Results-Oriented Management (R-OM)

What is R‑OM?

The Results-Oriented Management (R-OM) framework is a strategic approach designed to enhance the planning and evaluation process. Based in root cause analysis, R-OM provides clarity in setting objectives, assessing initiatives, pinpointing opportunities, and measuring success.

R-OM is a simple strategy development framework that highlights and maps the logic behind organizational strategies, exposes a program’s underlying assumptions, and when implemented correctly, showcases the rationale for resource investment. Based on a program theory approach, it requires that organizations make explicit their goals and the pathways to achieve them. Designed for precision and accountability in planning, it provides a structure for specifying objectives and activities, especially for organizations without profit/loss criteria.

How We Use R‑OM

R-OM is the backbone of our strategic planning endeavors. By answering pivotal questions like “Why the program?” and “How do activities contribute to progress?”, R-OM challenges basic assumptions, ensuring a logical and impactful progression from plan formulation to evaluation.

The R-OM Difference

  • Uniqueness: Unlike traditional models, R-OM offers a top-down approach, prioritizing objectives by identifying goals, barriers, and solutions, ensuring plans that are both visionary and practical.
  • Strength in Planning: With its emphasis on logical sequencing and root cause analysis, R-OM ensures that strategic plans are not just actionable but resilient to unforeseen challenges.
  • Enhanced Evaluation: By setting clear objectives and metrics from the outset, R-OM provides a streamlined pathway for evaluation, ensuring genuine reflections of strategic progress.

A Rich History with the USDA/FAS and Beyond

Agralytica developed the Results-Oriented (R-OM) approach in the 1990s, working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) to incorporate it into FAS’s annual planning and management cycle. At the time, we published the first edition of the R-OM guide and led individual workshops with all USDA Cooperator groups, explaining the R-OM approach and helping their staff clearly articulate their goals and the underlying assumptions of their proposed market development plans.

The R-OM process remains highly relevant today, a quarter century after it was first put to use. USDA’s Market Access Program (MAP) regulations still require FAS to follow results-oriented management principles when reviewing applications. USDA also uses R-OM to evaluate its Food for Progress programs.

In Summary

R-OM is more than just a strategic planning tool; it’s a comprehensive framework that’s been tried, tested, and validated. Leveraging its principles, we consistently deliver robust, result-oriented strategic solutions for our food and agriculture clients.