Clarifying Ohio State University Extension's Organizational Values

The values held by members of Cooperative Extension organizations play important roles in determining how Extension educators plan, conduct, and evaluate the programs they coordinate. The purpose of this study was to investigate the organizational values of Ohio State University (OSU) Extension personnel, since none had been identified previously. Specific objectives for the study were to: (a) identify valid organizational values representative of OSU Extension personnel; and (b) investigate possible relationships between the organizational values expressed by Extension personnel and their age, gender, race, marital status, job tenure, level of formal education, curriculum area of most advanced degree, program area responsibility, and position within the organization.

The population and sample for the study were OSU Extension personnel who were active at their assigned professional responsibilities at the time of the dissemination of the research instrument. The researchers utilized (a) the literature, (b) the expressed organizational values identified by Safrit (1990) for the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service, and (c) input from two panels of experts to identify 51 expressed organizational values for OSU Extension. Using these expressed values, the researchers constructed a 62 item Values Questionnaire organized into two sections. Section 1 contained 51 items using a Likert-type response scale to obtain information on the respondents' organizational values. Respondents were asked to read each concept or idea carefully and to circle the number on a continuum that best represented the degree to which they valued the concept or idea. Response choices ranged from 1 to 5, with 1 representing "not valued" and 5 representing "extremely valued." In Section 2, respondents provided basic background information used to categorize them including: year of birth (i.e., age), marital status, gender, race, job tenure within OSU Extension, job tenure within other Cooperative Extension Services, whether or not the respondent was a county (administrative) chairperson, job classification, major program area responsibility, highest level of formal education, and area of most advanced degree.

The researchers pretested the Values Questionnaire prior to mailing. Cronbach's alpha was computed for each constructed scale as a measure of internal validity. The final response rate was 74%. Organizational values for OSU Extension were identified by comparing the calculated frequencies of defined groupings of item responses with a predetermined 79% level of agreement that defined an item's acceptance as an organizational value.

The following organizational values and corresponding levels of agreement were identified for OSU Extension: honesty/integrity in our work (93%), credibility with clientele (92%), programs that help people solve problems (87%), useful/practical programs (85%), an emphasis on excellence in educational programming (85%), helping people help themselves (82%), unbiased delivery of information (82%), quick response to clientele concerns (81%), good fringe benefits for employees (80%), adequate resources to perform job responsibilities (80%), financial support from the local level (80%), and teamwork among immediate coworkers (79%).

Pearson's Product Moment Correlation analysis identified the following significant relationships (at the .05 level) between specific identified values and demographic variables: the identified organizational values "useful/practical programs" and "helping people help themselves" with the demographic variable "curriculum area of most advanced degree"; the values "an emphasis on excellence in educational programming" and "teamwork among immediate coworkers" with the demographic variable gender; the value "unbiased delivery of information" with the demographic variable tenure within OSU Extension; the value "good fringe benefits for employees" with the variable job classification; and the identified organizational value "Extension financial support from the local level" with the demographic variables gender, tenure within OSU Extension, whether or not the respondent was a county chair, job classification, and curriculum area of most advanced degree. Although statistically significant correlations were determined for these identified organizational values, the relationships have extremely limited practical significance.

Identifying organizational values is an important first step towards improving the health and productivity of an organization, and provides critical information to examine current policies and to formulate future directions. OSU Extension has utilized the identified organizational values as a foundation for strategic planning, including revising the organization's mission statement and developing a vision statement. All Extension employees are encouraged to reflect upon the identified values in their professional roles. Extension leaders utilize the values as an important "yard stick" when making administrative decisions. Several county teams have developed local mission and vision statements based upon the identified values. Similar research in other state Extension organizations would assist in identifying shared organizational values for the Cooperative Extension System.

Safrit, R. D. (1990). Values stratification in the strategic planning process of an adult education organization. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, North Carolina State University, Raleigh.