Society has changed since Cooperative Extension and the 4-H youth program began. Over time the purpose for Extension has been challenged. Yet, there has been little empirical literature published on the administrators' role and perspectives of the organizational environment or on the resulting leadership behaviors. A qualitative study was conducted to develop a baseline. State Extension Directors (n=7) and State 4-H Program Leaders (n=13) from 15 regionally-representative states were interviewed. Participants were asked to conduct a SWOT Analysis on both the Extension system and the 4-H program in their state and their leadership behaviors were explored. Extension administrators emphasized the organization's relevance to society and that the mission would remain focused on agriculture, although with an expanded focus on agriculture as more than production. Administrators did recognize many specific environmental shifts, including a changing funding model; challenges and importance of serving a diversifying population; the tension between urbanizing populations and shrinking rural communities; and, the changing role of technology for programming. Administrators described that they were experiencing shifting focus friction from historic audiences that were afraid of losing services due to the aforementioned environmental factors. Administrators' leadership behaviors were reflective of the Adaptive Leadership behavior construct introduced by Heifetz (1994). Communication was the key behavior that is required to lead effectively. In order to successfully implement a strategy, trust with stakeholders needed to be established. Diversity in feedback was important for the administrators to feel confident in their ability to understand the changes in the organizational environment. / PHD / Extension and 4-H are educational organizations affiliated with Land-Grant Universities to provide research-based information to the citizens of all U.S. states and territories. Established in 1862, the purpose and need for Extension has been challenged overtime. There has been little empirical literature published on the administrators’ role and perspectives of the organizational environment, these leaders being the individuals who are creating and implementing organizational direction. Twenty administrators (7 State Extension Directors and 13 State 4-H Program Leaders) which were representative of 15 regionally-representative states were interviewed. Participants were asked to conduct the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis for both the State 4-H program and Cooperative Extension organization. Extension administrators emphasized the organization’s relevance to society and that the mission will remain focused on agriculture -food and health. Administrators did recognize many specific environmental factors they were responding to, including: changes in the funding model; challenges and importance of serving a diversifying population; tension between urbanizing populations and shrinking rural communities; increasing service competition; and, the changing role of technology in program delivery. Administrators described friction with historic audiences who fear the loss of services due to organization adaptation in response to the aforementioned changes. Communication was the key behavior that was embedded in all other leadership characteristics. Trust with stakeholders needed to be established to successfully implement strategy. Diversity in feedback was important for the administrators’ confidence in their ability to understand the changes in the organizational environment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/98002 |
| Date | 15 November 2018 |
| Creators | Elliott-Engel, Jeremy |
| Contributors | Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education, Westfall-Rudd, Donna M., Seibel, Megan M., Kaufman, Eric K., Radhakrishna, Rama B. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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