A New Organizational Structure for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): A Proposal for the Future

Abstract

The IAEA is one of the most important international organizations within the United Nations system, with a relevant mandate in the field of international peace, security, and the transfer of nuclear technology for its use with peaceful purposes only. The Peace Nobel Prize won by the organization in 2005 in recognition of its work in the promotion of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy is the confirmation of what has been said before. To accomplish its mandate, the IAEA should carry out its activities in the most efficient and effective manner, taking into account the limited human and financial resources now available in the Secretariat, and the level of the resources that could be available during the coming years. For this reason, the IAEA should periodically revise its internal organizational structure, the management process used by the Secretariat to carry out the supervision of the activities to be implemented, the contents of its programs, the working procedures used to implement the approved programs, enhance the training of its staff, among others things. If an organization wants to succeed in achieving the mission for which was established in the most efficient and effective manner, then it should choose adequately its goals, identify the correct course of actions or the best strategies to fulfil the adopted goals, adopt the most efficient internal organizational structure, and allocate the necessary resources to ensure the full implementation of the approved programs. To make sure that the adopted strategies are working, the organization needs to adopt the correct internal organizational structure. Choosing the correct internal organizational structure entails allocating tasks, responsibilities, and decision-making authority within the organization in the most effective manner. One of the main changes that the Secretariat should introduce in its working procedures during the coming years is the establishment of multidisciplinary working teams. These teams will have the responsibility to implement all IAEA technical programs, including all technical cooperation projects approved by the policy making organs of the organization, in the most effective and economical manner.