Results Based Management Explained (by the ADB)

ADB website

Results Based Management (RBM) can mean different things to different people. A simple explanation is that RBM is the way an organization is motivated and applies processes and resources to achieve targeted results.

Results refer to outcomes that convey benefits to the community (e.g. Education for All (EFA), targets set in both Mongolia and Cambodia). Results also encompass the service outputs that make those outcomes possible (such as trained students and trained teachers). The term ‘results’ can also refer to internal outputs such as services provided by one part of the organization for use by another. The key issue is that results differ from ‘activities’ or ‘functions’. Many people when asked what they produce (services) describe what they do (activities).

RBM encompasses four dimensions, namely:

  • specified results that are measurable, monitorable and relevant
  • resources that are adequate for achieving the targeted results
  • organizational arrangements that ensure authority and responsibilities are aligned with results and resources
  • processes for planning, monitoring, communicating and resource release that enable the organization to convert resources into the desired results.

RBM may use some new words or apply specific meanings to some words in general usage. Check introduction to RBM presentation[PDF | 56 pages].

RBM references that provide more background

  • A diagram showing relationship between goals and outcomes
  • United Nations Development Program RBM overview
  • Canadian International Development Agency RBM overview
  • RBM diagnostic tool for Cambodia and Mongolia
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