Society Nominating Process – Suggested Changes

At the Winter 2007 Policy Council (PC) meeting, nominations for a new slate of Officers and PC members to take effect January 2009 generated considerable debate and discussion.  During that discussion, two questions in particular arose that warranted further study: (1) is the current nominating process consistent with the Society’s Bylaws/Policies, and if not how can we make it so; and (2), how can we build some “institutional memory” into the Nominating Committee (NC) so as to support our strategic objectives for PC composition over multiple years?  Deborah Campbell and I (Jim Lyneis) have studied these questions, and make some suggestions below for improving the nominating process. 

There are a total of six proposed actions outlined below.  We believe that only one of these proposals – Proposal #5 (change in composition of the Nominating Committee) – requires a vote to change Society By-Laws/Polices.  Proposal #3 (developing a Society strategy) would likely require establishment of an ad hoc committee, which also should be voted on.  We would like to discuss of all these proposals, first on the listserve and then briefly at the face-to-face meeting, in the hopes of getting additional ideas and reaching a consensus, but would only plan to formally vote on Proposals #3 and #5.

Before discussing these proposals, a couple of dates to keep in mind as the NC term of service (August – July) is different from the PC and Officer terms (January – December), and therefore can be confusing (to write about anyway):

Consistency of Nominating Process With Society By-Laws/Policies.  The current nominating process and schedule are detailed in a memo from Roberta Spencer entitled “Timeline for Nominating.doc”.  Our review indicates that the process outlined in that memo is consistent with the By-Laws/Policies (for those interested, the relevant Society By-Laws and Policies are included in the Appendix).  However, we feel that a couple of improvements could be made:

  1. In order to attract more candidates, to attract candidates interested in serving, and to attract candidates who might be outside the professional networks of current PC members, we should proactively ask Society members to declare their interest in serving, especially on the PC, but also as an officer.

 

Proposal #1:  At the annual meeting, and in the next newsletter, the President should announce the PC and Officer positions that will be open for the next round (for service starting about 17 months hence), including any open Assistant VP positions, and request that those who would be interested in serving contact him/her (as Chair of the next Nominating Committee) by 30 September to place their names for consideration by the committee.  Individual Society members should also be encouraged to identify worthy candidates from their professional networks.  The NC should keep a running list of interested candidates for consideration in future years. [Note: the wording of this will need to change slightly if Proposal #5 is accepted, as the Chair of the NC will change.]

  1. The current guidelines request that NC prepare a slate of candidates for the open positions by the Winter PC meeting, without a specific deadline. 

    Proposal #2:  The NC will present a slate of candidates to the PC by a fixed date, say 31 December of each year.   
  2. Under the current system, the NC simply presents a slate of candidates to the PC for (usually) pro-forma approval.  Typically, very little information is provided about individual candidates, or the slate as a whole and its effect on the overall composition of the PC.  As noted on the Society’s web page, “The System Dynamics Society is an international, nonprofit organization devoted to encouraging the development and use of high quality systems thinking and system dynamics around the world [‘high quality’ added].”  Further, as noted in Society Policy 7, Section 3:  “The Nominating Committee shall strive to ensure diversity on the Policy Council in terms of geographic representation, sex, and other factors deemed representative of the Society at large.”  If or how the proposed makeup of the PC, with the new members, meets these objectives is rarely discussed.

    Proposal #3: The PC should develop, and update as appropriate, a set of strategic objectives for growth and advancement of the Society.  Based on this strategy, the PC should then outline a set of objectives for composition of the PC as guidance to the NC in developing a slate of candidates.

    [JML – I believe this is a useful long-term objective, but one which will take some time and effort to develop (an ad hoc committee?); in the interim, we should move forward on other proposed changes to the nominating process and committee.]

    Proposal #4: T    he NC will provide a brief bio of each candidate, including what about the candidate demonstrates he/she 1) is actively committed to the SDS and the field of system dynamics, and 2) will make a contribution to the Society and the field through his/her membership on the PC.   The NC will also write a brief rationale for the slate and the resultant PC – how they see the entire slate, and resultant PC, meeting the strategic and diversity objectives of the Society.

    [JML – my only concern is how this can be done without sounding too much like trying to achieve quotas.]

 

Building Institutional Memory.  Under the present system, the Current President appoints a nominating committee at the Summer PC meeting.  According to the By-Laws/Policies, that committee is to consist of 5 members:  the Current President and President Elect as predetermined candidates, and the other 3 members to be picked by the President.  The Current President, soon to be Past President, serves as NC Chair.  So for example, Qifan Wang (Chair) and Erling Moxnes are automatic members of the next NC (August 2007 – July 2008), and Qifan picks three additional members. 

The present system has a number of flaws.  First, under this system, no member of the prior NC is required to be on the current NC.  For example, as President Elect Jim Lyneis was a member of the prior NC, but is not automatically a member of the NC during his term as President (but then returns to the NC as outgoing president).  Moreover, the three additional candidates are all appointed for one year terms, and so can be new members every year.  As a result, it can be very difficult to maintain a multiyear perspective in selecting a slate of candidates and evolving the composition of the PC unless the President specifically tries to maintain some continuity of NC members.  While the NC is supposed to “maintain a file of members who are qualified to hold offices in the Society (Policy 9, Section 3),” passing that file along (to the extent that even happens) is of limited use without the knowledge of the NC members involved in developing the list.  As a result, the current process for selecting new officers and PC members seems to revolve around the NC members offering up suggestions for possible candidates, discussing them, and then making a decision about who to ask.  Given what seems to be the flux in the NC, its little wonder this process does not promote much memory.  We believe that a more stable NC would serve the Society’s interests by providing some institutional memory for the nominating process and candidates. 

A second flaw in the current system is that it creates additional workload for the President.  The out-going President is specified as Chair of the NC.  This made sense when Officer and PC terms of office ran from August to July as they did in the early years of the Society – the President’s term of office would end in July, and he/she would take on Chairmanship of the NC as Past President.  However, now that the term of office runs from January to December, the bulk of the Nominating Committee’s work is done during the last 6 months of the active president’s term – it therefore does not make sense for the active President to Chair the NC. 

To correct these two flaws, we propose the following change to the By-Laws/Policies (two options for composition of the NC are presented):

Proposal #5, Option 1 (requiring change in By-Laws/Polices):  The size of the Nominating Committee shall be 7 members.  Four members shall be the Past President (Chair), the President, the current President-Elect, and the incoming President-Elect; the other three members shall be appointed for staggered 3-year terms.

[Therefore for 2007, the NC would consist of Mike Radzicki (Chair), Qifan Wang, Jim Lyneis, Erling Moxnes, and three members to be appointed by the Current President, Qifan.]

Proposal #5, Option 2 (requiring change in By-Laws/Polices):  The size of the Nominating Committee shall be 7 members.  Four members shall be the Past President (Chair), the President, the current President-Elect, and the prior Past President; the other three members shall be appointed for staggered 3-year terms.

[Therefore for 2007, the NC would consist of Mike Radzicki (Chair), Qifan Wang, Jim Lyneis, Graham Winch, and three members to be appointed by the Current President, Qifan.]

Proposal #6: The President shall strive to achieve diversity of the proposed NC.  Personal knowledge of individual candidates will remain an important element in advocating for that candidate.  Therefore, a diverse NC will be necessary to assure the diverse and broad professional networks needed for achieving a diverse PC.

Under this proposal, every year the Past-Past President rolls off the NC and the incoming President-elect rolls on, along with one new member appointed by the President [to be updated depending on option selected].

Other Points that the NC should clarify for prospective PC Members and Officers:

 

APPENDIX  Society Policies Pertinent to Nominations
Policy 5, Section 1. Authority. The Policy Council shall set policies and issue directives and shall monitor the work of officers and activities under way or planned in the various functional areas. It shall also meet during the Society's annual conference, or early in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, to review and approve the programs submitted by the President-Elect for the next fiscal year and the budget submitted by the Vice President - Finance for the next fiscal year; shall act on the nominations of the President-Elect for the next fiscal year; and shall act on the nominations of the president-elect for the positions, including those on the various standing committees, for his or her subsequent term of office.
JML Comment:  this seems inconsistent with Policy 7, Section 2 below, where the Past President is tasked to be the chair of the Nominating Committee.  Also, the timing is confusing – if the fiscal year ends in December, which corresponds to the end of the term for the President, then what nominations are being made for the “next fiscal year.”  The “next fiscal year” would seemingly start January 1, so their seems little time to act.  It would make more sense if the Past President chairs a nominating committee that begins work in January after his presidential term expires (or earlier as the Nominating Committee is chosen at the Annual Meeting that the President chairs – see Policy 7, Section 2 below), and makes nominations which can be acted on at the winter meeting (which is never mentioned in any of this), for final approval by the membership at the next annual meeting.
POLICY 7. NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS
Section 1. Frequency. There shall be an annual election to fill the office of President-Elect. In addition, vacancies in the offices of Secretary, Vice President, or members elected to serve on the Council will filled at the same time.
Section 2. Composition of the Nominating Committee. At the Society's annual conference or early in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, the outgoing President shall submit to the Policy Council for approval the names of three members to serve on the following year's Nominating Committee and, as Past-President, will serve on the committee as its chair. The newly elected President-Elect shall also be a member of the committee.
Comment:  This is a little confusing – is the committee a 5 person committee consisting of the Past President (Chair), President Elect, and three other members?  This is clarified in Policy 9 below, it is five members.
Section 3. Nominating Procedures. The Council shall notify the Nominating Committee of the offices and the positions on the council to be filled in the pending election. The Council shall also instruct the Nominating Committee as to the number of members to be elected to serve on the Council for the ensuing three years. The Council will also notify the Nominating Committee of any subsequent vacancies that may arise while the Nominating Committee is still conducting its business. The Committee shall submit a single nomination for each position to be filled in the pending election. The Nominating Committee shall strive to ensure diversity on the Policy Council in terms of geographic representation, sex, and other factors deemed representative of the Society at large.
JML Comment:  These are pretty clear that only one nominee is to be made for each position.  Not sure what the motive for this is.  Perhaps we wanted to assure that those nominated would be willing to serve, and therefore felt we should ask people in advance if they would.  If that’s the case, it would be awkward to have a public discussion and vote that rejected one of those asked?  Other options would include: (1) two nominees for each position, with the PC making a decision; (2) for PC members, a list of prospective candidates that could be rank ordered by the PC, with the NC then asking the prospective nominees in that agreed order until the slots are filled.  The size of the PC is specified in the Bylaws:

BYLAW IV. THE POLICY COUNCIL
Section 1. Composition. The Society shall be governed by a Policy Council (also referred to in the Articles of Organization as the Board of Directors and hereafter referred to as the Council) composed of the Executive Committee and from twelve (12) to sixteen (16) other members. The number of members elected to serve on the Council shall be determined by the Council.
The President shall publish all nominations made by the Nominating Committee in a letter to members mailed during the first quarter of the fiscal year.
JML Comment:  This timing makes sense if the slate is agreed in the fourth quarter of the prior year, but if the Winter Meeting is the approval mechanism, we run into problems like we had this year.
Members may submit other nominations for these offices and positions, provided that 1) each such nomination is accompanied by a petition signed by twenty-five members in good standing or ten percent of the total membership, whichever is less, 2) each nominee is a member in good standing, 3) written evidence is submitted to the effect that each nominee has agreed to stand for election, and 4) such nominations reach the Secretary within five weeks after publication of nominations received from the Nominating Committee.
Section 4. Balloting. If no nominations are received by the Policy Council from the membership at large, the slate of candidates submitted by the Nominating Committee and approved by the Council will be deemed elected. If the Council has received any nominations from the membership at large, the Society business office will mail to all members a ballot, plus a brief biographical sketch of each nominee, during the second quarter of the fiscal year. To be counted, ballots must reach the Society business office on or before June 30th. The Secretary will arrange to count the ballots after the close of the elections. A plurality is sufficient to elect.
Section 5. Publication of Election Results. The Secretary shall immediately announce the results of each election to the Council and to the nominees and shall subsequently publish the names of the new officers and members elected to serve on the Council in a publication sent to all System Dynamics Society members.
Policy 9, Section 2. Authority, Tenure, and Membership. With the exception of the Nominating Committee, Standing Committees shall have at least three members, each of whom serves a three-year term, and the terms of the members shall be staggered to provide continuity. The Nominating Committee shall have five members, serving annually, as provided elsewhere in these Policies. The Vice Presidents - Finance and Publications shall serve as ex-officio members on the Finance and Publications and Development Committees.
Section 3. Duties of Standing Committees.
The Nominating Committee shall nominate members for offices and positions which the Council determines shall be filled by an election. It shall maintain a file of members who are qualified to hold offices in the Society.
JML Comment:  If this file exists, I’ve never seen it!

 

Following are the relevant segments of the July 1985 Policies (which seem to have been updated in 1990, although not this section).

POLICY 7. NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS

Section 1. Frequency. There shall be an annual election to fill the office of President-Elect. In addition, vacancies in the offices of Secretary, Vice President, or members elected to serve on the Council will filled at the same time.
Section 2. Composition of the Nominating Committee. In the fourth quarter of the year, the outgoing President shall submit to the Policy Council for approval the names of three members to serve on the following year's Nominating Committee and, as Past-President, will serve on the committee as its chair. The newly elected President-Elect shall also be a member of the Committee.
Section 3. Nominating Procedures. The Council shall notify the Nominating Committee of the offices and the positions on the Council to be filled in the pending election. The Council shall also instruct the Nominating Committee as to the number of members to be elected to serve on the Council for the ensuing three years. The Council will also notify the Nominating Committee of any subsequent vacancies that may arise while the Nominating Committee is still conducting its business. The Committee shall normally submit at least two nominations for every office or position except that, at the discretion of the Council, a single nomination may be submitted for the office of Secretary. The Nominating Committee shall strive to ensure diversity on the Policy Council in terms of geographic representation, sex, and other factors deemed representative of the Society at large.
The Secretary shall publish all nominations made by the Nominating Committee in a journal or a letter to members mailed on or before February 15th.
Members may submit other nominations for these offices and positions, provided that 1) each such nomination is accompanied by a petition signed by twenty-five members in good standing or ten percent of the total membership, whichever is less, 2) each nominee is a member in good standing, 3) written evidence is submitted to the effect that each nominee has agreed to stand for election, and 4) such nominations reach the Secretary within five weeks after publication of nominations received from the Nominating Committee.
Section 4. Balloting. On or before April 21st, the business office will mail to all members a ballot plus a brief biographical sketch of each nominee. To be counted, ballots must reach the business office on or before June 20th. The Secretary will arrange to count the ballots after the close of the elections, but prior to June 25th. A plurality is sufficient to elect.
Section 5. Publication of Election Results. The Secretary shall immediately announce the results of each election to the Council and to the nominees and shall subsequently publish the names of the new officers and members elected to serve on the Council in a publication sent to all System Dynamics Society members.


These bios would ideally be prepared by the candidates using formats and examples provided by the NC.