We discuss the diagonalization problem of the Nijenhuis tensor in a class of Poisson-Nijenhuis structures defined on compact hermitian symmetric spaces. We study its action on the ring of invariant polynomials of a Thimm chain of subalgebras. The existence of phi- minimal representations defines a suitable basis of invariant polynomials that completely solves the diagonalization problem. We prove that such representations exist in the classical cases AIII, BDI, DIII and CI, and do not exist in the exceptional cases EIII and EVII. We discuss a second general construction that in these two cases computes partially the spectrum and hints at a different behavior with respect to the classical cases.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.