This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Suárez-Herrera, J. C. Articles by Kagan, C. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Critical Connections between Participatory Evaluation, Organizational Learning and Intentional Change in Pluralistic Organizations

Université de Montréal, Canada, jc.suarez.herrera{at}umontreal.ca, joseko70{at}hotmail.com

Jane Springett

Liverpool John Moores University, UK, R.J.Springett{at}livjm.ac.uk

Carolyn Kagan

Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, c.kagan{at}mmu.ac.uk

The current debate around the emergence of participatory approaches in evaluation practice suggests that participatory evaluation may be considered an organizational learning praxis, one which facilitates the development of a holistic process of intentional change. Through critical reflection on how participatory evaluation has been conceptualized, this article offers an overview of some of the contextual challenges encountered when using participatory evaluation to enable the creation of learning environments. Given the pluralistic nature of modern organizations and some contextual constraints, evaluators appear to have largely developed a more instrumental type of learning, which may, paradoxically, result in a significant source of resistance to intentional change. This article proposes a process of capacity building for evaluative research (CBER). This process offers a collaborative way of overcoming unforeseen resistance to intentional change by overcoming the challenges found in the relationship between participatory evaluation and organizational learning. The article concludes by suggesting some epistemological and organizational issues that evaluators should take into account when enabling the implementation of a process of CBER in pluralistic organizations.

Key Words: capacity building for evaluative research • intentional change • organizational learning • participatory evaluation • pluralistic organizations

Evaluation, Vol. 15, No. 3, 321-342 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1356389009105884


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?