Key components of this stage are identifying needs and intended uses for outcomes assessment results, identifying key audiences and obtaining their support, shifting modes of thinking from input measures to output measures, reexamining the mission and goals/objectives of ethics training, and developing a general mission for the outcomes assessment effort. This stage also includes the identification of one individual or group who is responsible for managing the assessment.
Collectivity
This stage focuses more closely on the execution of the assessment effort. Who initiated the effort? Who is interested in the results? What will be assessed? How will the assessment be carried out? Cooperation and support so essential to a successful assessment effort are jeopardized if interested and affected parties are not included in the assessment process.
Formalization
This stage is essential to the development of formal assessment procedures, such as setting the time schedule for the outcomes assessment effort, selection of appropriate assessment instruments, and collection and analysis of data. If the results are to be persuasive, it is important to have agreement and discussion when these design decisions are made.
Elaboration
This stage emphasizes the dissemination and incorporation of assessment results into the decision-making process in the ethics training program. This stage is critical to establishing the link between outcomes assessment of ethics training data as a reflection of program (and particular module) quality. It is important at this stage to make sure that all recipients of the data have the knowledge required to successfully interpret the results.
Renewal or decline
The final stage is highly dependent on the use and evaluation of the outcomes assessment results in the elaboration stage. Renewal or decline depends on if and how the feedback is used. Renewal typically is accompanied by a redesigning and streamlining of the ethics training efforts. Decline suggests that experiential ethics training will probably disappear and that external demands for ethics training may be perfunctorily satisfied with rule-based drills on topics such as mastering the organization's code of ethics.
Source: Sims, 1999, p. 159.
This general framework will be used in administering the overall improvement plan for the NPO consultancy following the steps described further below.
Frequency of plan review for improvement. Periodic review...
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