Excellent Example of What is Meant by Evaluation - Essay Example

Reflection Paper Number Two: Advantages of Evaluation Introduction I think the definition used by Wikipedia; the free encyclopedia is an excellent example of what is meant by evaluation. According to it "Evaluation is the systematic determination of merit, worth, and significance of something or someone. Evaluation often is used to characterize and appraise subjects of interest in a wide range of human enterprises, including the arts, business, computer science, criminal justice, education, engineering, foundations and non-profit organizations, government, health care, and other human services." (para.1) In this paper I will be discussing three specific areas on advantages of evaluation. Firstly, I will discuss how evaluation is beneficial to the program. Secondly I will explain how evaluation can be used to improve the program for the next time around. In the third part of the discussion I will compare evaluation with other organizations and see how other organizations' methods have proved beneficial for them. I will be explaining each area of discussion by providing examples and facts to present it in the most effective way. Evaluation is a key to success as it helps in meeting a person's needs from day to day activity or program in the Recreation and Leisure Service. It is very important in other sectors too. Discussion Evaluation is important for our program as recreation and leisure are indispensable part of our lives. Man cannot keep on working without taking any break. I feel that the professionals of recreation and leisure industry should focus on evaluation of the services provided by them to the clients in order to be successful in their professions. According to the bulletin of Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, College of Health and Human Services, "Every year, millions of people spend an increasing amount of time in pursuit of beneficial leisure and recreation experiences As the world's leading industry, recreation and leisure spending accounts for approximately one trillion dollars a year." (para.9) Hence this is the most profitable time for the recreation and leisure industry. There are immense opportunities of growth in this sector. But this growth is achievable only if the professionals and services involved in these activities perform well. It is not enough to chalk out plans and strategies of performance and distribute it to different levels of workers. It is also necessary to check whether the planned objectives and strategies are heading towards the right direction. The only way to do this is through evaluation. Through this method the shortcomings can be identified and rectified to achieve optimum growth and success. For e.g. nowadays there is a great boom in the hospitality sector. People have started using the services of hotels a lot. But if the hotel does not provide proper services to the customers, the customers will stop staying in that hotel and turn to its competitors. In order to check whether the customers are being served properly or not the hotel manager should keep on evaluating the hotel staffs' performance from time to time. He should check whether they behave courteously or not, whether their service is prompt or not, whether the cleaning of rooms and toilets are up to the mark or not. In addition to all this the hotel kitchen and the quality of food should be evaluated constantly. It should be checked whether the purchase department of the hotel is purchasing good quality groceries, vegetables and other foodstuff or not. The quality of drinking water should also be of utmost priority in the evaluation agenda. In other words even the minutest details should be evaluated to ensure proper functioning of the hotel. If not done so it is impossible to get back the goodwill of a dissatisfied customer, especially when so many options are available to him. Nowadays all the people involved in the recreation and leisure program keep evaluating their performances from time to time because it is the topmost need of the competitive times we are living in. So evaluation is extremely important to grow and achieve success. From next time we can improve our program by laying more stress on evaluation. In recreation and Leisure the focus is not only in maximizing revenues but also in providing happiness. It is not like any other business sector. Recreation and Leisure sector is much like the medical sector. It shoulders the responsibility of providing therapeutic well being to the customers. In the medical sector people do not have any choice and have to spend money out of compulsion to get healthy from an unwanted disease or illness. But here people are paying without any compulsion. They are paying willingly to get the much desired relaxation and happiness. They want to feel good mentally. In the medical sector the doctors and patients do not have complete control over the situation. They work together to improve a condition as much as possible. But in the recreation and leisure sector the professionals can control the outcome of a program. It is in their hands to make a recreational or leisure activity successful. Most of the times the professionals think that they are heading towards the right direction but fail miserably. The problem arises not because of their effortlessness or incompetence but because of their lack of evaluation of their activities. It is easy to accept an unsuccessful operation but very difficult to accept and unsuccessful recreational or leisure activity. For. e.g. People go out for holidays. They generally book a tourist bus for sightseeing purposes. It the duty of the sightseeing organizers to evaluate whether the services they are providing are up to the mark or not. Recently I went to a hill station along with a couple of friends. We had planned everything in advance and had arranged for best services like hotel, sightseeing etc. in that town. Naturally all of us were very happy and were looking forward to a relaxed break from the hustle and bustle of our busy lives. I was very excited about the whole trip. On the first day of the trip we boarded the tourist bus, which was supposed to take us to the nearby tourist destinations like the bird sanctuary, museum, church, zoo etc. At the end of the day the bus was supposed to take us to another hilltop to see the sun set. This hilltop was above the level we were staying in. The whole day we enjoyed a lot soaking ourselves in the scenic beauty. The last destination was the sunset point. We were on the way when the bus tyre punctured. There were no extra tyres in the bus. It was getting darker with no help visible. All the tourists were fuming with anger. The poor driver and tourist guide had to bear the wrath of the tourists. The enjoyment of the trip became sour in the first day itself of our trip. Everyone was angry at the carelessness of the tour conducting authority; I think this unfortunate incident occurred due to the poor evaluation skills of all those who were involved in the arrangement of the tour including the bus driver. They failed to evaluate the condition of their vehicle. This proved that they were not evaluating the performance of their vehicles and its condition everyday. Once bitten twice shy! The customers will never avail this bus service again. In order to gain the lost reputation and experience the growth of their services the service organizers will have to evaluate where they went wrong. Keeping this example in mind, I want to point out that from next time we will be more focused and evaluate even the minutest things to achieve better outcomes of our program. During evaluation I would never forget that more than anything else, we are here to provide happiness and we cannot compromise in this area. Different organizations follow different methods of evaluation in order to get successful. I will explain this point through the help of two examples. A couple of months back one of the two machines of a food processing organization suffered a major breakdown. The quality cotrol professionals advised the owner of the organization to go for a new machine immediately. There was a choice of four machines from different companies in the market. The owner of the food processing organization was in a huge dilemma as to which machine to purchase. He asked his key professionals to sit down for a meeting and help him in taking the correct decision. This incresed his confusion all the more because each of the members present in the meeting were advising different machines to buy. Everyone was putting forward the advantages of the machine he was in favor of and also putting forward the disadvantages of the machines that others were advising to buy. The owner of the organization called off the meeting and kept on regreting why he wasted time in the meeting because it did not give him any concrete reults. Then an idea struck his mind. He thought why not evaluate the pros and cons of each machine in order to arrive at the right decision. He called each of the staff who were present in the meeting in his cabin one by one. He made a list of pros and cons of each machine based on the comments from his employees. Then he evaluated each available option one by one on the basis of price, effectiveness of their services, future maintenance cost etc. and arrived at the correct decision. Thus evaluation proved helpful in making him take the right decision. Another example that I would like to give is that of a club that promotes indoor sports. Of late it was experiencing certain problems due to indiscipline and unruly behavior of a few members of the club. The club authorities sorted out this problem by employing the following evaluation methods. Through observation method the authorities were able to find which of the members are co-operative and who are the ones who are creating problems. They also arranged for a group discussion in which each club member got an opportunity to put forward their viewpoints and to an extent sorting out the problem by sitting together and planning a strategy for maintaining a congenial atmosphere within the club premises. Through the interview method many confidential and sensitive information got gauged. In this method the members who had problem putting forward some of their viewpoints in front of others got an opportunity to secretly let their feelings known to the authorities. The authorities also used the survey method. All these evaluation techniques played a very beneficial role in proper functioning of the club and contribute to its overall growth as the problem got sorted out. Without evaluation taking stock of the entire situation and improving the condition of the club would have been impossible. Thus the two organizations evaluated the situation using different approaches. Here I would like to add that there are different ways in which we can evaluate. The methods of evaluation differ from situation to situation. While one method might be very effective in one situation, it might give unsatisfactory result in another situation. Similarly the evaluation methods also differ from organization to organization depending on its nature of work. We should always try to keep track of evaluation methods of other organizations in order to be able to solve the problems of our own organization in the best possible way. Conclusion Evaluating right from the beginning helps in identifying the mistakes as soon as they erupt. Instead of evaluating the whole scenario in the end, it is always better to keep evaluating things from time to time in order to get maximum benefits. It saves time too. If evaluation is done at the end of a work or task, then if the task has not been done satisfactorily, it would have to be done all over again. But if the shortcomings are identified as soon as the task begins the work can be corrected in the beginning itself and would safe lots of time and effort. It has been rightly observed by Psychological Network, Inc. that evaluation "Provides a straight-forward and affirmative path to self-understanding" and "builds understanding of organizational norms and culture" (para.3). Through evaluation the evaluator gains great motivation, commitment, consistency and thoroughness, in assessing the whole situation and coming to a concrete plan of action and solution. Evaluation is the key to success in all spheres of our lives. Word count: 2071 'References' College of Health and Human Services (2006) Career Outlook. Retrieved March 6, 2007 from http://www.sfsu.edu/bulletin/current/programs/recreat.htm Wikipedia (2007) Evaluation. Retrieved March 7, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wiki/Evaluation Psychological Network, Inc. (2005) What Is Psychological Evaluation Retrieved March 13, 2007 from http://www.psynetinc.com/eval.htm Read More