The Matrix System at Work - Independent Evaluation Group - World ...

CHAPTER 4
DELIVERING QUALITY SERVICES
performing staff may only be promoted once or twice over the course of their career.
Other forms of recognition, such as annual bonuses for strong contributions and
awards for specific good work, do not fill this “acknowledgment gap.” Annual
salary increases are linked to performance, but the difference in salary adjustment
between a typical performer and the best performer amounts to as little as two or
three percentage points, minimizing its efficacy as an incentive. Team awards for
specific pieces of good work are distributed on criteria aligned with strategic
objectives—a focus on development results, collaboration, responsiveness, and
innovation—but these awards are rare and inadequate.
BEHAVIORS OF STAFF IN RESPONSE TO FORMAL AND INFORMAL INCENTIVES
4.41 Staff receive substantial encouragement to meet country-specific needs and
lending targets from their managers, but less encouragement to work across
sectors or use expertise across organizational boundaries. A primary informal
incentive is direct encouragement from managers. Over three-fifths of anchor and
sector unit staff received substantial or greater encouragement from managers to
give priority to meeting lending targets, and a majority received such
encouragement to adapt knowledge to country needs, as shown in Table 4.1. By
contrast, they received substantially less encouragement to adopt “matrix
behaviors,” such as collaborating across sectors and mobilizing Bank-wide expertise.
Country unit staff believe sector unit staff have even less incentive to engage in these
matrix behaviors. As a senior sector unit staff member in a Region summarized, “the
matrix environment has so many mixed messages and incentives, that the only thing
that everyone can agree on is the importance of the ‘deliveries’ of lending products.”
Table 4.1. Percentage of Anchor and sector Staff Indicating They Received Substantial
Encouragement to Carry Out the Following Behaviors
Encouragement to:
From sector
management
Collaborate
across
sectors
Mobilize
Bank-wide
expertise
Adapt
knowledge to
country
needs
Prioritize
lending
targets
Focus
on
results
Use M&E
to
improve
quality
40 41 54 61 53 36
From country
management
35 25 52 67 41 27
Country staff view 16 18 25 48 32 14
of sector staff
incentives
Source: IEG Matrix Evaluation Staff Survey
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