Designing governance of parliamentary administrations

Parliaments are the institutions through which governments are held accountable to the electorate by overseeing the executive power by performing both lawmaking and policymaking activities. In any organization work staff is vital in order to create public value. Parliament is no exception. Parliaments may qualify as complex organizations and be considered as professional bureaucracies. Parliamentary staffs support activities of deputies both in lawmaking and policymaking activities and represent a thread of continuity, institutional memory, and expertise within the institution. Support staff work units are used by the legislature to buffer it from outside influences which it seeks to avoid or control. There are different models of parliamentary administration because of different models of parliament. Parliaments select a strategy and then tailor the structure to fit. Mixed models may emerge over time. Governance of parliamentary administrations is based on the relationship between political apex as political governing body or Bureau and the Secretary-General (SG) as administrative and managerial apex. Theoretical perspectives on organizational governance based on contingency frameworks (stewardship, agency, stakeholder and resource dependence theories) cannot be separately considered. Each theory identifies different and specific roles that board may play but does not seem to perceive the whole picture of corporate governance. Innovation and change in roles and mechanisms of governance may be considered according to historical perspective. Bureau ad Board may play over time different roles of governance as models of parliament (decisional/ratifying) combine with different models of support staff (consulting/ registration).