Member's Documents
The African Development Bank's Human Resource Management Policy and Strategic Directions: A Formative Evaluation
Published by: Independent Development Evaluation, African Development Bank
Two main evaluation issues were assessed: (i) the current state of the Bank's HRMS relative to industry best practice and traditional comparators; and (ii) how the Bank has organized itself to deliver on its strategic objectives for HR Management.
The report concludes that the Bank's HR processes are being implemented at the "ad-hoc” or "standardized” levels of maturity, indicating that the Bank's HR processes are not well positioned to inform strategic workforce management. The Bank lacks key HR infrastructure that will restrict the implementation of more mature HR processes, including a framework of skills and competencies and an integrated HR Information System. Furthermore, inadequate Management ownership, process tools, stakeholder capacity and consequence management has limited the implementation of HR processes as designed. Consequently, the Bank's HR processes are not contributing to workforce outcomes as anticipated. Finally, although a reorganization of the HR department has increased transaction efficiency and accountability for service delivery, the HR Department continues to face challenges with respect to client service orientation and strategy implementation performance.
The recommendations of the report note the need to address "infrastructural” concerns within the HR Department in terms of the management of data, project implementation and process monitoring prior to addressing policy gaps. Once these issues are addressed, the evaluation recommends that the HR Department strengthen Talent Management policies and practices and reformulate the Bank's reward and performance management systems to focus on staff development and motivation. Finally, the evaluation recommends the implementation of regular staff engagement processes to identify areas of concern as well as clear accountabilities for Management follow-up on staff survey action plans.
