Can Governments Learn?: Comparative Perspectives on Evaluation and Organizational Learning

There is continual concern about the ability of governments to perform the duties and responsibilities that their citizens have come to expect from them. Many citizens view government as inept, arthritic, and dedicated to the preservation of the bureaucratic status quo. As we close the twentieth century, the challenge for democratic governments is to become adaptive, flexible, innovative, and creative. In short, they need to become learning organizations. This book explores what it will take for governments to break out of their traditional ways of approaching problems and learn new approaches to finding solutions. Can Governments Learn? examines organizational learning in the public sector. It seeks to understand the role policy and program evaluation information can play in helping governments learn. Among the democratic societies studied are Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States. Significantly, the studies documented here show that the concept of organizational learning has vitality and applicability cross-nationally. Can Governments Learn? evaluates preconditions for governmental learning as well as the institutional and human resource factors that contribute to the process. This volume in the Comparative Policy Analysis Series is essential for policymakers, government officials, and scholars interested in improving the performance of governments.

About the Author

Frans L. Leeuw is director of the Division of Policy Evaluation Research at the Netherlands Court of Audit. He coedited What Has Dutch Sociology Achieved? and has written for the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation.Ray C. Rist is Evaluation Advisor at The Economic Development Institute of The World Bank. He has been director of the Case Studies Program at the United States General Accounting Office and has taught at major universities in the United States.Richard C. Sonnichsen is deputy assistant director at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in charge of the office of planning, evaluation, and audits. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Southern California, Washington Public Affairs Center. His evaluation interests are in the areas of internal organization, evaluation, and the utilization of evaluation results.