World Bank updates staff on upcoming 'global practices' changes

Just six weeks before the World Bank finally launches its technical “global practices,” important details are emerging on how these expert groups will fit into the Washington, D.C.-based institution’s organizational structure. Information recently shared with staff last week clarifies roles and responsibilities in an effort to alleviate tensions between regional and technical offices. The new model is a key part of President Jim Kim’s efforts to build a “solutions bank” — but how successful this will be in providing improved development solutions to its client countries will depend largely on how the revamped organization is able to encourage cooperation across the various parts of the bank. While guidelines posted on the bank’s internal website last week provide some details on how the new technical areas will work with regional and country offices, much of the proof of concept will come as the model is put into practice. According to the memo, staff will begin receiving “readiness training” later this month in preparation for the launch of the operation model on July 1. It will be hard to eliminate the natural tension that exists between regional offices, which respond to client demands, and technical offices, which have a global focus, said Alan Gelb, a former director of development policy at the World Bank who now serves as a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. And the goal of improving cross-regional and cross-sectoral cooperation will require the proper incentives for staff, which have not yet been outlined. “These tensions aren’t new,” he told Devex. “The success of the model will depend largely on management.” How it works The new operating model is intended to address major criticisms of the ‘matrix’ organization model that the Washington, D.C.-based institution has operated under since the 1990s, which led to weak technical offices, regional “silos” and reduced cooperation across technical areas. The 14 global practices and 5 “cross-cutting solution areas” are made up of the bank’s technical staff members. The practices were created to help development knowledge and practice move more freely between country and regional offices. More than 5,700 staff have been affected by the reorganization, which was announced a year ago. In the new setup, each of the global practices will be led by a senior director. These executives — appointed in April — serve as the foremost experts at a given area at the bank and are tasked with setting the strategic direction of the practice. Reporting directly to them are the so-called “practice directors,” who provide support for leadership responsibilities, including talent management and operations. Under the practice directors are the “practice managers” and “technical leads.” Practice managers will be “aligned based on a combination of geographic, technical or functional responsibilities” and technical leads will “drive knowledge strategy in key thematic areas and play leadership roles.” According to the document, the appointments of global practice directors and practice managers will be finalized in early June, and this — along with the newly revised “accountability and decision making” roles and responsibilities, which clarify which units have primary decision-making authority at different stages in the project design and implementation process — is expected to reduce much of the uncertainty among staff about who they will report to under the new structure. Adjustment period Gelb said that clarity on the decision-making and concurrence roles is critical to reducing the bureaucracy and transaction costs of World Bank lending, but there is still some fear among bank staff that there could be a lot of indecision over the next year as managers adjust to the new model. “The risk is that you go through a period when no one knows what their decision rights are and you end up with a hiatus in decision-making,” he said. According to the staff memo, the regional country offices will have primary decision-making responsibility for country partnership frameworks and project delivery, while the global practices will ensure technical quality. After projects are approved and delivered to the client, the global practices will assume decision-making during project implementation, while the country and regional offices take on a concurring role. Gelb said the big test for the new model would come when a person working within a global practice has a work program that commits them to lead a project in country A, followed immediately by work in country B. If the work in country A is delayed, the team there might not be able to easily keep the the staffer in the country, because her work program will be controlled by the global practice. Previously, the work program would have been overseen by the regional office, which would adjust for regional priorities and realities. New positions within the regions may help to negotiate some of the natural tension in the model. According to the presentation, a position called the ‘program leader’ will play an “essential ‘hinge’ function” between the practices and the regional and country offices. They will serve as the interface between the offices through participation in both country office and global practice meetings related to implementation. The memo said the recruitment process for 37 program leader positions launched on April 16 will conclude in late June. Read more development aid news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive top international development headlines from the world’s leading donors, news sources and opinion leaders — emailed to you FREE every business day. See more: World Bank portfolio and staff 're-mapping' finalized Can the World Bank’s ‘global practices’ meet country needs? Why you should care about World Bank reform