Project Overview
Agricultural business operators in California depend heavily on nearly 1 million people hired to do not only physical production but also managerial jobs. As employers, these producers face several human resource and legal risks -- including labor shortage at critical times, poor quality work that lowers product value and raises costs, fines and disruption penalizing violation of labor laws, litigation and damage awards, unwanted turnover, and elevated workers’ compensation insurance rates after workplace injuries. The performance of first-line supervisors (aka foremen or crew leaders in this proposal) is key to operational efficiency and control of all these risks, as well as of personal risks to production workers. Few foremen, however, have all the skills and knowledge -- about standards, procedures, and even what is expected of them -- needed to minimize the risks.
This project entailed curriculum planning, materials development, and introduction in four California regions of a new Agricultural Supervision Development Program (ASDP) consisting of two interrelated parts. The ASDP centerpiece was a 2-day short course that delivered and equipped first-line supervisors to apply knowledge about: (1) their own role and relationships to the firm, production employees, and other managers; (2) legally required work conditions, employee training, and documentation; (3) how to identify and remedy safety hazards; and (4) interpersonal communication techniques that can preclude personnel problems or deal effectively with them at an early stage. A companion seminar for middle and upper-level managers addressed their influence on performance of supervisors and provided tools for helping those from their companies to apply learning from the short course. An overview of presentation structure, PowerPoint slide files for the management seminar and each segment of the supervisory short course, and a short course reference booklet were developed and submitted to the National Ag Risk Education Library for other educators to draw from or adapt.
The ASDP built communication and understanding across levels of management in participating firms. Supervisors brought back to their jobs new knowledge, skills, insights, organizational perspective, and practical ideas for implementation, and middle-upper level managers developed greater cognizance of the means by which they affect supervisory and overall workforce performance. Company-specific outcomes from post-program discussions included clarification of supervisors´ job content and performance expectations, creation or revision of company policies, more consistent and supportive treatment of workers, safer conditions for production work, and reduction of operational and legal risks.
Number of Participants: 501
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
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EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
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REPORTS & EVALUATIONS
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