Reviewing has long been recognized as a critical part of the academic process of knowledge creation, development, and dissemination. However, as evidenced by recent findings from focus groups and an international survey, the relative lack of effective formal training in management PhD programs on how to review is surprising given the impact that…

Assessment center programs can be designed to measure specific skills with validity and reliability. The results of these assessments can be used to design both individual development programs and programs for developing the skills of groups of managers who have common weaknesses. (Author/IRT)

Traditional program evaluation methods are expensive in terms of time and money. An alternative is auditing, a process that produces an official accounting and verification, often by third-party evaluators. Auditing relies on samples that are critical to the organization and its decision makers. (JOW)

Analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of assessment center methodology and then outlines an innovative system--the integral appraisal system--that uses some assessment center principles to examine managers' behavior on the job. (Author/IRT)

This article suggests an alternative valuation approach and method based on "phenomenology" or "personal constructs" in the evaluation of management training. The approach is that learning and its application depend, not on the direct influence of externally located objects, but on how the learner experiences and evaluates…

To defend the value of the educational program against outside disapproval and diminishing support, administrators need to be trained in systematic evaluation research. (WD)

Argues for acceptance of multiple forms of PR evaluation. Suggests including such unquantifiables as creativity and attitude in measurements to form a valid basis for action. Discusses six levels of measureability. (MS)

Counters the following myths: competence has been defined; managerial effectiveness can be identified; management is generic; effectiveness can be measured; management is composed of skills, behaviors, or traits; and only maximum performance counts. (SK)

The authors argue that relatively few local governments conduct rigorous cost-benefit evaluations of their supervisory training and management development programs. The authors conclude that more attention to upper-level evaluation is warranted and provide an evaluation grid with practical suggestions for each level of training program evaluation.…

Explains a procedure to avoid the detrimental biases of conventional self-reports of training outcomes. The evaluation format provided is a method for using statistical procedures to increase the accuracy of self-reports by overcoming response-shift-bias. (Author/MER)

In 1988, the Department of Educational Leadership at Western Kentucky University (WKU) established the Western Kentucky Assessment Center, sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). This document provides an overview of the history and methods of NASSP assessment centers, followed by a discussion of costs to…

The majority of empirical studies on performance appraisal (PA) systems focus on the search for the perfect form in which subjective traits are replaced by objective and job-relevant, measurable behaviors. Organizations using a PA system to evaluate their employees struggle with issues of implementation, adaptation, and linkage with other human…

Contends that managers who undertake action research in the course of their work would benefit from using qualitative methodology. Describes three cases in which practicing managers were supported in their wish to identify and use qualitative approaches in their research. Reflects on the potential for and problems with the wider use of qualitative…

The Director of Evaluation Services of a mid-sized urban school district describes her job exchange experiences as an assistant principal in a junior high school. The background of the writer and description of the district, evaluation training in the district and returning to the field, and how evaluation fits are discussed. The purposes of the…

The theoretical implications of management assessment centers for evaluating headteachers in Great Britain are examined in this paper. Issues in developing informed, objective management assessment are discussed, which involve the following: the educational system's permeable boundaries; the context in which management assessment and development…