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Roles and responsibilities of boards of directors (BoDs) in contemporary organizations are continuously changing as a result of global or local increased regulations, as well as a response to financial and ethical scandals, irregularities in management, heightened societal expectations, demands for stakeholder engagement and shareholder activism. BoDs are widely varied - they can be of one tier type or two tiers type; they can demand separation between CEO and the Chair - or not; they can include or exclude employees' participation; and they can vary in many other ways. This confusing reality is further complicated by findings that two core managerial groups - directors and senior managers - have only a limited understanding of boards' roles and responsibilities and do not share unified expectations from the board and its activities. It is suggested that this reality might impair the ability of the board to contribute to improved level of management, accountability and social responsibility (SR) of the organization. It is further suggested, that there is need for a new comprehensive framework for BoD's conduct, in which the familiar roles of monitoring and advising management will be strengthened with wider and overreaching roles that will enable boards to take active part in the improvement of market conduct and SR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teams and teamwork are central concepts and key mechanisms in managing organizations. Solution-Focused (SF) teams are an effective way to cope with complex organizational situations and to achieve positive results in the face of the growingly complex challenges of today's management goals. One of these core goals is Social Responsibility (SR) implementation in organizations. SR calls for integration of environmental, social and economic considerations in management and decision-making. This is a complex goal, which depends on a fundamental change in management systems and organizational culture. The principles and practices governing the way SF teams operate are best fit to provide a comprehensive approach to the complex challenges of SR implementation. These principles enable the team members to develop deep involvement and understanding on a variety of aspects relevant to the implementation of SR issues in everyday management processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]