| Session Title: The Evaluative Organization: A Call for Business and Industry to Evolve |
| Multipaper Session 530 to be held in Wekiwa 9 on Friday, Nov 13, 10:55 AM to 11:40 AM |
| Sponsored by the Business and Industry TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Jennifer Martineau, Center for Creative Leadership, martineauj@ccl.org |
| Abstract: Attempts to distinguish between an evaluative organization and a learning organization are in their infancy today. The tendency for evaluation scholars to blend the two concepts or to refer to evaluation as learning and learning as evaluation limits the explication of both concepts. Although a learning organization actively captures, transfers, and utilizes relevant knowledge, it does not necessarily collect information to determine the merit, worth, or significance of a strategic initiative or business process and its contribution toward improved organizational performance. To arrive at this evaluative conclusion, something more is required beyond pure learning. The first paper outlines the three levels of evaluation in organizations and explores the need for organizations to move beyond learning and instill a culture of evaluation into the organization. The second paper presents a case study exploring how learning is enhanced through evaluating the corrective action processes utilized in the nuclear power industry. |
| Moving Beyond Learning: The Evaluative Organization Imperative |
| Wes Martz, Kadant Inc, wes.martz@gmail.com |
| Although an evaluative organization is a learning organization, a learning organization is not always evaluative. The evaluative organization "adds value" to the learning organization concept by assessing the extent to which the knowledge acquired by or integrated into the organization is worthwhile and used to improve organizational effectiveness. Hence, an evaluative organization is a learning organization that instinctually reflects on its actions and external environment and continuously improves because of those reflections. In other words, the modus operandi of an evaluative organization is its incorporation of the evaluative attitude as an implicit element of organizational culture, moving well beyond the explicit acknowledgement of a commitment to evaluation or simply doing evaluations. This presentation outlines the three levels of evaluation in organizations and explores the need for organizations to move beyond learning and instill a culture of evaluation into the organization to maximize performance and improve organizational effectiveness. |
| How Effective is Our Learning? Evaluating the Corrective Action Process at United States Nuclear Power Plants |
| Otto Gustafson, Western Michigan University, ottonuke@yahoo.com |
| The U.S. commercial nuclear power industry is required by the Code of Federal Regulations to implement a Corrective Action Process to evaluate (i.e. determine the significance of) conditions adverse to quality at each nuclear power plant (e.g. degraded equipment, processes, or procedures, etc.). Through the Corrective Action Process, organizations capture, share, and utilize relevant evaluation results. The Corrective Action Process is thus a large part of how nuclear plant personnel learn and an integral contributor to sustainable organizational learning. Moving beyond learning to evaluate how the corrective action process contributes to organizational effectiveness is an important piece of how the evaluation transdiscipline can improve business and industry. A case study is used to demonstrate how several U.S. commercial nuclear power plants evaluate and learn from their Corrective Action Processes. Recommendations for systemic improvement are forwarded as a call for nuclear plants to evolve into evaluative organizations. |