Examples of oversight mechanisms include:
- A community or civilian oversight board that reviews complaints about police misconduct or excessive use of force.
- An in-house quality control team that determines whether the company's methods and products meet established standards.
- A system through which students can evaluate their courses and instructors' teaching.
- A diverse committee that reviews the experiences of patients at a local clinic.
In this section, we'll look at ways to establish processes that support accountability and quality.
What do we mean by oversight and oversight mechanisms?
Oversight refers to systematically monitoring and reviewing an activity, process, organization, or institution to support accountability, quality, effectiveness, and compliance with appropriate standards. For instance, in the case of a community or civilian oversight board, an independent group may review the quality, fairness, or conduct of services provided by a public agency. Oversight involves taking responsibility for monitoring the operation, implementation, and/or outcomes of a process, program, organization, institution, or effort.
An oversight mechanism is the system or process used to carry out that monitoring, review, and accountability.
Just as every writer can benefit from an editor, organizations and individuals whose work affects the community can benefit from appropriate accountability and review processes to help ensure that their work is effective, of high quality, ethical, and consistent with applicable laws, regulations, and commitments.
Oversight means paying systematic attention to how work is being carried out and what effects it is having. It can identify potential problems early, help prevent harm, and support timely improvement. For instance, good oversight can detect illegal or unethical practices by a business or government agency, identify and correct poor financial practices in a nonprofit organization, or help ensure that public health and safety are protected.
Oversight may be official – required by law or by external or internal regulations – or unofficial, as in the case of an independent community or watchdog group examining whether a government agency operates fairly and according to its mandate. When oversight is official, the mechanisms for it – as well as the individual or group responsible for exercising it – are often specified by the laws or regulations that require it. When oversight is unofficial, an independent group or individual may initiate the effort or may be asked by community members or others to take on that role.
Where oversight involves responsibility for the functioning and/or results of something, it can be established within an agency, corporation, institution, or organization, or it may be conducted by an external or independent body.
The activities of community health and development organizations can span a broad range, from planning, to intervention, to advocacy, among others. Maintaining the quality of these activities requires oversight mechanisms that reflect the vision, mission, values, and goals of the groups and individuals engaging in them. We'll discuss establishing oversight mechanisms with that in mind.
Why establish oversight mechanisms?
There are a number of reasons why you might want to set up oversight:
- To ensure accountability. Oversight can help hold individuals and groups accountable for operating legally, ethically, and responsibly, and for providing the services, products, and/or outcomes they have promised or are contracted to provide.
- To maintain and improve quality. We often think of quality control as an industrial issue, but principles of quality assurance and continual improvement also apply to services, programs, facilities, and community initiatives.
- To ensure adherence to laws and regulations. Oversight may be used to make sure agencies, corporations, and other entities – or departments or programs within those entities – operate according to requirements established by laws, regulatory bodies, funders, contracts, or the entities themselves.
- To prevent and address unfair treatment, corruption, illegality, and unethical behavior. Oversight can include processes for identifying and addressing practices in which some groups receive unfair advantages or others face exclusion or discrimination. Corruption by public officials—including the theft or misdirection of government funds and goods—can often be prevented, detected, or addressed through careful oversight. The same is true for illegal or unethical actions that may harm individuals, communities, or society, including people affected by or using the services involved.
- To ensure the effectiveness of programs or efforts for which you have responsibility. If you're responsible for an effort, you need to understand whether the agreed-upon process is being followed and whether the work is achieving its intended purposes. Oversight can also help identify when a plan isn't working as intended and support participants, staff, leaders, and other partners in determining how to improve it.
- To help improve well-being for everyone. Community well-being is strengthened when community interventions and initiatives are effective, public institutions fulfill their responsibilities, employers protect workers' dignity and safety, businesses and governments safeguard the environment, and community members have equitable access to the resources and opportunities they need to thrive.
Who should be involved in establishing oversight mechanisms?
The goal of effective oversight is to improve quality, strengthen accountability, and help people and organizations do their best work with and for the community. It therefore often makes sense to involve a variety of people and groups in designing and carrying out the oversight process. Inviting participants or students to evaluate the services or education they receive and involving community members in oversight of local government services are two of many ways to accomplish this.
Those who might be involved in oversight to make the process more comprehensive and useful include:
- People and communities most directly affected by the issue, institution, service, or situation involved.
- People providing the services or products being reviewed.
- Those with formal responsibility for the effort – program directors, school principals, elected or appointed officials, board members, or others with decision-making authority.
- Funders and others contributing resources or support to the implementation of the effort.
- Community advocates and organizations concerned with the issue or effort in question.
The oversight process often works best when it is participatory and includes meaningful roles for both people affected by the work and people responsible for carrying it out. Selection of participants can be more challenging when an organization or individuals subject to oversight are resistant to scrutiny, particularly when the purpose of oversight is to investigate potential misconduct or harm.
When should you establish oversight mechanisms?
The obvious answer here is "whenever oversight is necessary." But when is that? The short answer is "whenever there is an effort or situation that requires ongoing accountability, monitoring, or review." Let's examine what that means.
- When an effort, new program, or organization is starting. Oversight should be considered from the beginning so that quality, accountability, equity, and ethical practice are built into the work and problems with implementation or unfair treatment can be identified and addressed as early as possible.
- When a problem needs to be prevented from occurring again. For instance, if a community has experienced patterns of police misconduct, excessive use of force, or discrimination in housing, one response may be to establish an independent community or civilian oversight committee. Such a body can strengthen accountability and establish channels of communication between affected community members and the institutions responsible for serving them.
- When the quality or effectiveness of an effort or program is in question. Ideally, appropriate oversight would have been established at the beginning, but if it wasn't, it can begin when concerns arise and continue as long as the effort requires it.
- When there is an agreement, contract, or regulation to be followed. Oversight can help ensure that all parties fulfill their obligations and receive the compensation, services, resources, or other benefits that were agreed upon.
Oversight in this case is often internal, in order to make sure, for example, that money is spent in the ways agreed upon with the funder. When financial oversight is inadequate, organizations may spend funds outside approved purposes and be required to repay them, lose funding, reduce services, or in serious cases close.
- When an entity is engaged in an activity that could potentially harm the community, its members, or society. This can include violations of law, such as illegal dumping of pollutants. It can also include lawful activities – such as construction projects, water treatment, food processing, or other operations – that could create harm if appropriate procedures or safeguards are not followed. Oversight can help prevent harmful situations, identify them quickly when they occur, and support an appropriate response.
How do you establish oversight mechanisms?
In most situations, gather a group of stakeholders to plan and set up oversight mechanisms. As we've discussed, oversight often works best when people understand its purpose and see it as a way to strengthen accountability, quality, safety, or effectiveness. One possible exception is when oversight is intended to investigate suspected illegal, unethical, or otherwise harmful activity. Even then, depending on the circumstances and the need for independence, it may make sense to involve representatives of the entity being overseen while maintaining appropriate safeguards against conflicts of interest.
Decide what kind of oversight you need. The nature of the oversight will help you structure an effective oversight mechanism. There are many different kinds of oversight, including:
- Oversight in terms of accountability. Key questions include: Are people and entities fulfilling their responsibilities? Do programs and initiatives have positive effects, including their intended effects? Who is responsible for making improvements, and what support or resources may be needed? Are government bodies implementing programs effectively, providing necessary public services, and enforcing laws and regulations consistently and fairly?
- Oversight of the operation of a program, effort, or organization. Key questions include: Is it going according to plan? Is it using the methods and procedures it was designed to use? Is it accomplishing what it's meant to do? Are adjustments needed based on experience, evidence, or community feedback?
- Oversight of the conduct of a service, organization, government agency, etc. Key questions include: Are people treated fairly and equitably? Is there evidence of discrimination or inconsistent quality? Is the entity complying with applicable rules and regulations? Is it fulfilling its responsibilities?
- Oversight of the performance of individuals in an organization or institution – supervision of service providers, teachers, managers, etc. When appropriate, this can include formative evaluation designed to support learning and improvement, while still maintaining clear accountability when serious performance, ethical, or safety concerns arise.
- Oversight of the conduct of individuals in organizations and government. Are they following applicable rules and ethical standards, respecting the limits of their authority, avoiding conflicts of interest, and acting responsibly?
- Oversight of processes to make sure they're conducted properly and that policies and procedures are followed and effective. This includes oversight of budgets to ensure that resources are being spent appropriately and to identify potential fiscal problems early enough to address them.
- Oversight of agreements and contracts to be sure that their terms are carried out as specified and that all parties fulfill their obligations and receive what was agreed upon.
- Oversight to safeguard people who may face heightened risk of harm or require additional protections. This can include reviewing the quality, safety, accessibility, and rights protections associated with services involving, for example, children, people with disabilities, patients receiving health care, or older adults with significant support needs. Oversight should recognize the agency and rights of the people involved and include their perspectives wherever possible.
Choose an oversight mechanism that is best suited to the type of oversight you expect to conduct. Oversight mechanisms can take a number of different forms, depending on their purpose:
- Oversight by a designated or responsible individual or group. Oversight of an organization may be conducted by its director. Fiscal oversight of an organization, institution, or business may be conducted by its chief fiscal officer, treasurer, or a board financial committee. In some cases, certain individuals or groups – often boards of directors – are legally responsible for ensuring that their organizations act legally and comply with funder, contractual, regulatory, or other requirements.
- External oversight by a funder, government agency, independent body, or other responsible entity. This kind of oversight may take the form of spot checks or regular reports (see below), or may be carried out by an independent evaluator, consultant, inspector, or other third party.
- An oversight committee. This might be a community or civilian oversight panel for a government agency or service such as law enforcement, environmental services, or public health; or an internal oversight committee within an agency, institution, corporation, or organization. Oversight committees are often formally established either by or in collaboration with the body being overseen, although independence may be essential in some circumstances. Community oversight committees should meaningfully include people and communities most affected by the entity being overseen; for instance, tenants in oversight of a public housing authority or community residents on a local community health board.
- An independent monitoring or watchdog group. This is an organization or less formal group whose mission is to identify and publicize corruption, lawbreaking, discrimination, abuses of authority, or other illegal or unethical behavior by government agencies or officials, businesses and industries, or other institutions whose actions can affect individuals, communities, or society.
- A monitoring and evaluation process. This could be internal or external, with monitoring and evaluation carried out within an organization or institution by staff members or conducted by an evaluator, consultant, or other independent body. Evaluations can be conducted at intervals appropriate to the work and used to assess progress toward objectives, examine the quality and equity of services, identify unintended effects, and guide improvement.
There are many ways to conduct an evaluation process. It can be collaborative, with people affected by and involved in the work contributing; or it can be carried out by an individual or small group with more limited participation. The Tool Box recommends that evaluation be as collaborative and inclusive as possible while maintaining any independence necessary for credible oversight. When people understand the process, have meaningful opportunities to contribute, and trust that their perspectives will be considered, evaluations are more likely to produce useful information and support improvement. When evaluation is experienced only as an adversarial or punitive process, people may be less willing to share information openly.
- Spot checks by staff, supervisors, program directors, regulators, or other authorized reviewers. This method might be used in oversight situations where ongoing intensive monitoring is not feasible or where periodic checks are sufficient.
- Regular oral and/or written reports on the work being done and its results. Because reports prepared by people involved in the work may reflect their perspectives and available information, this mechanism can be strengthened by clear reporting standards, supporting documentation, independent review where appropriate, and opportunities for feedback from people affected by the work.
- Technology-assisted monitoring, such as cameras, audio recording, sensors, digital logs, or automated inspection of activities and products. This approach might be used for environmental monitoring, safety, quality assurance, or other appropriate purposes. Any use of monitoring technology should be proportionate to its purpose and consistent with applicable laws, privacy protections, informed-consent requirements, accessibility considerations, and organizational policies. People affected by monitoring should be informed about its use whenever appropriate and legally required, and access to recordings or data should be limited to authorized purposes.
Any or all of these mechanisms can be strengthened by systematic reflection and feedback from people and organizations subject to or involved in the oversight process, as well as from people and communities most affected by the entity or organization responsible for the work.
Decide who will conduct the actual oversight. This will be determined, at least in part, by the type and purpose of the oversight. Internal monitoring might be done by supervisors, with the involvement of staff members being monitored, or by a committee composed of staff from different parts of the organization. A funder might exercise oversight through an external consultant or evaluator, or through reporting by the funded agency or organization. An organization's treasurer or fiscal officer might oversee the budget to ensure that funding is spent for approved purposes. A community oversight committee should include community members affected by the agency or activities in question and may also include people with relevant technical, legal, or professional expertise.
Decide on the methods you will use to conduct the oversight. They should be appropriate to the situation, risks involved, and character of your organization or effort. The more your organization emphasizes inclusion and participation, for example, the more its oversight should create meaningful opportunities for participation. At the same time, some forms of oversight require independence to avoid conflicts of interest. Any oversight you conduct should reflect your organization's vision, philosophy, ethical standards, and accountability commitments.
Methods can vary greatly depending on the nature of the oversight. You wouldn't oversee an environmental improvement operation – forest management or wildlife habitat restoration – in the same way you would the functioning of a hospital or the conduct of a government agency.
Some possible methods you might use to implement oversight mechanisms:
- Individual and group interviews with administrators or managers, staff members, current and former participants, funders, community members, and others affected by or familiar with the entity's work.
- Informal conversations with staff members, administrators, participants, or community members, while respecting confidentiality and making clear when information may be used as part of the oversight process.
- Direct observation of the work of the entity. This might entail accompanying staff members periodically, walking through a facility, observing activities, or visiting a location at different times, days of the week, and seasons to understand what happens under different circumstances. Observation should be conducted transparently and ethically, with appropriate attention to privacy, confidentiality, consent, and the rights of participants and staff.
- Participating in or observing the day-to-day work of the entity, sometimes referred to as participant observation. When this method is appropriate, the role of the person conducting the oversight, the purpose of the observation, and any limits on confidentiality should be clear. Avoid deceptive participation unless it is specifically authorized, legally permissible, ethically justified, and necessary for the oversight purpose.
- Study of organizational or agency files, records, and financial reports, as well as its history, funding sources, policies, and philosophy, while following applicable privacy, confidentiality, and records-access requirements.
- Research into practice models, evidence, standards, or theory that underlie the work of the entity.
Train those who will conduct the oversight if necessary. Conducting oversight can be different from conducting an evaluation. You may or may not have the full cooperation of the individuals or entity being overseen, even if they were involved in establishing an oversight mechanism. Some important guidelines therefore concern how oversight is conducted and how people affected by it are treated.
You, or whoever is involved in conducting the oversight, particularly those who have never done something similar before, may need training. Some things those who actually conduct the oversight should be guided by include:
- Get to know the organization or entity you're overseeing – its history, structure, vision and mission, finances, staff and leadership roles, organizational culture, community relationships, and relevant policies. Learn as much as possible about the work and the people who perform it. Try to understand the pressures, constraints, resources, and responsibilities that shape the work without allowing that understanding to replace accountability.
- Understand that people may be cautious about or resistant to oversight, whether because they disagree with it, are concerned about consequences, have had negative experiences with oversight processes, or because the process interrupts their work. Take these concerns seriously while maintaining the independence and accountability required by your role.
- Try to establish respectful working relationships with people you interview or interact with. Be clear about your role and purpose, communicate respectfully, and recognize the knowledge and experience of the people involved.
- Listen carefully to what people tell you and ask follow-up questions where appropriate. Make space for people to explain their perspectives in their own words.
- Use open-ended questions when appropriate – questions that invite explanation rather than requiring only a yes-or-no answer.
- Pay attention to the physical and organizational environment, including accessibility, noise, temperature, safety, working conditions, interactions, and communication patterns. Non-verbal communication can provide useful context, but avoid assuming that body language, eye contact, tone, or other behaviors have a single or universal meaning across people, cultures, or situations.
- Take careful notes using a method that is appropriate, secure, and minimally disruptive. This might include paper notes, a laptop, tablet, smartphone, or audio recording when appropriate. Explain how information will be documented and used. Before taking photographs or making audio or video recordings, obtain informed permission unless recording is otherwise specifically authorized by law or an appropriate oversight process. Protect recordings, notes, and identifying information from unnecessary access.
- Respect people's time. Be on time for meetings and appointments and avoid taking more time than necessary.
- Produce reports regularly and, where appropriate, share findings with people and organizations subject to or affected by the oversight. Explain any confidentiality or legal limits on what can be shared.
- Recognize effective work where appropriate while clearly identifying areas that require improvement. Focus findings on evidence, responsibilities, practices, conditions, and needed changes rather than personal blame, except where individual misconduct or accountability is directly relevant.
Create an analysis and reporting system. Both the oversight process and the information it produces should be documented for two reasons:
- To demonstrate that the organization, institution, or effort is fulfilling its responsibility to monitor what is happening and respond appropriately.
- To use the information to improve both the oversight process and the quality, equity, safety, and effectiveness of the operation.
To accomplish both purposes, you'll need to regularly record and make appropriate information from oversight mechanisms available to the people who need it. You'll also want to develop a process for analyzing that information so that you can identify patterns, potential problems, inequities, or irregularities and determine what action is needed.
Identifying potential financial problems is a particularly important area for oversight. In the spring of 2012, J.P. Morgan-Chase, one of the largest banks in the U.S., announced a loss of more than $2 billion associated with weaknesses in the oversight of its investment activities. While most nonprofit organizations are not likely to lose billions through poor financial decisions, inadequate financial oversight can still lead to reduced services, layoffs, repayment obligations, loss of funding, or even organizational closure. Accurate information, clear accountability, and timely analysis can help organizations identify and address many financial problems before their consequences become more serious.
Determine how you will use oversight to maintain or improve the quality of your work or of the entity or situation you're overseeing. What areas of the work or organization will you oversee? This question is especially important if you have limited resources for oversight. Another important issue is what purpose your oversight will serve. Is it meant to prevent something – harassment or discrimination in the workplace, illegal pollution of the air or waterways, misuse of public funds – or is its purpose to maintain standards of practice, equity, safety, and effectiveness? Is it intended to demonstrate that the organization is exercising appropriate due diligence by monitoring important aspects of its work? How will you use the information from oversight to understand problems and make improvements?
The answers to these questions will help determine how to set up an oversight mechanism that meets your needs. Some forms of oversight or inspection may appropriately be unannounced when necessary to assess compliance or investigate potential misconduct, but any monitoring should still operate within applicable legal, ethical, privacy, and due-process requirements. If the goal is improvement or organizational learning, a more transparent and collaborative process may be appropriate. If your goal is careful financial oversight or monitoring another organizational function, establish procedures that make patterns, irregularities, responsibilities, and decisions easy to review.
Evaluate the effectiveness of your oversight mechanism and adjust it as necessary. Oversight itself should be reviewed to make sure that it is attending to what matters, producing useful information, avoiding unnecessary burdens or harms, and supporting accountability and improvement. If it isn't, the mechanism, like any other aspect of your work, should be adjusted. Regular review can help determine whether the oversight process remains appropriate as circumstances change.
Continue oversight over the long term. As we explained at the beginning, oversight is often a long-term commitment. If things are going well, effective oversight can help maintain progress and identify emerging concerns. If oversight is intended to prevent problems, discontinuing it may allow problems to go unnoticed. Establish oversight mechanisms that can be sustained over time and periodically reassess whether their scope and methods remain appropriate.
In Summary
Oversight mechanisms provide structured ways to support accountability, quality, ethical practice, safety, and compliance. Organizations, institutions, businesses, and governments may exercise oversight over their own operations, while funders, regulators, government agencies, community bodies, or independent organizations may oversee entities for which they have formal responsibility or whose actions affect the public. Community members and community organizations may also participate in oversight of institutions and systems that affect their lives.
Oversight mechanisms often work best when their purpose, authority, roles, methods, and decision-making processes are clear. When appropriate, both people affected by the work and people responsible for carrying it out should have meaningful opportunities to contribute to the design or implementation of oversight, while preserving whatever independence is necessary for credible accountability. Effective oversight may also require training, technical support, accessible reporting systems, privacy protections, regular review, and a clear process for using findings to make improvements.
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Contributor
Phil Rabinowitz
Editors
Andrea Glinn
Stephen Fawcett