Evaluation and the information needs of organizational leaders

The work of evaluators is constantly being reshaped in recognition of chang es in the information needs of stakeholders. New thinking about the functio ning of organizations poses a challenge for evaluators to provide informati on to make organizations more effective in terms of their structure, coordi nation, and delivery of programs and services. While the ways in which eval uation can serve the needs of organizational management have been well docu mented, far less attention has been given to the evaluation needs of leader s. This paper conceptualizes key differences between management and leaders hip as a basis for suggesting ways in which evaluators might operate to ser ve the decision making needs of organizational leaders.