Management Evaluation Studies

Abstract

Thousands of management evaluations are conducted in the federal government each year. Little information exists about the nature or effectiveness of these evaluations even though they cost more than $200 million annually. This article explores the relationships between kinds of evaluations, analytic methods, and interpersonal processes and the acceptance of recommendations by decision makers. Detailed typologies based on a review of the literature provide the basis for quantitatively testing concepts about the utilization of evaluations against empirical data. Two-hour interviews were conducted with 50 evaluators and decision makers about randomly selected management evaluations. Selected characteristics of the nature, methodology, and process of evaluations were found to be related to acceptance. Some factors are structural and beyond the control of the evaluator, while others are behavioral and within the power of the evaluator to influence.