ETHOS
Evaluative Thinking In Organizations Study

LESSONS :: PARTNERS :: RESOURCES :: EVALUATIONS

The Evaluative Thinking in Organizations Study (ETHOS) grew out of the Rochester Effectiveness Partnership (REP). In 2003, Bruner Foundation, two evaluation partners and twelve social service provider organizations began a year-long interactive study.

ETHOS was guided by the following questions:

• What does evaluative thinking look like within various organizational capacity areas?
• How are evaluative thinking and organizational effectiveness related?
• What is needed to enhance and broaden evaluative thinking?

Senior management staff members or CEOs from each participating organization met together six times to further define evaluative thinking, to develop the ETHOS Evaluative Thinking Assessment Tool, to discuss findings across sites and to further reflect on the process of assessing, sustaining and extending evaluative thinking in their organizations. In addition, the ETHOS partners arranged for, oversaw and participated in ETHOS site visits to their organizations, reviewed their organization's assessment findings and helped develop action plans to promote evaluative thinking.