How to Design Better Programs: A Staff Centred Stakeholder Approach to Program Logic Modeling
| Author | Darrel N. Caulley |
| Published date | 01 December 2001 |
| Date | 01 December 2001 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1035719X0100100221 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
70 Evaluation Journal of Australasia, Vol. 1 (new series), No. 1, March 2001
REVIEW
Title:How to Design Better Programs: A Staff Centred Stakeholder Approach to
Program Logic Modeling
Author: George W. Mayeske and Michael T. Lambur
Publisher: The Program Design Institute of Crofton, Maryland and Blacksburg, Virginia USA
Publication date: April 2001
Extent: 203pp
Price: US$28 (which includes US$3 for shipping and handling)
ISBN: 0-306-46458-6
Available from: The Program Design Institute, c/o Dr George W. Mayeske, 2433 Vineyard Lane, Crofton,
Maryland 21114 USA
Many of the early evaluations in
the United States were designed
on the basis of high-level
managers’ views on what the
program was. Although
expensive and time-consuming,
some of these evaluations were
inconclusive. Detailed
examination of these programs
showed that their evaluations
were inconclusive because the
programs were not being carried
out in the way managers thought
they were, or because there was
nothing accurately definable as a
‘program’ to evaluate in the first
place. Consequently, the
information collected was
irrelevant.
In response to these
difficulties, a technique known
as Evaluability Assessment (EA)
was developed to determine:
■if there was a ‘program’;
■if not, how one might be
developed; and
■if so, what kinds of
evaluation might be most
useful.
EA procedures were
developed for working with top-
down programs. However, the
method needed to be, and
eventually was, adapted to
grassroots types of
programming. These adapted
procedures are what the authors
of this book refer to as ‘The Staff
Centred Stakeholder Approach
to Program Logic Modeling’,
and continue to prove useful in a
wide range of settings for
program design and evaluation.
What do the authors mean
by this term? I will let them
speak for themselves (page 1 of
chapter 2):
The process employs two main
concepts: program logic
modeling; and, stakeholder
viewpoints. In the former,
models are developed of key
aspects of how the program
plan will be carried out in a
sequential manner, by what
staff and with what
consequences, in schematic
form. In the latter, viewpoints
are obtained from persons
who have a special interest in
or influence over the problem
area being addressed in order
to better inform the modeling
process. These two concepts
are implemented through the
efforts of a team of six to
fifteen persons who have
expertise in developing and
delivering to clientele
programs related to the
problem area of interest. This
is called a staff-centred
approach. It has proven
especially useful in bringing
together and developing a
consensus among persons who
are separated due to
boundaries established by
geography, organisation,
disciplines and, in some cases,
even personalities (italics in
the original).
This staff-centred approach is
activated through the efforts of
one or more group facilitators,
who direct and moderate the
efforts of the group as they work
their way through a sequence of
disciplined steps that take place
in a series of workshop sessions
spaced over a period of days,
weeks or even months. Unlike
the design team participants, the
facilitators do not need to be
expert in the subject matter
under consideration. Indeed,
such expertise might conflict
with the conduct of their duties.
These efforts result in a program
plan which is an agreed product
of the design team’s efforts,
based on their collective
knowledge and experience. It
could not have been produced by
any single member working
alone. It enhances the likelihood
of success of what will be done,
because those who are part of
the team and/or their colleagues
– those who must carry out the
plan – have an explicit, agreed
guide to action.
I was expecting the authors
to design a program on the basis
of a need or needs, but instead
they base the design of a
program on a problem. They
distinguish between problem
identification and problem
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