Addressing Complex Problems Using Results‑
Based Management
Addressing Complex Problems Using Results-Based Management ()
Cornell Course
Management of the international public sector is a growing challenge of the 21st century. International organizations are increasingly charged with taking a major role in solving global problems. Management of international organizations, however, is qualitatively different from managing national institutions or private sector corporations. In this course, Professor Mathiason presents results-based management as the core tool you'll use to do this work.
This course will provide you with an overview of how to define and address complex international problems. This information will help you be more effective working within this complex, historic, and ever-changing industry. You'll practice planning for results-based management (RBM), a management method that focuses on obtaining results that are outside the control of a program or project but which can be achieved through the production of outputs. Accomplishing this requires careful planning, and you'll focus throughout the course experience on how this can be done.
Define how and where your organization can help solve problems
Establish accountability in international organizations
Create a problem statement and establish a time horizon for a program
Define objectives to be achieved, program outcomes, and measurements
Identify data sources to evaluate the effectiveness of a program
Confirm the feasibility of data collection
Report progress accurately based on data
Complete the results-based management cycle with evaluation
John Mathiason
Professor (ADJ)
Adjunct Professor, Cornell Institute for Public Affairs
John Mathiason is Adjunct Professor at CIPA. He is also Managing Director of Associates for International Management Services, a consulting company providing advice and training to international organizations and not-for-profit institutions on results-based management planning and evaluation, including the United Nations Development Group, the United Nations Division for Social Policy and Development, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, the United Nations Office for Internal Oversight, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Labour Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Social Science Council, the AARP, Disabled People's International, the SSM Foundation of the Dominican Republic, the Ministry of Family, Youth and Children of the Government of Panama, the Equal Opportunity Commission of Hong Kong, the United Nations Development Programme in Ecuador, Architecture for Humanity in Haiti, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and the Club of Madrid. He was the team leader of the Independent External Evaluation of the ILO Evaluation Function that was considered by the ILO Governing Body in November 2010 and team leader of the review of the Management and Accountability System of the United Nations Development System in 2011. He was the lead external consultant to support the Intersessional Working Group of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in the mid-term evaluation of the UNCCD Strategy (2008-2018). He is a member of the External Evaluation Panel of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and leader of the external reviews of evaluations by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the assessment of the evaluations of evaluations of UNICEF, and was consultant to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on performance measurement.
He was a staff member of the United Nations Secretariat for thirty years, starting as a technical assistance expert in evaluation of agrarian reform programs and in his last ten years as Deputy Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women, responsible for managing support to negotiations leading up to the Fourth World Conference on Women including involvement of NGOs. He has taught and written extensively on international governance issues, including governing the Internet, where he has been a member of the Internet Governance Project, and effective management of international arms control verification regimes. He is co-author of a book on the Elimination of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Prospects for Effective International Verification, published by Palgrave in March 2005, Invisible Governance: International Secretariats in Global Politics published by Kumarian Press in January, 2007 and Internet Governance: The New Frontier of Global Institutions by Routledge in 2008. He analyzes the General Assembly in the Annual Review of UN Affairs, published by Oxford University Press. He was an Adjunct Professor of Public Administration at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Administration at New York University and later was Professor of International Relations at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University. He is an editor-in-chief of the Journal of International Organizations Studies. He has a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
International Public and NGO Management
Current and aspiring international program managers in public, NGO, or nonprofit organizations
People at all levels in international public service organizations, government, and NGOs
The program is especially relevant for those involved in program and project management, planning and budgeting, and program evaluation/results demonstration