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Lucrări Ştiinţifice – vol. 50, seria Agronomie
THE EXIT STRATEGY AS RESPONSIBLE
WITHDRAWAL FROM SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
M.A. GRIGORAŞ1,
Agatha POPESCU2
E. MERCE1, F, ARION1
1U.S.A.M.V., Cluj Napoca
e-mail: magrigoras@yahoo.com,
2U.S.A.M.V., Bucharest
The paper addresses the role of the public research university in
promoting more sustainable agrarian practices.
It is focused on the idea that a proper exit strategy of any research
project should aim to bridge the innovation gap that exists between research
and practice and that a responsible withdrawal form a research program in
the field of sustainable development must ensure proper knowledge transfer
to the institutions of the local copmmunity
Keywords: exit strategy, project management, new paradigm.
This paper intends to be a starting point in exploring how researchers should
engage in and understand all facets of agricultural production, distribution and
consumption.
Emphasizing the role of people by exploring the complex ways they
conceptualize, give meaning to, and organizing around agriculture, we intend to
draw attention to a new possible paradigm that might impose itself in sustainable
agriculture: "culture of agriculture" [1].
The research and development programs should promote a long term
commitment to incorporating a social-science perspective into the current dominant
agro-bio-physical science orientation.
The institutional constraints [2], the intellectual challenges [3] were revealed
in related work. But the social and financial difficulties should also be revealed, in
order to be able to bring back the culture to agriculture, to intensify the role of
social research with an emphasis on promoting sustainability in agriculture [4].
Former work [5] aimed to draw attention on the innovation gap that exists
between research and practice.
The authors considered that the innovation gap is a reality that has as result a
slow rate for new technology adoptions in agriculture and that it is mainly the
result of deficient knowledge flows. As an investigation method the paper used the
Nonaka Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation related to
knowledge flows and its structural implications for innovation [6].
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A NEW PARADIGM - THE CULTURE IN AGRICULTURE
The current development paradigm based on science and technology driven
progress has revealed serious "costs": pollution, human induced climate changes,
irrational waste of energy and the disappearing of middle classes. Removing the
study of human behavior from the study of agriculture reduces agrarian based
problems to purely technical ones. It also takes away an understanding of local
values, systems of knowledge and organizational strategies, at a time when people
have to face increasingly complex, global realities [7].
Maintaining a social perspective will enable a critical ability to explore the
way politics shape and constrain the rural society.
As we mentioned before, any research project in the field of sustainable
development should aim to bridge the innovation gap that exists between research
and practice. Therefore, we consider important that each research and development
program has a well-defined and articulated exit-strategy to ensure a smooth transfer
of initiatives that are in transition from the development to the implementation phase.
This paper aim at defining a coherent exit strategy for appropriately and
transparently ceasing involvement and transferring results within a research and
development program for a sustainable agriculture.
Even if the research and development programs, due to their grant financing
nature, have a defined end point, the new knowledge needs to be transferred to
people with a very different professional profile than the academic profile all
researchers have. The overall picture becomes even more complicated due to the
interdisciplinary character of most research and development programs in
sustainable development [8, 9].
All those intricacies seem to reveal the shift to a new paradigm in research
and development in sustainable development, the shift to a new paradigm that
intends to bring back the culture to agriculture, by analyzing not only the technical
aspects, but also the social aspects of sustainable development and by ensuring
proper knowledge transfer to local communities.
ASPECTS REGARDING KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER
We consider that the innovation gap that exists between research and practice is
the result of deficient knowledge flows. Little research to date investigates the reasons
why agriculture adopts new technologies slowly, nor the mechanisms involved. As a
method of understanding the innovation gap and also of the structural and behavioral
mechanisms related to new technology adoption, we will consider the Nonaka Dynamic
Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation related to knowledge flows and its
structural implications for innovation.
According to [6] organizational level knowledge is created through a continuous
dialog between tacit and explicit knowledge. In this framework, it is assumed that new
knowledge is created through conversion between tacit and explicit knowledge.
Explicit knowledge is defined as knowledge that can be transmitted in formal,
systematic language, whereas tacit knowledge refers to knowledge that has a personal
quality and therefore difficult to formalize and communicate.
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Basically, there are four modes of knowledge conversion between tacit and
explicit: socialization (tacit to tacit), internalization (explicit to tacit), externalization (tacit
to explicit), and combination (explicit to explicit). Table 1
Modes of knowledge conversion
Epistemological dimension
Ontological dimension TACIT EXPLICIT
TACIT Socialization Internalization
EXPLICIT Externalization Combination
Socialization of knowledge takes place through shared experience. Mentees
learn from mentors through a process of observation and repetition. In the new
technology adoption process, a team will develop routines and procedures for using the
new technology.
Combination of knowledge is a process by which explicit knowledge held by
individuals is shared. In the process of sorting, adding, re-categorizing and re-
contextualizing, explicit knowledge can lead to new knowledge. In interacting with a
new technology tool, the same team would combine knowledge about how best to use
the tool during formal or informal meetings. The combined knowledge would lead to
knew knowledge of better ways to use the new tool.
Internalization of knowledge is analogous to the traditional concept of learning.
However, because in this case explicit knowledge is converted to tacit, it is the process
or action that enables conversion. In the case of a new technology tool, the act of using
the tool enables the internalization of knowledge. In the opposite case, externalization
of knowledge refers to the conversion of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge.
Because tacit knowledge is not definable directly in language, metaphors are often
used to explain the knowledge concept. With our new technology tool example, the
externalization refers to an individual describing to the team how he or she uses the
tool.
PROPOSED EXIT STRATEGY
As the support from the team involved in the project is necessarily limited in
time and resources, having an exit strategy will ensure processes are put in place
from the outset to guarantee the long term viability of the sustainable development
initiative in the absence of the research team support.
An exit strategy should be implemented when objectives or mutually agreed
outcomes have been met or an agreed period of time has passed. In all cases, an
agreement between the manager of the project and the project leader on the so
called "triggers" that are supposed to signal the start of the exit strategy should be
negotiated at the outset of the project.
Triggers can be positive or negative, and typically include:
- reaching defined objectives that signify that the implementation phase has
been reached;
- transfer of responsibility to other organization;
- transfer of responsibility to other individuals;
- failure to achieve objectives;
- withdrawal of funding;
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- failure to attract funding;
- a reduction of interest from the research community;
- unforeseen changes in the internal environment impacting on the viability
of the program;
- unforeseen changes in the external environment impacting on the very
foundations of the program.
The process of planning an exit strategy should be a consultative one
between the management and the scientific leader of the project and should be
carried out through initial negotiations within the project.
All parties should agree on both the triggers and the process itself, including
timeframes for exiting and mechanisms for developing capacity for the ongoing
conduct of various tasks.
The strategy and the triggers may need to be periodically reviewed to take
account of changes to the research program. For this, a member of the tem must be
assigned with the monitoring of the program.
The exit strategy from a program will be started when one or more mutually
agreed trigger points will be reached.
The process could involve the following steps:
1. The research program manager is advised that trigger points have been
reached and a meeting with the whole team is convened to discuss weather the
handover process will commence or the team's involvement will be extended. In
the case of positive triggers, the team's involvement will cease as in the original
agreement. In the case of negative triggers, further discussion about options
regarding the program's future may be required.
2. Once the exit strategy is started, the handover process is activated. This
may vary from simple tasks, as compiling relevant documentation, to more
complex ones, like working with staff who will assume responsibility for activities
previously taken by members of the research team.
3. Upon completion of handover, a final report must be agreed and delivered
to the management unit. The report should be formally acknowledged by the leader
and the manager of the research program.
4. The withdrawal is communicated to all team members.
5. Project related electronic documents, including e-mails, should be
archived to CDs or DVDs. At least two copies should be made: one given to the
director of the program, the other given to the management unit.
Paper documents not available electronically should also be copied and
handed over to the same units.
All those steps are summarized in the following flow chart (fig. 1):
CONCLUSIONS
Today, when knowledge is recognised as a commodity with enormous geo-
political implications, higher education should be restructured to become a more
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effective and efficient economic driver. While higher education institutions have
always behaved competitively, the new global economy has created a more
aggressive environment, with new rules and challenges. This new environment has
an important impact upon an institution’s academic profile. Individual institutions
and their faculties are coming under increasing pressure to expand their capacity
and capability.
Figure 1. Exit strategy. Proposed flow chart
Partnership between Higher Education and local and regional communities
could have an important impact and could help make them socially aware,
economically secure and environmentally sustainable. Working in conjunction with
administrators and staff, Higher Education faculty and students should conduct and
implement research for sustainability programs on campus and surrounding
communities. Graduating students could then bring knowledge, skills and values of
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sustainability to their future employment, consumption decisions, lifestyle choices,
and to the improvement of communities in which they live.
We support the hypothesis that the innovation gap that exists between
research and practice is in part a function of structure. Only by understanding the
structural and behavioral mechanisms behind it the economy will be able to
integrate the results of any research program. Removing the study of human
behavior from the study of agriculture reduces agrarian based problems to purely
technical ones and takes away an understanding of local values, systems of
knowledge and organizational strategies.
Maintaining a social perspective will enable a critical ability to explore the
way politics shape and constrain nowdays the rural society. This critical ability can
ensure a proper knowledge transfer to the regional communities for which the
sustainable development research has been intended.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Cernea, M. M., A. H. Kassam, 2006 - Researching the Culture in Agri-Culture: Social
Research for International Agricultural Development, CABI Publishing, Oxford Press.
2. Grigoraş, M.A, Agatha POPESCU, Emilian MERCE, Felix ARION, Oana GUI, Dorin
ARION, 2006 - Tradeoffs or Synergies? Interdisciplinary Projects for a Sustainable
Agriculture, The 5th International Symposium Prospects for 3rd Millennium
Agriculture, U.S.A.M.V. Cluj-Napoca, vol. Horticultura, pag. 187.
3. Grigoraş, M.A., Merce, E., Arion, F., Gui, O., Arion, D., 2006 - Managing personality
differences in interdisciplinary projects, First International Symposium On The History
Of Electrical Engineering And Of Tertiary-Level Engineering Education, IEEI 2006,
October 12-14, Iaşi - România.
4. Raman, S., 2006 - Agricultural Sustainability: Principles, Processes, and Prospects,
Haworth Press Inc., U.S.
5. Grigoraş, M.A, Agatha POPESCU, Cosmin HOLEAB, Veronica CHEDEA, Emilian
MERCE, 2007 - Bridging the innovation gap and the management of interdisciplinary
project for sustainable development, XXXVII Annual Meeting of European Society for
New Metohods in Agricultural Research, ESNA, 10-14.09.2007, Dubna, Rusia
6. Nonaka, I., 1994 - A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation, Organization
Science, 1:5, pp.14-57.
7. Gann, D., 2000 - Building Innovation: Complex Constructs in a Changing World, Thomas
Telford Publishing, US.
8. Hazelkorn, E., 2005 - University Research Management: Developing Research in New
Institutions, OECD.
9. Brainard, J., U .S., 2002 - Agencies look to interdisciplinary science, Chronicle of Higher
Education, June 14, pp.1-4.
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