Development Solutions Consultancy

Strictly speaking results based management (RBM) is another phrase for management by objectives (MBO), which was spearheaded by Peter Drucker in the nineteen fifties. It has also come to be known by other names such as performance based management (PBM). MBO is a comprehensive and systematic managerial approach that is sharply focused on the effective and efficient achievement of organizational objectives. Whatever the name, the common thread is the emphasis of focus on achievement of results as the object of any management activity.

When it is recognized that objectives and performance are nothing other than results to be delivered to customers, the connection between the different names is glaring. By definition, objectives deliver value to customers as they essentially seek to satisfy customer felt needs. Commonly referred to as outcome, objectives represent the utility of service or products delivered to customers or beneficiaries. Thus, they are not direct deliverables to customers but the effect of service or products delivered to customers.

Being customer based, objectives and indeed performance reside outside the organization or location of the implementation responsibility for their achievement. They reside with customers in the market place and where their achievement is also measured. A litmus test for the usefulness of an objective is whether its achievement and measurement are found within the organization or outside it where beneficiaries are found.

That objectives, or for that matter results, are not found inside the business underpins the very purpose of existence of organizations to satisfy needs outside themselves. As organizations exist to serve, results have to be the primary focus of any management activity. Organizations exist to make a difference to those they serve. This is the basis of RBM. It is about results being determinants and drivers of both implementation of activities and the concomitant resource mobilization.

Yet because staff and management in organizations are traditionally brought up thinking functions rather than results on the basis of job descriptions, it is still common to see many objectives reflecting activity implementation and production of outputs. Most employees and management still find it difficult to translate functions into customer value delivery. As such implementation of activities becomes the end rather than the means to the end. In such cases results delivery tends to be incidental rather than targeted thus contributing to considerable organizational inefficiency.

Within the context of organizational purpose or mission, RBM requires that results to be delivered are first identified before thinking of activities to be implemented. Results then become the basis for identifying what it will take to achieve the set results. In this way results and their achievement drive the identification of activities to be implemented and not the other way round. RBM is particularly important as it is central for ensuring that:

• Staff and the entire organization are focused on value delivery to customers or service beneficiaries;
• Organizational efficiency is enhanced as any activity implemented directly contributes to the realization of a set objective;
• Unity of purpose within the organization is enhanced;
• Staff empowerment is enhanced by focusing attention on achievement of prior set results; and
• Staff motivation is enhanced through clarity of expectations in terms of value to be satisfied and the positive change to be achieved.

It is said that managers do not manage people; they manage processes to enable and empower staff to perform. To this, the contribution of RBM is enormous.