“Organizational
Development at the Agros Foundation”
Laurie Werner
April 3, 2003
The Agros Foundation (hereafter “Agros”) is an
international nonprofit organization that works in the areas of land tenure and
holistic community development in the Central America region. This degree project focused on the process
through which Agros proceeded to choose the most appropriate organizational
model for their organizational mission, vision and values. The process was initiated during a summer
internship in 2001, and continued into 2002.
The process utilized an organizational design framework to help a task
force of the board of directors through the process of outlining their visions
and expectations and then apply that vision to select an organizational model that
best suits them. The process completed
by the Agros Organizational Development task force was as follows:
v
Selection
of Criteria: Criteria (both evaluative and practical)
were selected to analyze the different potential organizational models, which
outline the different aspects most critical to their functioning. The evaluative criteria were (prioritized
criteria in bold): Mission, Spiritual Identity, Participation,
Accountability, Governance, Brand Identity, Growth,
Standardization (policies and program), Funding Sources, Replication, and Asset
Ownership. The practical criteria were: Support/Buy-In, Timeliness of
Implementation, Sustainability of Model, Capacity of Organization, Efficient
Use of Resources, and Legality (pertaining to regional registration).
v
Definition
of Criteria: Each criterion was defined according to the
position of Agros on each issue. For
example, the criterion of Participation was defined with their desire for high
participation at all levels, while the criterion of Standardization was
defined with higher standardization for the policies than for the
programs in each country, which would have more local flavor.
v
Analysis
of Organizational Models: Eight different
organizational models (some generic and some from organizations like CARE,
World Vision and Doctors without Borders) were analyzed with the chosen
criteria. The models represented a
range of models, from most centralized to most decentralized.
v
Selection
of Top Models: The top three models were then chosen,
based on their match with the chosen criteria: Federation, Contracting, and
Global Cluster. From these three
models, the task force adapted different features of each model to design a
model for Agros.
v
Final
Model: The process resulted in the establishment of
The Agros Organizational Model, with key features of the top three
models that aligned with the key findings the task force had identified as most
critical for Agros, thereby creating a new unique model:
1) A governance structure similar to a
federation, with an international board and stages for each country office
to become an independent office with a national governing board that will work
in collaboration with the international organization.
2) The use of a contract to define the
agreement between independent country offices and the international office.
3) A global cluster at the program level,
with all countries working equally with international and regional staff to
solidify the program model, share about implementation best practices, and be
accountable for programmatic outcomes.
On
June 7, 2002 the board of directors unanimously approved this organizational
model for Agros, and the organization is currently in the implementation
process. This includes the creation of
an international board, clarifying and creating policies, defining the
transition stages for country offices to become less dependent on the U.S.
office, along with many other aspects outlined by the Agros organizational
model.