Roles for Evaluation in Learning Organizations

Abstract

There is an emerging need for evaluators to assist with strategic decision making in organizations committed to ongoing learning and renewal. While some evaluators have developed rapid-response techniques to assist decision-makers fine tune their programs, new evaluation techniques are required to serve the needs of learning organizations which are committed to systems thinking as a way of improving their effectiveness. This article argues that evaluators can make major contributions to strategic decision- making by using procedures which clarify the nature of programs in their trial stage and outline the implications of implementing the program for the organization as a whole. A case study of the use of these procedures in an educational setting is outlined for the purposes of illustration.

The Impact of Evaluation Use on Accounting Programs' Performance: An Exploratory Study

“…The conceptual type of use, also known as enlightenment (Braskamp, 1982;Owen & Lambert, 1995), refers to improving the understanding of program aspects, such as its participants, its context, or its outcomes, through the evaluation. The conceptual use is also related to developing new views of the program and identifying problems (Alkin, 2010;Braskamp, 1982;Henry & Mark, 2003).…”

Using hybrid models to support the development of organizational evaluation capacity: A case narrative

“…For example, internal evaluators are often involved in the identification of appropriate indicators and in the establishment of systems and processes to capture evaluative data (Chelimsky, 2001;Clifford & Sherman, 1983). Internal evaluators can also be asked to participate in program planning and development (Minnett, 1999) as well as in disseminating the lessons learned from evaluations across the organization (Owen & Lambert, 1995).…”

“…By involving organizational members in an ongoing process of evaluative inquiry, internal evaluators can play an important role in knowledge transfer and dissemination, and also learn about the most relevant issues to cover in future studies (Minnett, 1999). Internal evaluators may also play a role in maintaining the organization's memory and ensuring that important lessons are not lost over time (Owen & Lambert, 1995).…”

The Historical Development of Evaluation Use

“…Other authors (Cousins, 2007;Owen & Lambert, 1995;Preskill & Torres, 1999 have extended the idea of process use to the impact on the team and organizational levels. Amo and Cousins (2007) commented on the mechanism that transforms process use to organizational capacity building and ultimately to further evaluation use.…”