ABSTRACT
Evaluation can be undertaken at the end of implementation and obviously this suggests that it is not the same as monitoring (see Concept Box 10.1).
It is difficult to find much attention paid to the deliberate and organized evaluation of a strategic plan or the results of implementing a strategy in most public services organizations. This is despite the fact that the question to be answered is simple enough to state: was the cost and effort of designing and implementing a strategy worthwhile? As York (1982: 140) put it, ‘evaluation is basically a judgement of worth or an appraisal of value’. This could be taken to mean that evaluators of a strategy need to identify all the costs and all the benefits of undertaking strategy formulation and implementation, and appraise them to calculate the net benefit.
