Are you looking for a definition of Governance?
I have found one in my search across the internet that might fit for you as well. Mel Gill’s has provided one of the few useful definitions of governance:
The processes, structures and organizational traditions that determine how power is exercised, how stakeholders have their say, how decisions are taken and how decision-makers are held to account
Gill lists the critical elements of good governance as
• Creating a vision
• Securing resources
• Defining clear roles and responsibilities
• Establishing benchmarks for performance
• Monitoring the benchmarks
• Accounting to key stakeholders for the organization’s direction and performance
As organizations grow, so does the need for governance. Small organizations can often function with very informal governance, but are unlikely to grow to large size successfully without some degree of formalism and uniformity. A key challenge that arises when scaling up to a large enterprise is that of managing the tension between the need for well-defined, uniform practices that can be applied widely, and the need for flexibility to handle specific local issues in appropriate ways.
This challenge is commonly best met by providing just enough of the right kind of governance to enable successful collaboration, while avoiding the peril of excessive governance, which becomes an impediment to success.
If are looking for more background you read more here