5.1 Governance
5.2 Leadership
5.3 Organizational Climate
5.4 Management Systems and Processes
An important task of the review Panel was to review the center's governance and management in order to assess the degree to which ISNAR manages its affairs efficiently and maintains structures and systems which are supportive of its mission and mandate.
The Panel's overall impression is that ISNAR is an efficiently managed institution, with sufficient administrative and control procedures to insure that resources are utilized as intended and to guarantee that work plans and output objectives are met. The Panel notes the significant improvement in staff morale and reduction in turnover rates during the past two years, following a period of rapid organizational change. Management is commended for having introduced numerous organizational innovations, including an improved performance appraisal and enhancement system, significant advances in office automation and information technology, and the introduction of project-based budgeting and control. The Panel expresses some concern regarding the continuing difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified women to positions on ISNAR's internationally recruited staff, and regarding some aspects of the center's human resource management policies and procedures.
During the Panel's visit to ISNAR, it was impressed with the quality of the various administrative control procedures, and the soundness of the center's budgetary planning and control systems, including the organization and management of the finance and accounting function. The Panel noted that some widely accepted principles of modern management, including performance-based reward systems, empowerment, and career development, appear not to be widely practiced at ISNAR.
The Panel examined the areas of governance, leadership, organizational climate, and management systems and procedures, all of which are briefly commented upon in the following paragraphs and discussed more extensively in Annex A-4 on Governance, Management, and Administration.
The Panel feels that ISNAR's Board has been generally effective in the execution of its oversight function. Board committees meet with relevant members of the programs and management on a regular basis to review program plans as well as administrative functions, and evidently spend considerable time discussing program- or management-related issues with ISNAR's senior staff. The Panel noted, however, that some members of the Board did have significant concerns regarding various aspects of the center's work, including issues related to strategic planning and priority setting within ISNAR, the composition of the professional staff, publication policies, and the center's organizational structure. These concerns were expressed both during a formal board meeting and in interviews with the Panel. The fact that such expressions of concern have not resulted in the desired changes suggests that the Board may not have been sufficiently demanding in its requests for changes or improvements and may not have exercised its oversight function in sufficient depth in areas such as strategic planning and professional staffing.
Since 1990, ISNAR has been led by Dr. Christian Bonte-Friedheim, who will end his term as Director General in early 1997. Dr. Bonte-Friedheim is recognized both inside and outside ISNAR for his dynamic personal leadership and dedication to the cause of the NARS. The Panel was impressed during its visit to ISNAR, as well as during its discussions with representatives from national agricultural research systems, donor organizations, and members of the Board of Trustees, with the high degree of personal loyalty and affection for Dr. Bonte-Friedheim, as evidenced by his election during ICW 96 as recipient of the Nyle Brady Award for Leadership. The Panel is convinced that much of the credit for the CG system's increased awareness of and attention to the cause of the NARS is due to the tireless efforts of Dr. Bonte-Friedheim on their behalf. The Panel joins ISNAR's staff and worldwide associates in recognizing Dr. Bonte-Friedheim for his personal contributions to strengthening the global agricultural research system.
During the period under review, the center undertook two major structural changes. The first, partly in response to suggestions made in the last EPMR, involved the establishment of a more complex organizational structure for ISNAR and the creation of additional levels of management. Whether due to the structure itself or to the personalities of those involved, this change led to a period of decline in organizational morale and may have contributed to the departure of several of the center's valued senior staff. Among the reasons cited for some of their departures was an ambiguous sense of direction in the center's work, a perceived lack of regard for research quality by some program directors who seemed to be more oriented towards advisory services, and a cumbersome and overly bureaucratic structure which seemed to limit individual initiative and creativity, especially among more junior members of the professional staff.
Fortunately, staff morale had significantly improved by the time of this review. A new, flatter organizational structure was introduced three years ago, with simplified processes for planning, budgeting, and project approval. While the structural changes introduced three years ago have been of great benefit, some elements of the organizational climate left over from the previous period may still be present. A significant number of staff members raised issues in the Staff Survey of Issues for the EPMR regarding human resource management and staff relations, and culture and staff morale. Some staff members interviewed by the Panel also mentioned the need for improvement in areas including teamwork and cooperation; communication and staff involvement in decision making, and, in some instances, interpersonal relations, which may well be a by-product of ISNAR's multicultural environment. The Panel is unable to judge how widespread or valid these concerns are. The Panel also interviewed numerous members of the support and professional staff who did not mention such concerns, and who indicated a high level of satisfaction with the degree of teamwork, staff involvement, and interpersonal relations.
ISNAR has experienced significant staff turnover during the period under review. As indicated above, during the 1992-94 period, a number of organizational factors led to especially high rates of turnover, which averaged 18% of the international staff per year, 21% for supervisory staff, and 31% for support staff. Turnover has been significantly reduced during the past two years at the international and supervisory levels, although it continues high at an average of 19% among the support staff.
5.4.1 Human resource management
5.4.2 Finance and accounting
5.4.3 Information and computer services
5.4.4 General administration
5.4.5 Legal status and host-country relations
ISNAR's human resource management policies became an area of concern to the Panel due both to the critical role played by human resource management policy in such issues as staff turnover and organizational climate, and to the number of problems brought to the Panel's attention by members of the center's staff, either directly or via the Staff Survey of Issues for the EPMR.
In the area of recruitment and selection, the Panel notes with concern ISNAR's difficulty in attracting qualified women into its ranks of internationally recruited professionals, and encourages ISNAR to continue its aggressive approach to identifying and attracting qualified applicants. It also recognizes the difficulty in surmounting barriers such as restrictions on spousal employment, which might contribute to the difficulty in bringing more women into its senior ranks.
ISNAR explicitly espouses a philosophy which does not favor long-term career development within the center and argues that its mandate is "to get the best ... it is not a mandate to develop people". While an argument can be made in favor of this approach, its implications on staff motivation and ultimately on staff retention and turnover are serious. Many elements of ISNAR's human resource management system, including its job classification scheme, salary structure, and the performance assessment and enhancement system, all have their philosophical roots in this approach towards long-term career development. Current policies at ISNAR do not establish a mechanism for career development of international staff through promotions to levels of greater recognition and responsibility, nor do they include any direct linkages between salary increases and performance appraisals. (Opportunities for career development and promotion are available at the level of the support staff.) The Panel feels that staff will be more valuable to ISNAR in both the short and long term if they feel that they are motivated, recognized, and encouraged to grow at ISNAR. The Panel recommends that ISNAR encourage long-term professional growth by adopting an explicit staff promotion policy which offers professional staff the potential for increased recognition and responsibility. The Panel also recommends that ISNAR explicitly link its salary administration policy to the annual performance appraisal and establish within ISNAR a culture of reward for performance.
ISNAR's accounting and financial management function appears to be well managed, with appropriate attention paid at the highest levels of management to securing donor funding and with prudent financial resource management policies which have resulted not only in accumulated reserves sufficient to weather minor funding shortfalls, but also sufficient cash balances to survive temporary delays in fund disbursements.
An issue of growing concern to ISNAR as well as its sister IARCs is the shift in funding patterns from unrestricted donations to restricted grants. In addition to the obvious disadvantages of this move in assuring support for the center's entire research agenda, ISNAR must also insure that funds continue to be available to finance overhead expenses under an increasingly restricted funding environment. As unrestricted funding becomes less and less available to finance project overhead costs which are not paid for through project funding, it will become increasingly important for all project grants to include adequate funds for overhead expenses. A portfolio of funded projects which only pay for direct costs may result in financial crises faster than unfunded projects in an otherwise fully funded project portfolio.
One especially praiseworthy feature of ISNAR's administration is its computer services unit, which stands among the leaders in the CG system in the application of information technology to issues of office automation and communication. ISNAR not only has (and actively uses) electronic mail, but has a fully functioning "intranet" on which various multiple-user data bases and other information sources are made available at each staff member's desktop. ISNAR's computer service unit has also played a leading role in the development of the systemwide integrated voice and data network (IVDN) and the CGNET, which have been designed to facilitate inter-center communication and collaboration.
The potential of information technology for the global agricultural research system is only now beginning to be appreciated, and it is likely that the demands from NARS for the sort of specialized expertise available from ISNAR's computer services will only increase. It is important that ISNAR develop a clear policy regarding the role the unit should play in research and services in this area.
ISNAR's central filing system was designed in an era of paper communication and still attempts to control the flow and filing of written communications with the support of administrative circulars regarding routings and filing procedures for paper copies of virtually all forms of written communication. In an era in which nearly all outgoing and most incoming written communications are in electronic form, ISNAR should thoroughly reexamine its needs in this regard and reengineer the flow and storage of written communication to make best use of advanced forms of information technology.
General services, including purchasing, building maintenance, room scheduling, safety and security, etc., are the responsibility of a two-person supplies and services unit which, at the time of the Panel's visit, was down to a single individual due to disability leave. By only listing the responsibilities given to this currently one-man unit, it is evident why some staff may express concerns with one aspect or another of this unit's service due to inevitable delays and conflicting priorities. The Panel notes the widespread appreciation for the individual currently carrying out these functions but suggests that efforts be made to shift some of the tasks to other units or outsource them to venders.
Relations between ISNAR and the Government of The Netherlands have always been cordial and constructive, and host-country representatives appear to be willing to cooperate to facilitate the center's work. On recent occasions, ISNAR management has been encouraged to call on various resources within the country to assist it in its mission.
Against this backdrop of a positive host-country relationship, issues regarding elements of the host country agreement do exist and continue to have an influence on ISNAR's operations as well as staff morale.
At the time the host-country agreement was originally signed, ISNAR was granted several important privileges, including exemption from Dutch income taxes for all staff members' ISNAR income. However, other privileges enjoyed by some professional staff of other international organizations headquartered in The Hague are not enjoyed by ISNAR staff. Furthermore, the lack of clear visa status and an appropriate passport visa (in lieu of a visa, ISNAR staff and their dependents carry a government-endorsed identity card which is not widely recognized in other European Union countries) have traditionally caused difficulties for the center's non-European staff.
Efforts to resolve these difficulties have been underway since 1990 and have recently resulted in several important improvements. ISNAR staff members' tax liability to the Government of The Netherlands on their non-ISNAR income has been clarified such that their ISNAR income shall not be taken into account when assessing income tax on income derived from other sources (a practice consistent with most other IARCs and other international organizations). The center has also established a final arbitration procedure for staff grievances through the International Labor Organization.
