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Predicament and promise: The internal evaluator as ethical leader
Author(s) -
Schweigert Francis J.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
new directions for evaluation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.374
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 1534-875X
pISSN - 1097-6736
DOI - 10.1002/ev.395
Subject(s) - engineering ethics , order (exchange) , power (physics) , value (mathematics) , evaluation methods , conjunction (astronomy) , energy (signal processing) , psychology , computer science , business , engineering , astronomy , machine learning , statistics , physics , mathematics , finance , quantum mechanics , reliability engineering
Internal evaluators encounter risks but also significant opportunities to strengthen organizational and professional ethics. Potential contributions depend, in part, on the conjunction of ethics and evaluation in the role of the internal evaluator as the person specially commissioned to investigate value and render judgment based on evidence gathered. At the same time, risks increase when evaluation and ethics are brought together. In the words of one evaluator, “These are rather dangerous moments because a lot of energy is created when an evaluator expresses ethical values such as these. We have a great deal of power, whether we like to think so or not” (Cartland, 2010). This article clarifies the risks in order to free up the potential. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc., and the American Evaluation Association.