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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Guerra-López, Ingrid. Performance evaluation : proven approaches for improving program and organizational performance / Ingrid Guerra-López. — 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7879-8883-8 (pbk.) 1. Employees—Rating of. 2. Performance standards. 3. Organizational effectiveness. I. Title. HF5549.5.R3G84 2008 658.3'125—dc22
2007050973
PREFACE
There are excellent books on evaluation already in print. Some focus on the history and theory of evaluation, some provide a comprehensive analysis of evaluation models and approaches, and some primarily offer insights into methodology. Although this book addresses these concepts, it is not intended to replicate or refute any other work. Rather, it is organized in such a way as to illustrate evaluation in the context of performance improvement. This work is directed at the following audiences:
Performance improvement practitioners who seek to do evaluation well, wish to become sufficiently versed in evaluation so as to work well with evaluators, or want to integrate an evaluative perspective in all phases of performance improvement, from needs assessment to implementation, to evaluation itself
Evaluators who seek to do systemic, performance-focused evaluations with the ultimate end of improving not only programs or solutions but also the organizations and the clients, including our shared society, whose needs they are meant to meet
Students who want a solid conceptual grounding in evaluation and a guide for applying such concepts in courses and their own work and who will generate the future evaluation and performance improvement models, in part based on concepts presented here
Instructors who are looking for a text that addresses important foundations of evaluation and presents the models and approaches in the context of the performance improvement field
Clients, including those external to the organization stakeholders, who wish to become better-informed consumers of and partners in evaluation efforts
If you want to more clearly understand the impact this book has had on your thinking about evaluation, then I suggest that before reading it, you respond to the questions listed below. Once you have completed reading the book, I recommend answering each of the questions again, paying close attention to how your views have changed, if at all, as a result of reading this book. This exercise is meant to support deeper reflection and insight about fundamental assumptions associated with evaluation and implications for practice.
What is your current model or approach to evaluation? Use these questions to guide your response (if you don’t have a current model or approach, think about what your basic assumptions about evaluation are):
What aspects of evaluation are addressed by your theory?
What are the main purposes, processes, or mechanisms associated with your model?
Does your model target a specific setting? If so, what is it?
With what other models (if you know of any) is your model most compatible? Explain how they are compatible.
With what other models is your theory least incompatible? Explain what the incompatibilities are.
In what ways has your model of evaluation been applied? Was it successful? What, if anything, would you have done differently? What were the biggest lessons you learned? Provide specific situations and examples.
The book is divided into four parts, beginning with an introduction to the foundations of evaluation, then proceeding to a collection of models chosen specifically for the reputation and applicability in the performance improvement field. Part Three looks at the tools and techniques that are common in various evaluation perspectives, and Part Four concludes with a look at continual improvement and the future of evaluation in performance improvement.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Recognition for any achievement is usually owed to a group of people rather than any one individual alone. First, I thank Jossey-Bass and, in particular, Andrew Pasternack for his interest in my potential contributions, which was the major catalyst for this work. I also thank Seth Schwartz for his graciousness and flexibility as I encountered a glitch or two along the way. Much gratitude is owed to Beverly Miller and Barbara Armentrout for their outstanding editing and proofing work.
I thank my mentor, Roger Kaufman, who continues to push me to think critically and support my ideas with evidence. A special recognition is owed to Hillary Andrei for her invaluable support in various aspects of my evaluation work. My gratitude is also owed to Rahat Sharma for her formatting support. I am grateful as well to my students, colleagues, and clients who are constant sources of ideas and reflections. The work in this book is the product of such ideas and reflections.
Finally, I am thankful to my husband, Jorge, for being once again excited, and patient, as I embarked on yet another project.
THE AUTHOR
Ingrid Guerra-López is an associate professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, associate research professor at the Sonora Institute of Technology in Mexico, and principal of Intelligence Gathering Systems. She publishes, teaches, consults, and conducts research in the areas of performance measurement and evaluation, assessment and analysis, and strategic alignment. She has published four other books, including Evaluating Impact: Evaluation and Continual Improvement for Performance Improvement Practitioners, and is coauthor of Practical Evaluation for Educators: Finding What Works and What Doesn’t. She has published numerous chapters in books in the performance improvement field, including the 2006 Handbook for Human Performance Technology. Her articles have appeared as well in Performance Improvement, Performance Improvement Quarterly, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Educational Technology, Quarterly Review of Distance Education, International Public Management Review, and the International Journal for Educational Reform, among others.
