Until recently, corporations of all kinds, including educational institutions, were hierarchical structures. Today, the most successful private sector corporations are flexible collectives of teams and production units. To achieve this success, covenantal relationships, based on a shared commitment to ideas, values, goals, and management processes are established. While most public sector organizations have remained untouched by these developments, some colleges in British Columbia, such as Capilano College (CC) have voluntarily begun establishing covenantal relationships, and the provincial government has rewritten enabling legislation to force consultation among faculty, staff, students, administration, and boards of governors. Bill 22, the new legislation, changed the structure of community college governing boards from all government appointees to a mix of appointees, faculty, staff, and students. It also created an educational council of faculty, staff, students, and administrators to advise the board. The legislation is an attempt to capture in law, the character and spirit of covenantal employee relationships. At CC, the board voted even before the passage of Bill 22 to bring in members from the college community as "ex-officio" members of the board, including one representative each from the faculty, staff, student body, and non-executive administrative group. It is essential that college boards adopt practices of participative management to deliver the quality of services that consumers need and want. (KP)
