The Impact of Supervisory Management on Extension Agent Job Satisfaction

The relationship between a supervisor and his/her employee has a direct effect on the employee’s level of job satisfaction and decision whether or not to remain in the organization. Extension agent retention has been shown to increase when a positive relationship and supervisory support exist between an Extension agent and his/her supervisor. Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory was used to examine relationships with and impacts of supervisor management on Extension agent job satisfaction. A census of Florida Extension agents were asked to describe their relationships with their County Extension Directors (CED). Significant positive relationships were found between agent job satisfaction and ratings of the hygiene factors of Effective Senior Management and Effective Supervisor. A significant positive relationship was also found between these two hygiene factors. A significant difference was found between effective senior management and the agents’ CEDs gender, with agents with male CEDs reporting higher average levels of satisfaction with Effective Senior Management than agents with female CEDs. Significant differences also existed between agents’ Effective Senior Management satisfaction and years of working relationship between agents and CEDs. Extension supervision and leadership training should be a focus of Extension administration as effective supervision and management have a positive impact on Extension agent job satisfaction

The Ralph Report Depreciation Proposals and Investment Neutrality

The Review of Business Taxation chaired by Mr John Ralph has suggested sweeping changes to business taxation in Australia. In particular it has been proposed that accelerated depreciation provisions be removed to finance a reduction in the company tax rate. If some degree of accelerated depreciation is to be retained, it is suggested that this should involve a uniform loading on depreciation rates for all assets. The aim is to provide a more uniform treatment of assets with different economic lives. This paper examines the neutrality of these proposals for unincorporated enterprises and companies owned by Australian shareholders. It is shown that with positive inflation, the proposal to remove accelerated depreciation altogether would provide a bias favouring longer-lived assets. In the absence of inflation a system of uniform loadings would provide a bias favouring shorter-lived assets although at very low rates of inflation, this bias can be reversed. The biases created by a system of non-accelerated depreciation or a system of uniform loadings would, however, be small relative to those created by current depreciation provisions

Competency Needs Assessment of 4-H Youth Development Professionals

Understanding and identifying the professional development needs of 4-H youth development professionals should be the first step in developing the Extension workforce. However, 4-H professionals find it challenging to use the Professional, Research, Knowledge and Competencies (PRKC), which consists of 348 unique competency items, to guide professional development trainings. The purpose of the study was to determine the professional development needs of National Association of Extension 4-H Youth Development Professionals (NAE4-HYDP) members. A Borich model was used to create a top 10 prioritized list of each PRKC domain to guide professional development of NAE4-HYDP members

Adjustment costs and the neutrality of income taxes

A yes income tax would not affect asset values or investment decisions for given values of cash flows and pre-tax interest rates (Samuelson, 1964). However, most so-called income taxes do not fully tax capital gains on accrual. This note shows that in the absence of adjustment costs, investment decisions are not distorted by the lack of a comprehensive tax on the capital gains on unimproved land, provided that the depreciation of improvements is allowed as a tax deduction. It also provides the intuition underlying the closely related results of Hartman (1978) and Abel (1983)

The Need to Know Information for CEDs within the First Month on the Job

County Extension Directors (CEDs) are Extension agents who serve their local clientele through educational programming, while also serving as liaisons between their state Extension system and their local government and elected officials. Responsibilities within this administrative role include handling and managing personnel issues, fiscal management and oversight, and communicating and maintaining relationships with elected officials. Researchers asked CEDs in Florida and Georgia with less than five years of experience the most important information for a new CED to know within the first month on the job. The constant comparative method of analysis was used to identify recurring themes from the open-ended question of an online-administered survey. Six primary themes emerged: (a) policies, procedures, and MOUs; (b) deadlines and reporting; (c) human resources, personnel management, and fiduciary responsibilities; (d) roles and responsibilities; (e) relationships with elected officials and administrators; and (f) identifying resources. Extension professional development staff should either create or modify existing training programs to include the most important information CEDs need to know within the first month on the job

The Impact of Supervisory Management on Extension Agent Job Satisfaction

The relationship between a supervisor and his/her employee has a direct effect on the employee’s level of job satisfaction and decision to remain in the organization. Extension agent retention has been shown to increase when a positive relationship and supervisory support exist between an Extension agent and his/her supervisor. Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory was used to examine relationships with and impacts of supervisor management on Extension agent job satisfaction. A census of Florida Extension agents were asked to describe their relationships with their County Extension Directors (CED). Significant positive relationships were found between agent job satisfaction and ratings of the hygiene factors of Effective Senior Management and Effective Supervisor. A significant positive relationship was also found between these two hygiene factors. A significant difference was found between effective senior management and the agents’ CEDs gender, with agents with male CEDs reporting higher average levels of satisfaction with Effective Senior Management than agents with female CEDs. Significant differences also existed between agents’ Effective Senior Management satisfaction and years of working relationship between agents and CEDs. Extension supervision and leadership training should be a focus of Extension administration as effective supervision and management have a positive impact on Extension agent job satisfaction

The Effects of Leader-Member Exchanges on the Relationships Between Extension Agents and County Extension Directors in Florida

The relationship between a supervisor and employee has a direct effect on the employee’s job satisfaction, work productivity, and efficiency. Understanding the interactions between Extension agents and County Extension Directors is critical to maintaining positive relationships and providing adequate support to Extension supervisors through professional development and training opportunities. This article examined the dyadic relationships between Extension agents and County Extension Directors in Florida. The majority of Florida Extension agents have high-quality relationship with their County Extension Directors. In addition, over half of relationships of five years or less are in the partner phase, suggesting new employees of the Florida Cooperative Extension Service progress through the leadership making process in a relatively short amount of time. UF/IFAS Extension Administration should provide increased leadership training for County Extension Directors to ensure all dyads progress through the leadership-making process to the partner phase, such as relationship building, and management and supervisory training

Online Leadership Short Course for County Extension Directors

Engaging the Extension workforce in professional development is critical for learning, behavior change, and continued development. However, county Extension directors find it difficult to juggle the various demands on their time, including the need to develop the leadership competencies required to be successful in their roles. Online leadership training is one option that can be used to address this time demand faced by Extension leaders and provide an avenue for developing leadership capacity. We discuss the design and implementation of the 10-week online Leadership Short Course for county Extension directors and the reactions of participants

Importance of the Access, Equity, and Opportunity Competencies Among 4-H Professionals

The 4-H Professional Research, Knowledge and Competencies (PRKC) is a professional development framework that can be used to identify competency gaps and training needs of 4-H professionals. The PRKC consists of 6 competency domains, 1 being access, equity, and opportunity (AEO). A tailored design method was used to gather data and sort the respondents between rural and urban community type. 4-H Extension agents serving urban communities perceived 12 out of the 14 AEO domain components as more important than agents serving rural communities did. The 2 AEO domain components that were not significantly different in perceived importance were values, norms, and practices and active listening. An essential element of the 4-H experience must include creating an environment where children and youth feel safe, included, and that they belong. The differences among 4-H youth development professionals’ perceptions of the importance of the AEO domain components, based on their work location, warrants further review. Implications of this information could influence the competencies that Extension systems look for in hiring. Furthermore, educational workshops and trainings around AEO for existing youth workers may need to be evolved