governance ladened, and bureaucracy to embody and embed a virtuous culture to ensure ethical decision-making. Where governance and rules are king, the challenge for leaders is the ability to have agency to be values-based in their decision-making.
In a recent study Kate conducted within the military, a highly rule-based organisation, four insights were revealed that challenged leaders working in a highly compliance and rules-driven environment. Using this study, Kate will discuss the implications of this research, particularly where rules, compliance, and codes are important as they regulate the conduct of organisational members. Kate will also discuss the concepts of dispositives, embodiment, and habitus and their impact on a leader’s decision-making. Furthermore, the notion of a person’s subject position and how this may influence their decision-making thus creating challenges in moving a NFP forward.
From an organisational culture perspective, Kate will discuss ethical work climates, the dimensions within not-for-profit organisations, and what influences ethical climate perception in a nonprofit context. Moreover, a discussion on moral reasoning and ethical climate comparing differences and similarities of board members of for-profit and not-for-profit organisations.
This presentation is motivated by the hope of NFP leaders, particularly from highly codified organisations, to mitigate risk and comply with set governance practices yet still be wise and ethical in their decision-making.
Master the art of the boardroom
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