Generative Evaluation
Learning With and For Living Systems
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47061/jasc.v4i2.7773Keywords:
evaluation, systems change, learning, generativity, emergence, transformationAbstract
Evaluation has so much potential for learning, co-creation, and collaboration around more inclusive and regenerative programs and, ultimately, systems. Yet, currently, evaluations are often experienced as controlling and frustrating add-ons. Inspired by developmental evaluation, we have experimented with generative methods to make evaluation a space for stakeholders to come together, re-connect, re-fresh the purpose of collaboration and re-view the design. We see that such a generative approach to evaluation can help to (1) express and co-construct systemic issues that often remain hidden and destructive otherwise, (2) create connection and energy for collaboration and (3) open a world of possibilities to learn from the past and adjust for the future. Organizations that use a more generative approach can hope to change the mindset within to more learning, collaboration, and courageous experimentation.References
Arts, J., Baldini, A., Goodman, M., Hayashi, A., Jandernoa, B., & Scharmer, O. (2021). Exploring the origins of practice: In dialogue with founding faculty of the Presencing Institute. Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, 1(1),125–137. https://doi.org/10.47061/jabsc.v1i1.675
Bateson, N. (2022). An essay on ready‐ing: Tending the prelude to change. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 39(5), 990–1004. https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2896
Bateson, N. (2016). Small arcs of larger circles. Triarchy Press.
Bowman, S. L. (2010). The functions of role-playing games: How participants create community, solve problems and explore identity. McFarland.
Brown, T. (2008, June). Design Thinking. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2008/06/design-thinking
Bushe, G. R. (2013). Generative process, generative outcome: The transformational potential of appreciative inquiry. In S. Evans (Ed.), Organizational generativity: The appreciative inquiry summit and a scholarship of transformation (Vol. 4, pp. 89–113). Emerald Group Publishing.
Whitney, D., & Cooperrider, D. (2011). Appreciative inquiry: A positive revolution in change. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (1999). Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: Based on the competing values framework. Jossey-Bass.
Edmondson, A. C. (2018). How fearless organizations succeed. Strategy and Business. https://www.strategy-business.com/article/How-Fearless-Organizations-Succeed
Erikson, E. H. (1979). Dimensions of a new identity. W. W. Norton & Company.
Gergen, K. (1978). Toward generative theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(11), 1344–1360. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-3514.36.11.1344
Haudenosaunee Confederacy. (n.d.). Haudenosaunee Confederacy: Values. https://www.haudenosauneeconfederacy.com/values/
Hense, J. (2018). German angst regarding the future of evaluation. In O. W. Andersen, & K. Williams (Eds.), Evaluation Connections (pp. 2–3). European Evaluation Society.
Macy, J., & Brown, M. Y. (2014). Coming back to life: The guide to the work that reconnects. New Society Publishers.
Mayne, J. (2008). Fostering an evaluative culture: The key to effective evaluation and results management. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 24(2), 1–30.
Meyer, W., & Stockmann, R. (2016). The future of evaluation: Global trends, new challenges, shared perspectives. Springer.
Mintzberg, H., & Waters, J. A. (1985). Of strategies, deliberate and emergent. Strategic Management Journal, 6(3), 257–272. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2486186
Morrison, E. W., & Milliken, F. J. (2000). Organizational silence: A barrier to change and development in a pluralistic world. Academy of Management Review, 25(4), 706–725. https://doi.org/10.2307/259200
OECD. (2010). Quality standards for development evaluation, DAC guidelines and reference series. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264083905-en
Patton, M. Q. (1994). Developmental evaluation. Evaluation practice, 15(3), 311–319. https://doi.org/10.1177/109821409401500312
Patton, M. Q. (2013). The future of evaluation in society: Top ten trends plus one. In S. Donaldson (Ed.), The future of evaluation in society: A tribute to Michael Scriven (pp. 45–62). Information Age Publishing.
Perls, F. S., Hefferline, R., & Goodman, P. (1951). Gestalt therapy: Excitement and growth in the human personality. The Gestalt Journal Press.
Scharmer, C. O., Arthur, W. B., Day, J., Jaworski, J., Jung, M., Nonaka, I., & Senge, P.M. (2002). Illuminating the blind spot: Leadership in the context of emerging worlds. Society for Organizational Learning.
Scharmer, C. O. (2016). Theory U: Learning from the future as it emerges. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Scharmer, C. O. (2018). The essentials of Theory U: Core principles and applications. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Senge, P. M. (1990). The art and practice of the learning organization. Broadway Business.
Senge, P. M. (2014). The fifth discipline fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization. Crown Currency.
Stein, D., & C. Valters (2012). Understanding theory of change in international development. The Justice and Security Research Program.
Stockmann, R., & Meyer, W. (2016). The future of evaluation: Global trends, new challenges and shared perspectives. In R. Stockmann, & W. Meyer (Eds.), The future of evaluation: Global trends, new challenges, shared perspectives (pp. 9–19). Springer.
Whittington, J. (2012). Systemic coaching and constellations: An introduction to the principles, practices and application. Kogan Page Publishers.
Zander, R. S., & Zander, B. (2002). The art of possibility: Transforming professional and personal life. Penguin.
Yunkaporta, T. (2019). Sand talk: How Indigenous thinking can save the world. Text Publishing.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Malika Virah Sawmy, Christina Tewes-Gradl, Pierre Golbach
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
