Measuring the managerial ability of farmers
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"This research project, a cooperative endeavor between the Agricultural Economics Department and the Rural Sociology Department, was instigated as a contributing project to the North Central Regional Project NO-59, which was entitled, "The Identification and Measurement of Managerial Ability and Its Effect on Resource Use in Farming." The overall objectives for the Missouri project, as listed in the official project statement are: A. "To determine relationships that exist between the characteristics of farmers and their managerial ability." B. "To develop a method of measuring the managerial ability of farmers." C. "To develop methods of increasing the managerial ability of farmers." Due to the basic and complex nature of management, any research project on the subject must involve a number of phases of work. Each phase builds on knowledge obtained In preceding phases. At present, two distinct phases of work have been outlined for the Missouri project, with more contemplated. This manuscript is limited to the development, methodology, and results of the first phase. The primary objective of this first phase was to develop methodology for measuring management and to do preliminary work on a small sample of farmers to test various techniques under consideration. Specific steps followed In the attainment of this objective were: 1. The review of all pertinent research in various disciplines. 2. The collection of personal, social, and economic data on a relatively small number of farms. 3. The development of a rating technique for use in distinguishing the level of managerial ability and/or performance of these farmers. 4. The determination of personal, social, and economic factors which appear to be related to the various levels of managerial ability and performance in the third step. The second phase will build upon the results obtained in the first phase and will consist, in general, of the following steps: 1. The refinement of interview schedules, rating techniques, etc. 2. The collection of data on a larger group of farmers. Including the obtainment of ratings of their managerial ability and performance. 3. The rejection or confirmation of factors which appeared to be related to levels of management in the first phase. 4. The development of a predictive device consisting of those factors which are significantly related to management levels, so that managerial performance can be predicted with a certain probability of accuracy. 5. Testing of the predictive device. Later phases will include an analysis of ways to improve the level of management ability and performance of Missouri farmers. As stated above, this manuscript deals only with the first phase. Because of ths exploratory nature of the first phase, the sample was small, therefore, relationships discovered in this sample should not necessarily be considered as being representative of all farmers. For that reason, all observed relationships will be tested in a later phase of the project."--Objectives of the Study.
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