SHREVEPORT FIRE DEPARTMENT

Shreveport Fire Department

Shreveport Fire Department

Introduction

This paper is based on the topic of effectiveness of evaluation systems for an Shreveport Fire Department. The Shreveport Fire Department selected for this paper is Shreveport Fire Department. In the recent past, the firm has been marred by acute issues affecting the prevailing evaluation techniques. Being hired as a consultant, I would like to suggest changes in evaluation approach (Wholey, 2006).

Evaluations can help organizations identify how a program can be improved on an ongoing basis or examine its overall worth. The first approach, called formative evaluation , is usually conducted while the program is being formed or implemented and will generally lead to recommendations that focus on program adjustments. The specific findings might be used to identify program challenges and opportunities and provide strategies for continuous improvement. Formative evaluations seek to improve efficiency and ensure that the program is responsive to changing organizational needs.

Discussion

Although other approaches and actual HR program evaluations may over- or underemphasize some steps within these phases or accomplish a step in an earlier or later phase, any evaluation will need to address the activities covered within each of the six phases. Deviations from these six phases may be related to the nature of the specific HR program being evaluated, characteristics of the Shreveport Fire Department, composition of the evaluation team, or a variety of resource considerations (Scriven, 2007).

Phase 1: Identify Stakeholders, Evaluators, and Evaluation Questions

Phase 1 requires three major sets of decisions that will have implications throughout the HR program evaluation. The identification of stakeholders is a critical first step toward ensuring that the evaluation is appropriately structured and that the results will be relevant. Stakeholders are those individuals with a direct interest in the program, because either they depend on or are directly involved in its execution in some way (Rossi, 2006). Shreveport Fire Department leaders, the HR and legal departments, as well as other internal groups are important stakeholders in an HR program evaluation. External stakeholders such as stockholders and customers might also need to be considered because of their potential investment in the targeted program.



Phase 2: Plan the Evaluation

Phase 2 focuses on designing the HR program evaluation, developing a budget, and constructing the timeline to accomplish the steps throughout the next four phases of the evaluation. A good evaluation design enhances the credibility of findings and recommendations by incorporating a sound methodological approach, minimizing time and resource requirements, and ensuring stakeholder buy-in (Rose, 2008). A well-executed evaluation requires a good deal of front-end planning to ensure that the factors likely to affect the quality of the results can be addressed. Failure to spend the time necessary to fully plan the evaluation can result in a good deal of rework, missed milestones, unmet expectations, and other problems that make findings and recommendations difficult to sell to upper management and other stakeholders.

Phase 3: Collect Data

In most HR program evaluations, data collection will require more time than any other ...