This qualitative study was undertaken to determine the organizational values shared by the professional employees of the Florida Cooperative Extension Service. Related topics that contributed to the literature review included human and organizational values, organizational culture, strategic planning, and the philosophical foundations of the Cooperative Extension Service.
Focus group interviews were conducted in each of the five administrative districts and on the University of Florida Campus. A total of 40 individuals took part in the group interviews. Transcripts of the interviews were read, coded, and sorted by themes to develop a list of twelve categories of values shared by the professionals interviewed. Coded sections of the transcripts were transferred to a descriptive matrix in order to reduce and simplify the analysis.
Three groupings of values emerged from the data and were described as "communities" of values. The three communities were personal, Personal values mission-related, and structural values. were rewards, relationships, and personal history. Mission-related values were organizational history, research-based information, relevance, comprehensiveness, life-long education, diversity, and service. structural values were shared ownership and system linkages.
These three communities were depicted in figures that described the relationships of the values to one another. The final discussion described the inter-relatedness of the three communities in the overall organizational structure. Recommendations were made for further study and program development for the Florida Cooperative Extension Service.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unf.edu/oai:digitalcommons.unf.edu:etd-1165 |
| Date | 01 January 1994 |
| Creators | Williams, Mary Speece |
| Publisher | UNF Digital Commons |
| Source Sets | University of North Florida |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | UNF Theses and Dissertations |
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