Program evaluation: The bottom line in organizational health.

Abstract

T he practice of occupational health psychology (OHP) has continued to gain increasing acceptance across the few short decades since it was specifically recognized, meeting if not exceeding the expectations of the academic and scientific foundations from which it evolved. The rapidly growing popularity of the policies and practices advanced by OHP serves to validate the value perceived by the organizational community. OHP was conceived and continues to develop as a holistic approach to advance the health and wellbeing of the organization itself, the processes included in the activities and management of work, as well as the people within those organizations. While this comprehensive worldview is appealing, it can also be seen as overwhelming and idealistic by organizational leaders who are concerned about costs, time, and resource utilization as compared with associated results or benefits. In a highly competitive global market, organizations have become increasingly attuned to the need for evidence-based or evidence-informed decision making to increase the likelihood that scarce resources are appropriately targeted to the areas that provide the most bang for the buck. Therefore, resources are allocated to strategies and actions that have demonstrated utility for cost containment and improved productivity along with risk abatement and control. As a result, OHP practitioners must continue to ensure that their practices demonstrate value in addressing the needs of their organizational clients while also maintaining solid roots in a scientific and ethical foundation. Program evaluation serves a vital role in addressing that objective.