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Personnel Management for High Plains Agribusiness Producers

Stephen H. Amosson

Summary

Personnel management is critical for many Texas High Plains and Oklahoma Panhandle agribusinesses. They are continually having problems with a vast array of personnel management issues such as; recruitment, retention, termination, legal considerations, communication and diverse employee cultural backgrounds. A two-day conference was held in Amarillo, Texas to assist agribusinesses to become better equipped with personnel management issues they face daily.
Speakers for the conference came from around the country and were selected based on their experience in personnel management and communication skills. The conference format consisted of a combination of general and concurrent sessions. Some of the specific topics addressed included: Cultivating Culture; Conflict Management; Transformational Leadership; Compliance Issues with a Non-Citizen Workforce; Effective Training; Employee Compensation; Performance Evaluation and Employee Selection; and Legal Issues in Labor Management.
A total of 86 participants attended the conference. Three methods were utilized to determine the effectiveness of the conference. A pre and post-test was administered to participants to measure the knowledge gained. An exit survey consisting of open-ended questions on content and a six-point rating scale of speakers and topics was utilized. In addition, a six-month post-attendance mail survey was employed to assess implementation. A 34.2% increase in knowledge gained was measured. Overall, participants rated the conference 5.26 on the six-point scale with speaker scores ranging from 4.59 to 5.61. In the six-month post attendance survey, 91% of the respondents indicated they had already made changes in their personnel management practices.

Details

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