Evaluation Research
Chapter 1 Evaluation Research: An Introduction
1
Chapter 1 Evaluation Research: An Introduction
Organizations, like human-beings and other creatures, must continually learn and adapt to survive and thrive. This process requires the creation of intellectual capital and its management to transform it into organizational intelligence. Thus, organizations which learn, thrive (i.e. achieve their mission and vision); those organizations which do not or cannot learn, die.
Organizational leaders and managers must make decisions; accordingly, they must gather, analyze, interpret, and apply information within a context influenced by values, laws, government policy, strategic and tactical objectives, workforce composition (changing demographics, knowledge bases, and skill sets), a hyper-competitive marketplace, and “speed of light” technological transformations. All of these activities must be accomplished quickly or an organization risks its agility and compromises its very survival. The authors argue that evaluation research will enable leaders and managers to efficiently and effectively engage these activities, while considering these multiple influences, leading to high quality decision-making. Because as
Rossi, Lipsey, and Freeman (2004, p. 370) write, "Evaluation involves more than simply using appropriate research procedures. It is a purposeful activity, undertaken to affect the development of policy, to shape the design and implementation of social [and other] interventions, and to improve the management of social [and other] programs…evaluation is a political [and technical] activity."
In this chapter we examine an organizational learning model, the role of evaluation research in fostering intellectual capital, and program evaluation.
I. The Learning Organization
A. On the Need to Learn
1. As organizations compete in the 21st century, the conventional wisdom in leadership and organizational development circles is that organizations which
1
Chapter 1 Evaluation Research: An Introduction
Organizations, like human-beings and other creatures, must continually learn and adapt to survive and thrive. This process requires the creation of intellectual capital and its management to transform it into organizational intelligence. Thus, organizations which learn, thrive (i.e. achieve their mission and vision); those organizations which do not or cannot learn, die.
Organizational leaders and managers must make decisions; accordingly, they must gather, analyze, interpret, and apply information within a context influenced by values, laws, government policy, strategic and tactical objectives, workforce composition (changing demographics, knowledge bases, and skill sets), a hyper-competitive marketplace, and “speed of light” technological transformations. All of these activities must be accomplished quickly or an organization risks its agility and compromises its very survival. The authors argue that evaluation research will enable leaders and managers to efficiently and effectively engage these activities, while considering these multiple influences, leading to high quality decision-making. Because as
Rossi, Lipsey, and Freeman (2004, p. 370) write, "Evaluation involves more than simply using appropriate research procedures. It is a purposeful activity, undertaken to affect the development of policy, to shape the design and implementation of social [and other] interventions, and to improve the management of social [and other] programs…evaluation is a political [and technical] activity."
In this chapter we examine an organizational learning model, the role of evaluation research in fostering intellectual capital, and program evaluation.
I. The Learning Organization
A. On the Need to Learn
1. As organizations compete in the 21st century, the conventional wisdom in leadership and organizational development circles is that organizations which
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