Evaluation and Assessment - Essay Example

Reflection 4b: Collaborative Consultant in Evaluation and Assessment Evaluation and assessment are important aspects of any organization. Leaders must understand how to do assessments and evaluations for staff as well as the larger organization. As my vision statement says, to be an effective manager, one must have the understanding of the importance of assessing organizational performance. They must compare and contrast the approaches of quality improvement while utilizing strategies to achieve effective health care results. In performing assessments, leaders must understand how to apply the correct performance guidelines for assessing the efficacy, effectiveness and productivity of the organization. This means they must understand the specific needs of the organization and understand what needs to be evaluated and why. They will need to be able to lead training for a diverse group of employees and understand how these evaluations tie into the training. Worldview Perspective in Management I believe that knowledge is synonymous with education and a strong leader must understand how to deal with a diverse group of people under a variety of circumstances. I believe in the God centered approach and that all knowledge and wisdom becomes known through inspiration and revelation, through nature and the written word of the Bible. The Bible is consequently a valuable sourcebook for those in quest of genuine wisdom and the Christ is still the great teacher to those who read his words. This worldview creates a foundation for my leadership and helps me understand how I want to lead at any given moment. I rely on my faith to help me when I am not sure what to do in a situation. The many experiences that I have had both in work and in growing up have shaped my view of leadership. As an example, when I worked with my family on our farm, I learned individuality. I also learned about consistency and hard work which are two attributes that still are very important to me. I also learned about multigenerational pride and this was expressed in our home and in how we served our neighbors. In serving the neighbors, I understood that I would be serving others as part of my life work because it appealed to me and it was important to my family. Assessment and Leadership When I think of evaluation and assessment, I go back to education as the primary focus of assessment. As a professor, I am faced with assessing my students continuously. As stated in other papers, I begin all my classes with a personality test that gives me an understanding of each student and their potential. Angelo and Cross (1993) suggested that the process of assessing students in their process of learning will lead the teacher in understanding how students are responding to specific teaching styles. This creates more information for the teacher who is open to learning from their students. When working with students or trainees, I have found that there needs to be a variety of activities that are geared towards different learning styles. As an example, there should be small and large group activities, written and visual exercises and often physical learning activities are important. Also, when working in the healthcare industry, helping students understand their attitudes and values also becomes important since they will be working with a variety of age groups, ethnicities and lifestyles. When assessing students or trainees, one must also make the decisions about the type of assessments to use. As an example, the teacher in any classroom must first understand the item or items they want to assess in order to choose the best technique for that purpose. Sometimes the teacher will want to assess knowledge and skills related to course content. At other times, understanding what students remember from past knowledge will be important or they may assess listening skills. The teacher must discern these issues in order to create the type of assessment that will be necessary to assess these skills. Part of what teachers will be doing is creating an opportunity for students to understand that assessment will be a part of their lives not only in school or college, but also in their jobs in the future. Organizational Evaluation and Assessment When providing assessment and evaluation in an organization there are many areas that must be taken into consideration. In the healthcare organization, a variety of factors must be taken into consideration when approaching employees. As leaders, we have to organize evaluation and assessment so that we gain an understanding of what the employees need in order to stay successful in their jobs. This does not only mean they need a reasonable compensation and benefits plan, but it could also mean general education or specific training to do a specific job. Leaders understand that although assessment can happen several times a year, it is also happening continuously in some form or other. Customer Service In healthcare, customer service is always important because healthcare professionals are always with people, whether working with families, patients, or vendors. Martin (1993) suggests that there are a variety of issues that must be taught in order to create quality customer service. As an example, employees come from different backgrounds, environments and experiences. This means that training in customer service may look different to each person. Martin states that there are two "dimensions" of customer service. These are 1) the procedural side that produces the systems and procedures that are needed to deliver the products and/or services and 2) the personal side where the personnel interact with customers. When assessing customer service, leaders must examine both dimensions in order to be clear about what they want in quality customer service. Martin emphasizes that quality customer service begins with a positive attitude from employees, creating clear conversations, understanding what customers want and then giving them what they want. All of these elements create an opportunity for managers to assess customer service on many levels. Leaders Skilled in Evaluation and Assessment There are many good books that give information about evaluation and how to do it well. There are also important books about leadership that give an understanding of exemplary leadership in assessing employees. One issue that is always important is whether an evaluation should be external or internal; most organization will use a combination of these two forms. Love (1991) suggests that internal evaluation uses a series of steps that, when followed, present an opportunity for a thorough evaluation. These steps include: 1. First contact to gather background information on the problem. 2. Scouting to clarify the problem, purpose, and context of what is needed. 3. Diagnosing to analyze the materials needed, confirm stakeholders, establish credibility, and build trust. 4. Contracting to establish timelines, re-confirm the purpose, assign duties, and strengthen the working relationship. 5. Managing to implement procedures and produce results. 6. Reporting to identify key issues, offer recommendations, and facilitate resolving problems. 7. Monitoring to provide feedback, check milestones, provide continuity, and advocate change. (Love 1991, p. 40-41). Certainly these steps are important to helping an organization adjust to the changes that are needed as evaluation continues. Gostic and Elton (2001) give an account of what is desirable in leadership. They present information about unleashing the human potential in organizations and how this should be a common goal for them. They state that managers must present clear goals and show that they value their employees by rewarding those who fulfill the goals of the organization. In other words, human potential is created by valuing and rewarding employees. Gostic and Elton believe that good managers must offer carrots so that employees will perform their best. They suggest that recognition is key to improving performance and that employees need to be recognized regularly in addition to their significant achievements. They suggest that a strong recognition program will create employees who stay for many years; in other words, there is a lot less turnover when employees are recognized which in turn means the organization will save money. Evaluation and Assessment in Diverse Environments Although managers must create evaluations and assessments, they must also take into consideration the diverse groups that they supervise. Scarborough (1998) points out that "values drive beliefs, attitudes, and actions, that values are in large part culturally derived …" (p. 1) and managers must understand many cultures in order to understand why various employees act in the way that they do. In understanding human behavior, a manager is able to gain ways to act and respond that will assist all employees. Culture also creates the group values and beliefs that set the standards for how the cultural group will act in any situation. Once the individual goes into an organizational culture, they learn from older employees how to approach the environment. This creates common values, attitudes, and beliefs inside the organization. Values are important because they shape the way that managers lead and how they believe about the world around them, including how they believe about success, competition, work and so forth (Scarborough, 1998). Employees bring their attitudes, values, and beliefs to the workplace and this means that the manager must be versed in cross-cultural differences so they can value employee performance on many different levels. Laurie (1992) adds to this discussion by stating that "it is the leaders responsibility to maintain the integrity of his or her vision and to evangelize its message to all who would follow" (p. 343). To me, this means that the leader must understand the vision of the organization in order to communicate the vision to their employees. The evaluations and assessments must reflect the measurements for performance that stem from the vision statement. Hopkins (2009) adds to the discussion about diversity by stating that evaluations can be difficult for different cultures because they can develop evaluation apprehension, which they define as an understanding from employees that anything they say or do will be evaluated. In other words, they will be evaluated continually without relief. This attitude can stop employees from suggesting ideas, especially when they are from a non-dominant culture. There are some cultures who do not easily speak quickly which also causes challenges for their apprehension. Hopkins suggests that the way to move past evaluation apprehension is by talking to employees about what the manager expects to get from the evaluation and to create a list of solutions that they want to talk about during the evaluation process. This action can create a brainstorming session where all employees win (Hopkins, 2009). My Personal Approach to Evaluation and Assessment When I think about my evaluation and assessment style, I look at my personality and my management style. I am a Constructionist in my management style and I strive to take into consideration the needs of the employee. I start by asking employees to design their own goals in conjunction with the goals of the organization. This is important because I genuinely want the input from my employees about what they think their job should look like in light of the organization goals. This helps my managers understand how they fit within the larger organization. I have a thorough understanding of my organization and about human behavior. I have found that I also have employees who have different work ethics. As an example, the younger workers in my organization seem to need to be more engaged in their work. They are also more apt to leave a position if it does not provide what they want. In these situations, I work with younger employees to provide goals that will give them internal satisfaction, since they are motivated from within. Older employees are motivated through incentives they receive externally. In other words, they want to know they are working towards something. In their evaluations, I ask them to include in their goals an idea for their incentives; I believe that employees should have some say into what they will receive for the work that they do. I find that for the older workers, this helps them stay more focused. I work with all my employees to reward them when they go beyond their stated goals and do something creative or innovative that helps the organization. On larger evaluations, I use the SWOT analysis because it brings together everything needed to resolve problems. The Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats become more clear when we do this type of assessment. In identifying them, we are able to resolve many problems on the spot and form strategies to work with those areas that may be weak or those that are perceived as threats. I use my personality when I am preparing evaluations and assessments. According to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, I am an ISTJ. This means that I am meticulous and task oriented, I have the ability to take charge and I am dependable. I have found that these traits can be both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I get things done, but a curse because I can sometimes get so involved with the process that it is easy to be overwhelmed. According to Kroeger and Theson (1992) ISTJs also are able to act quickly and correctly. My managers see this trait in me and it helps me keep motivated. I also see this as my ability to think on my feet when I am in a crisis situation or when we are taking risks that some people hesitate to take. I am always looking for ways to improve the organization and make sure that we stay up on the current programs and needs. Important Theories I see many theories as important to understanding how to work with employees in evaluations and assessments. Social psychology is important because it shows how relationships work together. Within this model, I see social identity as important which can be described as the "Basis of perception, attitudes, feelings, behavior and self-conception …" (Hogg, 2001, p. 56). When working with evaluations and assessment, managers must be aware of the behaviors that need improvement. They must also understand how employees will perceive any reprimands and what it may do to their performance. Employees want to be part of a group and when they have an adverse evaluation, they can feel alienated from the group. My job as manager is to help them improve while still feeling a part of the group. I like to build relationships and I feel that doing so builds a strong feeling of belonging in my employees, which increases performance. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs also makes me think about belonging since belongingness is one of the higher level needs. I think an employees perception of who they are and what they do within an organization is important to their performance goals. Usually, performance goals are attached to some form of need or needs they have so that they are committed to performing well. References Angelo, T.A., & Cross, K.P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Gostick, A., & Elton, C. (2001). Managing with carrots. Layton, Utah: Gibbs Publishing. Hogg, M.A. (2001). Social identity and leadership. In The psychology of leadership: new perspectives and research, (53-74), 2005. Hopkins, B. (2009). Cultural differences and improving performance: How values and beliefs influence organizational performance. VT: Gower Kroeger, O. and Thuesen, J.M. (1992). Type talk at work. NY: Delacorte. Love, A.J. (1991). Internal evaluation: Building organizations from within. Newbury Park: Sage Publications. Martin, W. (1993). Quality customer service: A positive guide to superior service. (3rd ed.). Menlo Park, CA: Crisp Publications, Inc. Scarborough, J. (1998). The origins of cultural differences and their impact on management. CT: Quorum Books. Read More