Unit 5.8 The politics of evaluation

5.8 The politics of evaluation

So far we have presented the notion of evaluating HR policies and practices as if it were primarily a technical process. In reality any evaluation process has important social and political dimensions.

Measurement is often highly subjective. For example, the views expressed by a supervisor about the impact of a training programme on their subordinates may depend on who asks them. Employees leaving an organisation for reasons primarily to do with their personal circumstances may use an exit interview as an opportunity to voice frustrations about the way they were managed. An evaluator sifting through company documents may more readily focus on those that support their own existing ideas about the way processes are working.

The interpretation of evaluation results may be highly subjective. What, for example, is the impact on the organisation of low morale among employees? It may be seen by some managers as an unavoidable and essentially unimportant short-term response to necessary change, and by others as a significant threat to the organisation’s ability to deliver excellent customer service. High staff turnover may be seen by some as an expensive drain of much-needed employee talents, and by others as a good opportunity to recruit staff more suited to the new organisational direction.

The values and goals of key stakeholders in the evaluation process may not be the same. For example, different senior managers may accord different levels of relative importance to employee job satisfaction and costs. A trade union may interpret the results of a pay system evaluation very differently from the management team. Employees may mistrust the purpose of an evaluation process, fearing it may adversely affect their jobs. Managers may fear facing uncomfortable truths. Some may fear exposure of information detrimental to their interests.

Such differences in values, goals and interests can often motivate individuals to seek to control the nature of any evaluation or to place obstacles in the way of effective data collection.