In this paper, evaluation is placed within the context of the pressures for change contemporary human-service organizations experience in their policy and operating environments. The authors discuss the proactive role evaluation can play in increasing an agency's ability to successfully cope with and master change. The authors identify three types of agency response to change—revitalization, renaissance, and recovery—and they describe the different environmental circumstances that call for each response. They then create a framework of six approaches to agency-based evaluation and discuss how agencies can use these evaluation approaches to help themselves successfully respond to different conditions of change. A central aim of this paper is to explicate the linkages between environment context and type of change, agency response to change, and evaluation approach.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdamsP., & NelsonK. (Eds.) (1995). Reinventing human services: Community- and family-centered practice.Hawthorne, NY: Aldine De Gruyter.
2.
ArgyrisC. (1980). Inner contradictions of rigorous research.New York: Academic Press.
3.
BergquistW. (1993). The postmodern organization: Mastering the art of irreversible change.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
4.
BrinckerhoffP. C. (1994). Mission-based management: Leading your not-for-profit into the 21st century.Dillon, CO: Alpine Guild.
5.
CohenS., & BrandR. (1993). Total quality management in government.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
6.
DykstraA. (1995). Outcome management: Achieving outcomes for people with disabilities.New Lenox, IL: High Tide Press.
7.
EadieD. (1997). Changing by design: A practical approach to leading innovation in nonprofit organizations.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
8.
FettermanD. M. (1996). Empowerment evaluation: An introduction to theory and practice. In FettermanD. M., KaftarianS., & WandersmanA. (Eds.). Empowerment evaluation: Knowledge and tools for self-assessment and accountability (pp. 3–46). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
9.
FoxC. J., & MillerH. T. (1995). Postmodern public administration.Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
10.
FullanM. G. (1991). The new meaning of educational change (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.
11.
GrassoA. J., & EpsteinI. (Eds.) (1992). Research utilization in the social services.New York: Haworth Press.
12.
GuntherJ., & HawkinsF. (1996). Total quality management in human service organizations.New York: Springer.
13.
HandyC. (1994). Beyond paradox.Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
14.
HandyC. (1995). Beyond certainty.Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
15.
HelgesenS. (1995). The web of inclusion.New York: Doubleday.
16.
HirschhornL. (1997). Reworking authority: Leading and following in the post-modern organization.Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
17.
HirschhornL., & GilmoreT. N. (1993). The psychodynamics of a cultural change: Learnings from a factory. In HirschhornL., & BarnettC. (Eds.). The psychodynamics of organizations.Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
18.
JuranJ. M. (1992). Juran on quality by design.New York: Free Press.
19.
KanuftE., BergerR., & GrayS. (1991). Profiles of excellence: Achieving success in the nonprofit sector.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
20.
KennedyL. W. (1991). Quality management in the nonprofit world.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
21.
LightP. C. (1998). Sustaining innovation: Creating nonprofit and government organizations that innovate naturally.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
22.
MaddusG. F., ScrivenM., & StufflebeamD. L. (1983). Evaluation models: Viewpoints on educational and human services evaluation.Boston: Kluwer.
23.
MaehrM. L., & MidgleyC. (1996). Transforming school cultures.Boulder, CO: Westview.
24.
ManelaR., & MoxleyD. (1999). The new pillars of agency-based evaluation. Applied Behavioral Science Review, 7(1), 1–17.
25.
McLaganP., & NelC. (1997). The age of participation: New governance for the workplace and the world.San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
26.
McWhinneyW. (1997). Paths of change: Strategic choices for organizations and society (Rev. ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
27.
MeenaghanT., & KiltyK. (1994). Policy analysis and research technology: Political and ethical considerations.Chicago: Lyceum Books.
ThomasE. J. (1984). Designing interventions for the helping professions.Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
43.
WeissC. H. (1998). Evaluation (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
44.
WholeyJ. S., HatryH. P., & NewcomerK. E. (1994). Handbook of practical program evaluation.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
45.
WorthenB. R., SandersJ. R., & FitzpatrickJ. L. (1997). Program evaluation: Alternative approaches and practical guidelines.New York: Addison Wesley Longman.
