In the field of PROJECT MANAGEMENT, STEERING BOARDS are employed to
help direct large projects. I need some references that provide robust
discussion about the role of Steering Boards -- what they do and,
perhaps, what they should not do.

Hello bill46,

In the field of project management a steering board, steering
committee and steering group are all synonyms for a group established
to monitor a project and give guidance to the project sponsor or
project manager.

From "Steering, Not Rowing: A Charter for Project Steering Committees
and Their Members" an appendix to the Steering Committee Resource Kit
on the Project Management Web site of the government of Tasmania:
http://www.projectmanagement.tas.gov.au/guidelines/pm5_14appx2.htm

"The purpose of a steering committee is to take responsibility for the
business issues associated with a project. A steering committee's role
is crucial to a project's success. It is responsible for approving
budgetary strategy, defining and realising benefits, and monitoring
risks, quality and timeliness. Those directly responsible for running
a project and managing its stakeholders rely on steering committee
members for guidance and support in their endeavours."

The Web site goes on to outline the role of a steering committee as
well as the role of its individual members.

This link, from the same site displays a diagram of a general project
management goverance model, including the position of the steering
committee:
http://www.projectmanagement.tas.gov.au/guidelines/pm5_3.htm#gov3_2

Scroll down that same page to find information on the following:

1) roles and functions of a steering committee including:

"- approval of changes to the project and its supporting documentation

 - monitoring and review of the project

 - assistance to the project when required

 - resolution of project conflicts

 - formal acceptance of project deliverables"

2) A sample steering committee meeting agenda under the heading
"Steering Committee Meetings"

A Web site titled "Guidelines for monitoring and managing major IT
projects" discusses the role of a steering committee and includes a
list of specific tasks:
http://www.ssc.govt.nz/documents/itguidelines/section4c.html

The above site was prepared for the State Services Commission and the
Treasury of Wellington, New Zealand by Synergy International Ltd

From Goran, a worldwide project management services firm: "A steering
committee (sometimes called project board) is to a project what a
Board of Directors is to a company. It is their purpose to direct the
project not to manage it."  They go on to say that the purpose of a
steering committee is to mandate, control, empower and make key
decisions. They briefly discuss the role or presence of external
representatives on a steering committee and the effort involved in the
management of a steering committee.
http://www.gorann.com/html/pm_method2.html


This article titled "The Science of Alliances: Governance Roles and
Responsibilities" by Charles J. Roussel of Accenture describes the
traditional approach to project management: "Deals are structured and
finalized along the usual lines, and a board of directors or a
steering committee assumes governance responsibility. The board or
steering committee meets infrequently and the management team does the
rest." The article goes on to imply that the traditional steering
committee doesn't work in all situations and suggests instead that the
"...best governance approaches are tailor-made to fit each alliance,
but they still share at least one common theme: the traditional,
paternalistic definition of governance—the CEO and the board—is
obsolete. Today's alliances are better governed through several layers
of decision makers, including a board, a leadership committee and
operating committees within functional areas."
http://www.accenture.com/xd/xd.asp?it=enWeb&xd=ideas%5COutlook%5Cpov%5Cpov_sci_govre.xml%20

An additional article from Accenture titled "Governance" discusses
"governance systems" rather than governance by a single body and
provides further enlightment into the process:
http://www.accenture.com/xd/xd.asp?it=enWeb&xd=ideas/outlook/special99/over_specialed_gov.xml

If you're interested in all aspects of Project Management, this site
has a lot of useful information. Much of it is premium content that
requires a subscription, but there is plenty of useful free content as
well:
http://www.projectconnections.com/

Recommended Books on Project Management:

"The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management: Quick Tips, Speedy
Solutions, and Cutting-Edge Ideas" by Eric Verzuh

"Radical Project Management"
by Rob Thomsett


Search Terms used:
"steering committee"
"steering board"
"steering group"
steering roles
"steering committee" roles responsibilities strategies
steering "project management"

I hope this is enough to get you started. Please let me know if you
are looking for something more specific and thank you for using Google
Answers.

inquisitive-ga

Very thorough. Thank you. Comments were helpful too.

Hello bill46

I found the following statement in minutes of a project meeting at
CERN (the European Laboratory for Particle Physics):
"The Steering Board is the Project Management Body. It decides the
policy and takes decisions on all the relevant issues"
The University of Newcastle upon Tyne has an interesting document 'A
Project Management Framework for the Implementation of Information
Systems In Higher Education'. The diagram of the Institutional
Planning Framework shows a number of Project Boards. Project Managers
make monthly reports to the Steering Boards. You can find it at the
following link:

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/mids/pmhefce2.pdf

Soory I failed to find sources of robust discussion of the role of
Steering Boards.

Or if you'd like a quick answer - the Project Board sets the
limits/parameters within which the Project Manager may work. These
include the tolerances in Time Cost and Quality. If the PM sees that
the project will exceed those tolerances, the PM should report an
exception to the Board, with a recommendation (plan) showing how the
project can be brought back into tolerance. The Board then
accepts/declines the plan (giving the PM the proper admonishment in
the process), thereby managing the project by exception. (Only tell me
when it's broken.)
Otherwise they get too involved in the day to day running, and
"relevant issues" = "trivia". A common mistake particularly in
government and academic circles. regards, ebordan