RBM+ System Origins and Introduction

Benedict Wauters, Vladimír Kváča

• New Zealand: Getting Better at Managing for Outcomes and Getting Better at Managing for Shared Outcomes

• Treasure Board of Canada: The Managing for Results Self-Assessment Tool

• World Bank: CAP-Scan Managing for Development Results Capacity Scan

• Asian Development Bank: Readiness Assessment Tool - Implementing a Results Focus in Organizations

• EIPA: CAF• Palladium: Balanced Scorecard

Hall of Fame award for Executing Strategy

• Established in 2009 by a group of European Social Fund‘s Managing Authorities and associated partners, with support of European Commission.

• Aiming to find a better way how to manage public funds like ESF.

• Developing „Results Based Management System Plus“ based on reviews of existing frameworks, scientific research and own experiences.

The Community of Practice on Results Based Management

Our focus: programme management organisations

PMO

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Added value by leveraging the technical assistance!

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But also widely applicable to any public sector organisation

Remember accountability?• What does a PMO that is balancing all aspects

of accountability look like?• Our suggestion is RBM System Plus

Results based management Plus?

With RBM System Plus we try to:

1. Address the overall need(s) for why a programme is in place;

2. Act responsibly – being trustworthy, true to the mandate, demonstrating responsibility in taking decisions;

3. Do the best possible job given the circumstances, resources and constraints, consistent with the overall mandate.

See Burt Perrin, public hearing at the European Parliament of May 2011, quoted in the COP RBM Sourcebook ch. 3.3

CULTURALANTROPOLOGY

SOCIOLOGYDEVELOPMENTAL /

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

SYSTEMS THINKINGAPPROACH

ECON-OMICS

Biology/ ecology

• System and sub-systems in a hierarchy• Interactions give rise to emergent

properties• Interactions define boundaries with

wider systems• Wider systems represent the

environment• Systems must develop productive

relations with their environment

Control engineering

(quality)

• Negative feed-back: dampening divergence of behaviour from a goal (e.g. maintaining constant blood temperature)

• Positive feed-back: amplifying deviation from a goal (for better or worse)

• The many relations between the part of a system give rise to interacting positive and negative feed-back loops leading to unpredictabilty

• Requisite variety

Complexity theory

• Attractors• Non-linearity• Self-organisation• Emergence• Path dependency

RBM »plus »

RBM Tools

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Rational choice theory

Behavioral economics

NPM approach

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… and many, many, many more

RBM Frequent misunderstandings

1. Results ≠ set the target, hit the targetResults = needs satisfaction

2. Programme strategy does not equal organisational strategy… which does not equal organisation operational planning although there are links to be made

3. Measurement does not equal target setting

4. Operations can and should be organised in very different ways

5. There is no blueprint, no magical checklist to solve your problems. Only your own capacity to think things through, built on a solid foundation of high quality research, can move you forward.

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About the RBM system – a warning

• No system can force people to perform.• Systems CAN make it harder for people to get together,

discuss what they think they are doing and what they should be doing

• Systems CAN also facilitate, rather than hinder real dialogue – which includes allowing a fair degree of contestation

• People are required to make systems work, not imagined logics or management edicts; hence enough time and resources should be invested in them.

• Do not trust “good practices”, there are usually reasons why they cannot just be copied to your context.

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Culture matters… even in RBM

• Culture differs across different societies and organizations.

• The RBM System may be more easy to introduce in some cultural settings, while in others more careful thought needs to be applied how to approach it.

• Each cultural setting may have advantages and disadvantages when trying to apply certain elements of RBM.

For info

RBM+ System Key Terms

RBM plus system

• Programme management organisationthe organization that governs the way

programme financial means are used to reach objectives as stated in a programming document

PM organization may cross existing organizational boundaries with the various units distributed in various (parts of) separate organisations

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PMO example

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PMO example

Multi-business or one unit?

• A central department can be responsible mainly for “steering/regulating” and for support processes but does not itself carry out any of the primary process.

• This means that other units/departments act with considerable autonomy, within the framework of the steering of what is usually referred to as the “corporate centre”.

• These autonomous units are referred to as “business units”.

PMO structure

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NOTE: the above picture is not a picture of how things SHOULD be. It is just an illustration of how things may be.

Grounded in systemic approach to management

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According to the Financial Times, the University of St. Gallen in Switserland ranks 7th among business schools in Europe and is one of the leading business schools in the World. Recently, the Financial Times ranked the University of St. Gallen's Master's programme in Management (SIM) 1st worldwide and its Master's programme in Finance (MBF) 5th worldwide.

RBM plus system

• Constituentsthey are referred to in various contexts as

end-users, target groups, citizens, clients, customers etc.

the word “constituent” is used to replace all these terms as “constituent”

• denotes a person that is entitled to expect something from a (service delivery) organization (they have a need)

• …and the organization is entitled to expect something in return from the person

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RBM plus system

• Delivery partners:The PM organization uses a large portion of the

programme funds at its disposal to stimulate delivery partners – project promotors or “beneficiaries” in EU jargon – by channeling the funding to them to deliver products and services that focus on constituent outcomes

These outcomes should reflect constituent’s fundamental needs

These delivery partners are assumed to NOT be under the control of the PM organization, you can only influence them

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RBM plus system

• Other partnersknowledge institutes, constituent

representative organisations, social partners, etc.

they may not receive funding to directly produce products and services that address the needs of constituents, but still may collaborate with the PM organisation in other roles (e.g. idea generation, consultation, etc.)

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RBM plus system

• Legitimating authority

Those external stakeholders who can revoke

the mandate of the PMO:

• Ministers, parliament, the EC,…

• Their objectives therefore matter to the PMO

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RBM plus system• The primary process (core business) of the PMO:

closely connected to the mission - the reason the PMO exists

It consists of:• the order process which takes care of the demand which in

PMOs refers to: Intake: processing the proposal (registering it, checking it,

appraising it, deciding on it, communicating the decision, engaging in appeals etc.).

once approved, the project will be “treated” until it is finished (entailing processing progress reports, payment requests, executing controls, answering questions of delivery partners and supporting them in execution, running appeals procedures etc. …).

after care is what is provided once a step is finished (or the whole project)

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RBM plus system

• sales/marketing: this is necessary to generate demand (or no

orders come in) which for a PMO means:

communicate about the calls and generate demand

with R&D, researching and conceptualising demand for calls for

proposals, e.g. what should be in a call in terms of content and

requirements, how should it be communicated, via what

channels should it be made accessible (e.g. via a national

contact point or regional contact points)

The primary process is the reference point to decide

what are the support and regulatory processes

RBM plus system

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INNOVATION OPERATIONSSTAKEHOLDER

MANAGEMENT

For info

The described functions can be

reorganised into innovation (design

the value), stakeholder management

(relate the value) and operations

(deliver the value)

RBM plus system• Support processes:

To be able to run a core process, people and means are necessary in terms of maintaining and permanently improving the core process

They create the conditions for the core process to work:

• facility management (incl. maintenance of the work environment and materials)

• ICT management• HR management• communications (incl. knowledge management)• financial management• quality and compliance management• purchasing

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RBM plus system

• Regulating/controlling processes comprise

all activities relating to:

Planning (including longer term strategy)

controlling (if plans are executed)

evaluating (what is the problem)

adjusting (what to do about it) of the primary

process

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RBM+ System Core Practices

Results Based Management

• an organization should be ready to respond to changes in circumstances or performance and alter one’s approach if necessary, which requires… an analytical and performance-oriented approach to

understanding what to do; a view of performance that is centred on beneficiary level

outcomes; only thereafter moving toward identifying what resources,

actions and outputs are necessary to get there; a need for information about the subject and a capacity to

collect, process and analyse this information over time; a mechanism by which policy, planning and decision-making

can be influenced by performance information.

Source: REVIEW: RESULTS BASED MANAGEMENT IN DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION by the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond synthesised in the COP RBM Sourcebook ch. 3.3

Demand orientation

Focus on the system as a whole

Six core RBM practices

• 1. Orientation of the PMO (programme management organisation) is clear

• 2. The PMO strategy is reflected in a strategic results framework

• 3. The strategy is translated into operations• 4. Performance information is collected and

supplied• 5. Performance information is used• 6. External stakeholders are involved in all

aspects

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1. Orientation of the PMO (programme management organisation) is clear

2. The PMO strategy is reflected in a strategic results framework

3. The strategy is translated into operations

4. Performance information is collected and supplied

5. Performance information is used

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Further reading

For understanding the system, refer to the

Sourcebook, chapters 6.2 and 6.3.

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Vision, strategy and current operations• When current operations are a mess…• … then vision/strategy becomes a

vision/strategy of survival: how to keep the boat from sinking!

• This reaffirms the importance of systems thinking for your current operations: If daily work life is a struggle for survival…

…then senior managers coming along with wonderful statements about vision, mission and values are bound to be seen as coming from another planet

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Focus of PART II

Focus of PART III

Partially mentioned