Planning And Evaluation In Human Services
Program Planning and Evaluation in the Human Services
The terms ‘Planning’ and ‘Evaluation’ are terms used and frequently heard in Human Service organisations. Whilst the importance of planning and evaluation is understood by employees with program management responsibility (most often as a result of the rigid parameters described in funding and service agreements), the concepts that underpin planning and evaluation are often poorly understood by program staff and managers alike. Planning is focussed on the future and is as Mayer (1985:28) describes a “goal directed activity in which rationality in the means-ends relationship of a collective action is sought”.
This paper will discuss program planning and evaluation, describe three distinct …show more content…
This planning model resonates with the values generally held across human service organisations as the approach upholds the principles of consultation, social inclusion, and self determination and guides the development and delivery of services that are intended to impact positively in the community in which they operate. The model emerged in the 1970’s when philosophers and social scientist such as Richard Titmuss, Martin Rein, John Rawls and Duncan MacRae were influenced by the development of policy as a process of making ethical choices. Mayer (1985:54). Mayer (1985:57) states that all four share a common belief that “…policy making in large part is a process of choosing among values based on general ethical theories rather than on the expressed self belief of the members of …show more content…
Titmuss was an early pioneer of the ethical model and proposed that “policy analysis was “the critique of the ends – that is, the discussion of what are the right things to want?” Mayer (1985:54). He believed that distributive justice should be emphasised and there should be “..the distribution of material and social benefits based on people’s needs as well as their efforts.” Titmuss in Mayer (1985:54). He argued that members of a society need to be able to engage in what he called the gift relationship, a term he used to describe altruism. “The gift relationship is one in which one gives something of value to a stranger…thereby eliminating any possibility of reciprocity, which is the motivation for self-interested action.” Titmuss in Mayer
The terms ‘Planning’ and ‘Evaluation’ are terms used and frequently heard in Human Service organisations. Whilst the importance of planning and evaluation is understood by employees with program management responsibility (most often as a result of the rigid parameters described in funding and service agreements), the concepts that underpin planning and evaluation are often poorly understood by program staff and managers alike. Planning is focussed on the future and is as Mayer (1985:28) describes a “goal directed activity in which rationality in the means-ends relationship of a collective action is sought”.
This paper will discuss program planning and evaluation, describe three distinct …show more content…
This planning model resonates with the values generally held across human service organisations as the approach upholds the principles of consultation, social inclusion, and self determination and guides the development and delivery of services that are intended to impact positively in the community in which they operate. The model emerged in the 1970’s when philosophers and social scientist such as Richard Titmuss, Martin Rein, John Rawls and Duncan MacRae were influenced by the development of policy as a process of making ethical choices. Mayer (1985:54). Mayer (1985:57) states that all four share a common belief that “…policy making in large part is a process of choosing among values based on general ethical theories rather than on the expressed self belief of the members of …show more content…
Titmuss was an early pioneer of the ethical model and proposed that “policy analysis was “the critique of the ends – that is, the discussion of what are the right things to want?” Mayer (1985:54). He believed that distributive justice should be emphasised and there should be “..the distribution of material and social benefits based on people’s needs as well as their efforts.” Titmuss in Mayer (1985:54). He argued that members of a society need to be able to engage in what he called the gift relationship, a term he used to describe altruism. “The gift relationship is one in which one gives something of value to a stranger…thereby eliminating any possibility of reciprocity, which is the motivation for self-interested action.” Titmuss in Mayer