Abstract
Program evaluation has to be understood as an organizational phenomenon: it is a way of understanding and evaluating action in and between organizations. But it rests on assumptions about organization which need to be challenged, and which have to be understood as a particular framing of organizational activity which will facilitate hierarchical control. Attention needs to be given to the way in which ‘evaluation’ are used to structure organizational activity. This raises significant questions about the relationship between the analysis of organizational activity and the activity itself.
‘Colonel Cargill envies you because of the splendid job you're doing on parades. He's afraid I was going to put you in charge of bomb patterns.’
Colonel Scheisskopf was all ears. ‘What are bomb patterns?’
‘Bomb patterns?,’ General Peckem repeated, twinkling with self-satisfied good humor. ‘A bomb pattern is a term I dreamed up several weeks ago. It means nothing, but you'd be surprised at how rapidly it's caught on.’
Joseph Heller,Catch 22
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Colebatch, H.K. Organizational meanings of program evaluation. Policy Sci 28, 149–164 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00999673
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00999673