Date of Graduation

5-2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Human Resource and Workforce Development (EdD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders

Advisor/Mentor

Michael Miller

Committee Member

Kenda Grover

Second Committee Member

Karen Ballard

Keywords

Division of Agriculture, Goal Focus, Mission, Physical Location

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between physical distance from the headquarters, number of years working within the Division of Agriculture, and job title compared to mission statement and goal focus. The Division of Agriculture as part of the University of Arkansas System is a unique organization because many of its employees are not physically located at the headquarter locations of Little Rock and Fayetteville. The Cooperative Extension Service, part of the Division of Agriculture, has at least one office in each of Arkansas's 75 counties as well as faculty and staff members located at five Research and Extension Centers in the state.

The instrument used for the study was Organizational Orientations: Upward Mobile Orientation Measure by McCroskey, Richmond, Johnson and Smith (2004). The survey was comprised of 18 Likert-type scale questions on upward advancement as well as an additional nine Likert-type questions and one open-ended question on mission statement and goal focus. The survey was delivered electronically to 499 full-time Division of Agriculture employees located at the Cooperative Extension Service headquarters in Little Rock, four Research and Extension Centers, and surrounding county offices. A total of 254 completed surveys were returned. Data analysis including the number, mean score, standard deviation and range of each responding group and the categories within each group were conducted.

The conclusions reached through this study are that the mission statement and goal focus of Division of Agriculture employees compared to physical distance from the headquarters was not statistically significant. The study also concluded that the mission statement and goal focus of Division employees compared to job title, years employed, age, or gender was not statistically significant. The only statistically significance found when comparing mission statement and goal focus was with race categories.

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