Evaluation culture: A definition and analysis of its development within organisations
| Author | John M Owen |
| Published date | 01 August 2003 |
| Date | 01 August 2003 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1035719X0300300107 |
| Published By | Sage Publications, Inc. |
| Subject Matter | Refereed Article |
43
REFEREED ARTICLE
Evaluation Journal of Australasia, Vol. 3 (new series), No. 1, August 2003, pp. 43–47
John M Owen Discussions about decision-making and the kinds of knowledge
that could and should be used for this purpose within the
workplace have become prominent in current organisational
literature. These issues are high on the agenda of the business
community, and among not-for-profit agencies.
Research and observation suggests that a good deal of
organisational decision-making has, in the past, been based on
the judgements of authority figures. It was long assumed that
senior managers had the sole right to make decisions, relying on
a combination of experience, political know-how and the advice
of trusted others in making choices about the present and future
of the agencies for which they were responsible.
This situation is changing. Most organisations recognise that
important executive-level decisions should involve others
besides senior managers, and I have previously argued that
evaluators should work cooperatively in providing ‘just in time’
information for leaders (Owen & Lambert 1998). This implies that
evidence and empirically based knowledge has the capacity to
enhance decision-making and the effectiveness of organisations,
for example by making managers and other practitioners more
aware of the context in which they operate, understanding the
needs of their clients, determining the effects of major initiatives,
and being accountable to funding sources.
In this paper, I argue that the creation of an evaluation culture
leads to a change and improvement in the ‘mix’ of ‘working
knowledge’ that is used by those responsible for applying
information to solve organisational problems.
An evaluation culture can be regarded as a commitment to roles
for evaluation in decision-making within an organisation (Owen &
McDonald 1999). This is systematic enquiry which is initiated and
controlled by members of the organisation, and is carried out
with the explicit purpose of contributing to the stock of its
working knowledge. Enquiry of this nature is not undertaken
routinely, but in response to the need for empirically based
knowledge to contribute to issues regarded as strategic.
Evaluation culture: a definition
and analysis of its development
within organisations
John Owen is a professorial
Fellow in the Centre for
Program Evaluation, The
University of Melbourne,
Melbourne, Victoria.1
Owen – Evaluation culture
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