Patterns connect through the people, bodies, roles, responsibilities, and acts they share. For example, an act may establish a role or grant authority. A duty may determine how a power is exercised, and advice may inform a decision. Connected patterns help show how an arrangement works and what must be specified for its parts to work together.
The connections below describe the relations between particular arrangements.
Roles and the exercise of authority
An appointment places a person in a role.
Example
The board appoints a person as chair. That person holds the role of chair.
The role identifies the capacity in which a function is performed.
Example
Someone holds the role of secretary. That role is assigned the function of supporting the committee's proceedings.
Responsibility states what carrying out a function requires.
Example
A committee is assigned the function of reviewing policies. It is responsible for conducting the reviews specified in its terms of reference.
Duties may govern how responsibilities are carried out.
Example
A secretary is responsible for the committee's records. The secretary has a duty to keep those records confidential under the applicable arrangements.
Responsibility and authority are separate assignments that can support the same work.
Example
An officer is responsible for preparing a policy review and has authority to request the information needed for it.
Responsibility identifies the work assigned; accountability identifies to whom an account is owed for that work.
Specify both the work assigned and the person or body to whom an account is owed.
Example
An officer is responsible for carrying out the policy review and is accountable to the committee for its completion.
A duty identifies required conduct; accountability identifies to whom someone answers for complying with that duty.
Example
A member has a duty to declare relevant interests and is accountable to the appointing body for complying with that duty.
A right to require something from an identified person or body corresponds to a duty owed by that person or body.
Example
A person has a right to receive reasons for a decision. The decision-maker owes that person a duty to provide those reasons.
A power and the duties governing its exercise can bear on the same act in different respects.
Example
A committee has power to determine an application. Its members have duties governing their participation in that determination.
Authority permits someone to decide; discretion concerns the choice among options permitted by the arrangement.
Specify the choices available and the conditions governing that judgement.
Example
A delegate has authority to decide a matter and discretion to choose among the options permitted by the arrangement.
Reserving a matter to another person or body defines part of the scope of an authority.
Example
A committee may approve routine policy changes, while changes to the organisation's governing purposes are reserved to the board.
Granting authority and directing action
Delegation grants authority to exercise a function within stated limits, provided the grantor has power to delegate.
Identify the grantor's power to delegate and the authority granted.
Example
The board delegates a function to a committee. The committee has authority to exercise that function within the delegation's limits.
An arrangement may establish or retain accountability relationships when a function is delegated.
Specify the accountability relationships established or retained by the particular arrangement.
Example
A board delegates a function to a committee and requires the committee to account to it for exercising that function.
Authorisation gives its recipient authority to perform the specified act within the stated conditions.
Example
An authorised officer permits another person to issue a specified notice. The recipient has authority to perform that act within the stated conditions.
Issuing a direction can exercise an authority to direct action on a particular matter.
Example
A person has authority to issue a direction on a particular matter and directs another person to take specified action.
An authorised direction may create a duty to comply under the applicable arrangements.
Identify the authority for the direction and the requirement it creates.
Example
An authorised direction requires an officer to provide a report. Under the applicable arrangements, the officer has a duty to comply.
Advice and formal decisions
Consultation can provide the occasion and scope for someone to contribute advice.
Specify the capacity, subject, and purpose of the contribution.
Example
A policy author consults a specialist on a proposed requirement. The specialist provides advice within the scope of that consultation.
Advice may include a recommendation proposing an action.
Example
A specialist advises on the implications of a proposal and recommends that it be amended.
Providing a recommendation and deciding on it are distinct acts with distinct accountabilities.
Example
A committee recommends that the board approve a policy. The board decides whether to approve it.
A resolution expresses a body's decision reached through the formal method prescribed by its rules.
Example
A committee decides a matter through the formal method prescribed by its rules.
A resolution can be a body's formal decision to make a recommendation.
Example
A committee resolves to recommend a proposal to the board.
A resolution can be the formal decision through which approval is given.
Example
The board resolves to approve a policy.
A resolution can be the formal decision through which a delegation is made, within the body's power to delegate.
Example
The board resolves to delegate a function to a committee.
Approval of specified terms and authorisation to act on them can be separate acts.
Specify what each act concerns and the authority under which it is performed.
Example
The board approves the terms of an agreement. A separate authorisation permits an officer to sign it.
Reporting and scrutiny
Reporting can provide a means of giving an account within a specified accountability relationship.
Example
An officer reports to a committee on the exercise of delegated authority.
Reports can provide information for oversight of an area.
Specify what the committee must consider and what it may do in response.
Example
A committee receives reports on the operation of a policy. Those reports provide information for its oversight of that area.
Specified powers enable a person or body to perform its oversight role within its remit.
Identify the powers that enable it to perform its oversight role.
Example
A committee oversees an area and has authority to request information, make recommendations, or direct action within its remit.
Monitoring provides information over time that a review can use to assess adequacy or continuing suitability.
Example
An officer monitors the operation of a policy over time.
A review examines an arrangement against stated criteria. Its findings may support assurance about the matters examined, within the review's scope and evidence.
Assurance can inform oversight, subject to its scope and qualifications.
Example
A committee receives assurance about a specified aspect of an arrangement.
Review findings can provide reasons for a recommendation proposing action.
Example
A review identifies an issue and recommends a change to the person or body authorised to decide it.
Interests and duties
A person has an interest that may impair their proper performance of a duty.
Identify the interest, the duty, and the circumstances in which they may conflict.
A person owes two duties whose proper performance may interfere with each other.
Identify each duty, to whom it is owed, and the circumstances in which the conflict arises.
Further connected patterns
The sentences below show how several governance relationships may be combined around a role, an outcome, or an exercise of authority.
A role carries responsibility for something. Its holder has authority to take specified action in carrying out that responsibility.
Someone has authority to act. They have responsibilities concerning its exercise and are accountable to someone for its exercise.
A role occupies a place in a hierarchy. Its holder reports to someone on specified matters.
An instrument establishes or records a role, responsibility, authority, or accountability.
Plain Governance, developed by Dr Julien Maréchal. © 2026 The Governance Practice.
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