Focussing a co-operative industrial research institute: A case study

Abstract

This article describes a case study in research management. It deals with a mature co-operative industrial research institute, the South African Fishing Industry Research Institute, that experienced a measure of organisational stress, the organisation equivalent of a “mid-life crisis”, and describes how the Institute handled it. The cause of this stress was no single clear factor but a web of influences, some of an external and some of an internal nature. In dealing with this problem the Board of the Institute decided to rethink the Institute's reason for being. A focussing exercise was decided upon to formulate a clearer view of where the Institute should be heading. This exercise involved an analysis of the setting in which the Institute operates as well as an internal diagnosis of the Institute itself. This was done by means of a procedure using a one day focussing workshop. The ideas generated were then synthesised into a set of “policy guidelines”. The policy guidelines became a reference point in subsequent deliberations. They provided guidelines for the committees who had to review the research programmes of the Institute, gave a clearer mandate to the Director of the Institute, served as demonstrable proof of the Institute's ability to plot a course of action in a changing environment and reinforced the confidence of Institute leadership who found that many existing procedures were in harmony with the Institute's new-found focus. In this article the focussing procedure is described step by step and some practical insights and experiences shared.