13 first-class think tanks, observation and enlightenment of talent construction mechanism |
News China News Gathering and Editing Network China News Gathering and Editing Network China Entrepreneur Mobile News China Think Tank Network National Research and Political Situation, Planning and Discussion - Economic Information Research Think Tank National Research Think Tank, China National Policy Research Forum - China National Conditions Research Chamber of Commerce Association, All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce Economic and Information Research, China Economy and Informatization China Entrepreneur Forum Philosopher-Business Dialogue, China Confucian Entrepreneurs Conference Winning in Business, China Marketing Planning Healthy China, Big Health and Pharmaceutical Industry Forum Editing and Editing:
[Purpose/Significance]In-depth research and revelation of the first-class think tank talent construction mechanism in the United States will help to provide a decision-making basis for the construction and structural optimization of the talent team of think tanks in mainland China.
[Methods/Process]Taking 13 first-class think tanks in the United States as the research object, through the website, annual report and related literature research, qualitative and quantitative analysis was carried out from the dimensions of think tank talent team construction purpose, personnel team allocation, scientific research organization model, assessment and incentive, talent reserve, etc., and the innovative mechanism and measures of talent construction of first-class think tanks in the United States were discovered.
[Result/Conclusion]The results show that the first-class think tanks in the United States respect the principles of diversity, equality and inclusiveness, reasonably build a talent echelon, carry out relevant research with a flat structure and a matrix project system, and pay attention to the quality construction of researchers and talent training, which has certain reference significance for the construction of talent team of think tanks in mainland China.
01 Preface
Since the 18th National Congress of The construction of a new type of think tank with Chinese characteristics has made a series of important arrangements for strengthening the construction of a new type of think tank from the strategic perspective of promoting scientific decision-making, democratic decision-making and enhancing the country's soft power, which has made a series of important progress in the construction of think tanks in mainland China, formed a think tank discourse system, knowledge system, academic system and governance system with Chinese characteristics, and achieved a major breakthrough in the innovation of high-end think tank construction mechanism.
After years of development, the new type of think tank with Chinese characteristics has been able to exchange ideas with American think tanks on an equal footing, mutual benefit and mutual respect, but it has also produced certain challenges. According to the 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report (hereinafter referred to as "GGTTI2020") released by the University of Pennsylvania Think Tank Research Project Group, China ranks second in the world with 1,413 think tanks, second only to the United States.
However, only eight companies, including the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, GGTTI2020 list of the world's top 100 think tanks, and they rank relatively low. In addition, China has a large team of academic research talents, but the construction of new think tanks with Chinese characteristics lacks high-quality think tank talents and teams, which makes China's government-run think tanks "big but not strong", university think tanks "high and low", and private think tanks "weak but weak", which seriously affects the ideological and theoretical dissemination of Chinese think tanks, the setting of international issues and the guidance of international discourse.
It does not match China's current comprehensive national strength and international status. Therefore, how to transform academic research talents into excellent, interdisciplinary think tank scholars who meet the needs of think tank research and development is still one of the major difficulties in the construction of a new type of think tank in China.
The United States is the birthplace of modern think tanks, and its number of think tanks and overall development level are in the leading position in the world, and in the long-term practice, it has absorbed all kinds of high-end talents from different fields, forming a unique think tank talent organization, selection, evaluation, incentive, development and circulation mechanism. Based on the overall ranking, research field ranking, and specialty ranking of think tanks in the 2018 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report (hereinafter referred to as "GGTTI2018").
The Brookings Institution (BI), the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and the Carnegie Endowment for International were selected for this paper Peace, CEIP) and other 13 first-class think tanks in the United States to study the construction of talent teams, so as to reveal the mechanism and specific measures of the talent construction of first-class think tanks in the United States, in order to provide a decision-making basis for the construction and optimization of the structure of the talent team of mainland think tanks on the basis of full consideration of ideological differences.
Table 3 Recruitment information and requirements of first-class think tanks in the United States
Table 2 Overview of the talent construction of first-class think tanks in the United States
Table 4 Overview of representative projects of the talent pool of first-class think tanks in the United States
Table 1 Sample data of first-class think tanks in the United States (13 companies)
02 Research data sources and methods
According to the research needs, this paper synthesizes the overall ranking, research field ranking, and specialty ranking of think tanks in GGTTI2018, and selects 13 think tanks as samples (Table 1). The specific adoption method is as follows.
Table 1 Sample data of first-class think tanks in the United States (13 companies)
Overall: In the GGTTI2018, the top think tanks in the United States are ranked, and the top 5 think tanks are selected as the data source (hereinafter referred to as the top 5) in this paper.
Research field level: GGTTI2018 ranks global think tanks according to their research field. His research interests include: defence and national security, domestic economic policy, education policy, energy and resource policy, environment, foreign policy and international affairs, domestic health policy, international development, international economic policy, science and technology, social policy, transparency and good governance. According to the research needs, this paper selects the top 1 think tanks in various fields as a supplement to the overall level data, and finally obtains 5 think tanks.
Expertise: GGTTI2018 ranks global think tanks according to their special achievements. It mainly includes: best lobbying, best profit, best government affiliation, best management ability, best creation of new ideas and new paradigms, best independence, best conference, best network, best political party background, best interdisciplinary research project, best university affiliation, best use of social networks, best use of the Internet, best use of media, best practices, etc.
Among them, the best government-affiliated think tank, the World Bank's Development Research Group (hereinafter referred to as "DECRG"), is not included in the list of 97 think tanks in the top think tanks in the United States, so this article does not conduct in-depth research on this think tank. Combined with the above conditions, this paper selects the American think tanks in the top 1 think tanks with each specialty as a supplement to the data at the overall level and the research field level, and finally obtains 13 think tanks.
This paper mainly uses the website survey to obtain the mechanism and specific measures of talent construction from 13 American think tanks, and uses the content analysis method to analyze the key points of talent organization, selection, evaluation, incentive, development and circulation.
In addition, this paper obtains the relevant mechanisms and measures of think tank talent construction from the annual reports of 13 think tanks from 2012 to 2021 and the modules of about, expert and career on the think tank website, and combines the think tank work for a think in the think tank open directory (https://onthinktanks.org/ tank) and other authoritative institutions and Wikipedia and other channels supplemented the content of the talent construction of 13 think tanks to ensure the reliability and validity of the research content.
03 Observation and analysis of the talent construction mechanism of first-class think tanks in the United States
3.1 The purpose of talent building of think tanks
First-class think tanks in the United States usually uphold the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and recruit talents from all over the world, including retired senior U.S. government officials, economic and financial experts, policy research experts, senior media professionals, and outstanding people in other fields. An inclusive research environment across work experiences and perspectives.
3.2 Overview of think tank talent construction
3.2.1 Analysis of the Residency
This paper conducts a website survey on the talent development of 13 U.S. think tanks, and the results are shown in Table 2. As can be seen from Table 2, U.S. think tank personnel can be divided into three categories: resident, nonresident, and visiting scholar (visiting/global) according to their residency. Among them, non-residents and visiting scholars are usually outstanding experts in various fields from all over the world, and their appointments and tenures are generally determined by the size and length of the research project.
On the one hand, the allocation of resident staff, non-resident staff and visiting scholars enables think tanks to flexibly hire high-level experts from outside, continuously generate new ideas and new methods, ensure the quality of think tank research results, and improve the ideological creativity and brand influence of think tanks; on the other hand, it also enables think tanks to optimize the allocation of limited scientific research resources and prevent think tanks from having excess or insufficient manpower, which affects the function of think tanks.
Table 2 Overview of the talent construction of first-class think tanks in the United States
3.2.2 Resident staffing analysis
The staff of the think tank in residence mainly includes four parts: leadership team, researchers/senior researchers, research support staff and operation team.
The leadership team is mainly the president of the think tank, the vice presidents/directors of the research and administration departments. The president is generally responsible for the daily operation of the think tank (i.e., the president responsibility system) and implements flat management, which shortens the distance between the senior management of the think tank and the grassroots employees to a certain extent, ensures the timely transmission of information, and greatly reduces administrative intervention, so that the think tank researchers can devote their main energy to research and do not have to deal with complicated administrative work.
The resident researchers of think tanks are mainly divided into fellow/senior fellow sequences. Among them, "fellow" denotes an academic position at a university or similar institution. Think tank researchers/senior researchers generally have deep academic background and rich practical experience, have made remarkable achievements in related fields, have forward-looking thinking and vision, and can participate in public policy dialogues and influence the direction of future policies.
i.e. "experts of the future". Some think tanks, such as the Brookings Institution, have set up a distinguished fellow sequence to promote the participation of outstanding government personnel in the research of the Brookings Institution, and the distinguished fellows can participate in the activities of the Brookings Institution at any time and provide advice to Brookings experts, scholars and government workers.
Research support staff mainly include associates, analysts, engineers, etc., who are mainly responsible for providing research support to researchers/senior researchers, usually newly graduated young researchers or doctoral students. American think tanks generally pay attention to the rational allocation of researchers and research support personnel, and they believe that researchers are the core competitiveness of ideological products, and equipping them with reasonable research support personnel is the key to improving their work efficiency and the quality of their results.
The RAND Corporation once put forward the concept that "two researchers are not as efficient as one researcher and one secretary". As can be seen from Table 2, among the 13 think tanks, the ratio of researchers/senior researchers to research support personnel varies from 1/6~1/2, that is, every 6 researchers/senior researchers are assigned 1~3 research support personnel.
The operation team mainly includes finance, personnel, external liaison, information technology, publishing and distribution departments, and is mainly engaged in the fundraising, personnel recruitment, project collaboration, conference exchange, technical support and other work of the think tank to ensure the normal operation of the think tank.
3.3 Overview of talent management in think tanks
3.3.1 Talent recruitment information and requirements
A total of 376 recruitment information was collected from 13 think tank websites, and the specific types and requirements of recruiters are shown in Table 3. Among the 13 think tanks, the McKinsey Global Institute has the most vacancies at 157, while the Belver Center for Science and International Affairs and the Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy have not found vacancies.
The Brookings Institution, the Institute for Strategic and International Studies, and the RAND Corporation are recruiting leadership team members, in addition to academic qualifications and work experience requirements, they also require candidates to have made certain achievements in the field, such as publishing a series of high-level papers, having experience in hosting large-scale projects, and holding key positions in relevant government functional departments.
For the recruitment of researchers/senior researchers, except for the McKinsey Global Institute, which recruits junior fellows and has no mandatory requirements for work experience, the recruitment positions of other think tanks are all researchers or senior researchers, and the work experience requirements range from 5~10 years, and require deep academic background, government experience, forward-looking thinking, and have a certain influence in the field of public policy.
The research support staff position generally requires a bachelor's degree or above, and 1 year or more of work experience. The RAND Corporation and the Urban Research Institute have relatively relaxed educational requirements for the recruitment of operations teams, generally requiring a bachelor's degree or above, or a high school degree with equivalent work experience. In addition to academic qualifications and work experience requirements, almost all think tanks require candidates to have certain writing and analytical skills, interpersonal communication and communication skills.
Table 3 Recruitment information and requirements of first-class think tanks in the United States
3.3.2 Talent assessment and management mechanism
Through the investigation, it was learned that among the 13 think tanks, only LAND Corporation has a clearly announced talent assessment system, which mainly includes the quality rating of the research team and team research results within the department by the management team of each research department, and the assessment of the research team and research results of various departments of LAND by the external expert team, which is generally assessed every 4~5 years.
The assessment standard is the "RAND Standards for High-Quality and Objective Research and Analysis" first introduced by RAND Corporation in 1997 and revised many times. 6 dimensions such as legality and inclusiveness, in order to carry out full-cycle quality management of RAND projects.
3.3.3 Talent quality management measures
In order to ensure the independence and objectivity of think tank research, and to ensure that think tank researchers are not constrained by the interests and time of too many external activities, think tanks such as the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Heritage Foundation, the RAND Corporation, and the Urban Research Institute have formulated talent quality management measures to control and manage think tank researchers' participation in external activities, obtaining benefits and remuneration, and plagiarism.
Provisions governing participation in outside activities. Richard Haass has brilliantly summed up the function of think tanks as producing ideas, supplying talent, seeking consensus, educating the public, and acting as a "second channel" for government diplomacy. In order to collect information more efficiently and keep abreast of the latest developments, US think tanks generally actively encourage their researchers to participate in various seminars, roundtables, lectures, and other activities.
However, in order to ensure the independence and integrity of think tank research, think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation require their researchers to sign a written statement when they join the company, while think tanks such as the Brookings Institution and the Center for Strategic and International Studies require researchers to regularly report on their participation in activities [such as the Brookings Institution's Disclosure Form].
In the case of ongoing activities such as paid litigation support and teaching writing for third parties, formal paid or pro bono consulting for other governments, and time-consuming external activities, it is necessary to seek prior instructions and obtain approval in order to avoid any external activities that may conflict with the interests of the think tank, negatively affect the reputation of the think tank, or undermine the independence and integrity of the work of the think tank.
Provisions on the administration of remuneration for the acquisition of benefits. Think tanks such as the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Heritage Foundation, and the RAND Corporation also have a series of regulations on researchers participating in external activities to obtain remuneration for benefits, that is, they are not allowed to accept gifts such as in-kind, travel, meals, entertainment, etc. of $1,000 or more, and activities with a single benefit remuneration (funds, stocks, cash, etc.) of $15,000 or more must be approved, and so on.
Provisions on the management of plagiarism, plagiarism, etc. Think tanks such as the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Heritage Foundation, and the RAND Corporation crack down on plagiarism and other academic misconduct, stipulating that anyone can report academic misconduct by any researcher to the think tank's leadership team. After receiving the report, the think tank decides whether to carry out an investigation.
If the report is substantiated, a 30-day preliminary investigation will be conducted by the president of the think tank or a committee appointed by the think tank (PRC), during which the person being accused has the right to review the report and defend the report. If the investigation reveals plagiarism, the accused person will be reprimanded, suspended or even dismissed depending on the degree of plagiarism. Regardless of whether plagiarism is established or not, the whistleblower will be informed of the result in a timely manner, and protective measures will be taken against the whistleblower.
3.3.4 Talent remuneration and welfare measures
The survey found that the salary of US think tanks is generally confidential, but according to news reports and job boards, the average annual salary of US think tank researchers is around $150,000, for example, the minimum annual salary for the position of deputy director/researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies is $110,000, and the minimum annual salary for senior research is $135,000. There is a slight difference in salary depending on the subject background and institution, but the income of research support staff and operation team is lower.
From the perspective of welfare, American think tanks generally provide various benefits such as work, medical care, finance, vacation, education, and sports. Among them, work benefits include a comfortable and inclusive working environment, the ability to work from home, the implementation of flexible work systems (5 days/40 hours), medical benefits include medical and dental care, health management, medical insurance, etc., and financial benefits include pension protection, financial and guidance, etc.;
Leave benefits include paid leave (10~15 days), annual leave (5 weeks), sick leave (12~15 days), and paid parental leave, etc., and education benefits refer to financial subsidies of up to $3,000~4,000/year for those receiving continuing education, and various sports venues such as basketball, softball, football, and tennis for researchers.
3.4 Overview of think tank talent training
3.4.1 Career development training
U.S. think tanks generally attach great importance to the improvement of their personnel's professional quality, promote interdisciplinary cooperation by providing various forms of activities, provide research methods and tools, improve researchers' data processing capabilities through training lectures on media technology, and set up continuing education allowances to improve personnel's competency and competitiveness, so as to provide personnel with continuous learning and career development paths. The survey found that the Brookings Institution, the RAND Corporation, the Urban Institute, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars all have professional development training programs explicitly indicated on their websites.
Taking the Brookings Institution as an example, the Brookings Institution uses community platforms such as the Brookings network (BN) to provide researchers with a variety of activities such as career planning, network hotspots, and service plans. Information technology personnel and communications personnel carry out monthly volunteer activities to provide training in data tools and professional methods for researchers of the society, and at the same time establish a continuing education stipend, which provides financial assistance of up to 3,000 US dollars per year for those receiving continuing education.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies offers a programming and opportunities for young professionals to engage in a series of debates, lectures, and interviews that provide opportunities for young scholars to engage in informal conversations with some of the most prominent U.S. government and private sector leaders
For the operation team and research support personnel, some think tanks also have mechanisms such as external institutions for further study, visiting study, and field visits, so as to provide them with opportunities to work, study and communicate with government departments and other think tanks on a regular basis.
3.4.2 Talent reserve measures
Think tanks are an important "bridge" between academia, the government and the public, and cultivating dual-skilled talents in academic research and policy research is the core of think tanks to enhance their competitiveness. The survey found that 13 think tanks attach great importance to the cultivation and cultivation of young and middle-aged talents (see Table 4).
Table 4 Overview of representative projects of the talent pool of first-class think tanks in the United States
As can be seen from Table 4, the training of young and middle-aged scholars is usually based on providing work and learning opportunities for government departments, large think tanks and enterprises. For example, the Brookings Institution's Rubenstein Fellowships program recruits young and middle-aged scholars with high academic ability and professionalism in five fields: economic research, foreign policy, global economic development, government research, and urban governance to work at the Brookings Institution, and collaborate with senior fellows at the Brookings Institution to conduct policy research, interact with the media, and carry out public activities.
The Heritage Congressional Fellowship selects a small number of permanent junior staff to participate in congressional policy, procedure, or professional discussion activities each year to improve the policy understanding and academic research ability of junior researchers.
For the next generation of potential think tank researchers such as college students and graduate students, graduate education or think tank internship opportunities are the main focus. For example, the Pardee Rand Graduate School has become a cradle for training senior decision-makers, providing a large number of doctoral assistants and back-up forces for the company while training doctoral students in the field of policy analysis and policy research.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's James Gaither Junior Fellows Program offers one-year scholarships to graduating college students from partner institutions who work as senior research assistants at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace for one year.
04 Inspiration and Advice
Due to the many differences between the political and economic systems of China and the United States, the construction of the talent team of think tanks in mainland China should be based on the national conditions of their own countries, and learn from the experience of the talent building of think tanks in the United States from the aspects of the purpose of the construction of think tank talent teams, the allocation of talent teams, the organization mode of scientific research, recruitment and quality control, assessment and incentives, and talent reserves, so as to promote the transformation of mainland academic research talents into excellent, interdisciplinary think tank scholars who meet the needs of think tank research and development, so as to better stimulate the innovation power of mainland think tank talents.
Innovate the way of employing think tank talents in mainland China, and reasonably build a think tank talent echelon. At present, the think tanks on the mainland are mainly think tanks of universities, party and government departments, think tanks of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and think tanks of the School of Administration of the Party School, and adopt the management model of public institutions. Think tank personnel are usually university teachers, civil servants, and career researchers, and there is a lack of research support and administrative personnel.
Due to strict regulations on personnel systems, job establishments, remuneration and other aspects, mainland think tanks lack high-quality think tank professionals, and at the same time, there is also an "obstruction" phenomenon in the orderly flow of think tank talents between party and government organs, think tanks and universities. Therefore, the first-class think tank talent structure system in the United States has certain reference significance for the construction of the talent system of think tanks in mainland China.
On the one hand, it is recommended to speed up the reform of the personnel system, select pilot think tanks, innovatively set up a talent system that combines full-time and part-time personnel, and set up full-time assistant positions in think tank management (mainly professional and technical personnel/administrative personnel);
Establish a system of regular closed-door meetings between think tanks, universities and government agencies, so that think tank researchers have the opportunity to work in government departments, university teachers can enter think tanks to carry out policy-oriented academic research, and government department personnel can go to think tanks and universities to take up temporary posts, so as to use rich work experience to improve the representativeness, extensiveness and operability of think tank policy research results. On the other hand, according to the needs of work and projects, we can flexibly hire full-time research assistants, expand the team of research assistants such as data collection, data analysis, and new media technology, and do a good job in the basic work of decision-making and analysis.
Build a multi-dimensional assessment and evaluation system to strictly control the quality of talents and achievements. Drawing on the talent assessment system and quality control system of think tanks such as the RAND Corporation, we will broaden the multi-dimensional classification assessment and evaluation system for the full-time and part-time personnel of mainland think tanks, take into account the academic value and policy effectiveness of the project, strengthen the process evaluation, and explore the establishment of a refined classification assessment system and professional title evaluation system for scientific research, policy, scientific research policy, think tank auxiliary and other positions, smooth the promotion channel of outstanding young talents, and broaden the growth path of all kinds of personnel.
At the same time, we should exploratively set up an organizational mechanism, employment system and salary system that are closely related to job responsibilities, work performance, and actual contributions, so as to create a think tank environment that is conducive to stimulating academic vitality and policy orientation. Explore the establishment of think tank research societies or think tank communities, and establish a system of rules such as quality standards and academic norms for think tank researchers and achievements, so as to ensure the quality of think tank researchers and think tank achievements.
Encourage academic talents to carry out applied research, and accumulate reserve talents for the construction of think tanks. Encourage university research scholars to connect with think tanks and government policy research offices and other institutions, pioneer the creation of a rotation mechanism for new recruits such as think tanks, universities and government agencies, exploratory construction of think tank alliances in special fields, in the form of horizontal projects, commissioned projects, etc., while pursuing knowledge and truth, carrying out original basic research, and actively promoting applied research oriented to social needs and problems faced by social development, "write papers on the land of the motherland".
At the same time, it is suggested to strengthen the construction of think tanks, policy research and policy simulation and other related disciplines, encourage think tanks to establish cooperative training relationships with relevant departments of universities, and increase the practical ability training of undergraduate, master's and doctoral talents in the form of project interns, so as to accumulate reserve talents for the construction of think tanks.
Author: Zhang Lin, Secretariat of the Communist Youth League and Youth Work High-end Think Tank of the Central Youth League School, Scientific Research and Think Tank Work Department Originally published in "Think Tank Theory and Practice" Issue 3, 2023 @ State Information Center, China Economic Information Agency, China Economic and Information Research Center, National Research Political Information and Economic Information Think Tank, National Research Political Information Strategy (Shandong) Economic Information Co., Ltd. News China, China News Gathering and Editing!
13 first-class think tanks, observation and enlightenment of talent construction mechanism |