ABSTRACT
Evaluations of programs, processes, and products take place within for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. One important aspect of an evaluation is to determine the merit, worth, or value of the evaluand. Merit represents an intrinsic form of value, while worth represents an extrinsic form of value. Furthermore, evaluations within organizations take place within a system. As such, they contribute to decision-making and strategic planning, and they take place within a political context. These characteristics point to other forms of values. These value forms emerge from the views and perspectives of various stakeholders in the evaluation, such as the evaluator and evaluation team values, executive and management values, HRD specialists and program staffvalues, and trainee values. Beyond the immediate organization, however, are the consumers or customers of that organization, and the values that they hold can influence the evaluand and the evaluation. One final value form involves the values held by the larger society. This presentation discusses the influence of these various value forms and identifies how these value forms can enrich and add value to the evaluation and the organization.
