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Introductory training is essential, even for seasonal and part-time employees.

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MATCHING employee ability with job requirements is a key part of personnel management. The more effectively managers explain their expectations, the more satisfied both they and their employees will be with initial on-the-job performance, provided all other things are equal.

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Supervisors’ prerogatives to reward and threaten have been greatly reduced over the years

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SOMETIMES a supervisor’s best move is not to lead but rather to get out of the way and let workers do what they know needs to be done in the way they knowhow to do it. In the normal course of events, though, supervisors in agriculture want to initiate employee action or at least modify its direction. They need the power to influence.

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Fitting people with jobs involves working with information about jobs and about people.

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NO MATTER how the information about a job is obtained, having or putting it into the form of a written job description lays a foundation for recruitment, selection, and management later on. A job description is simply a verbal sketch of a given job—its purpose, content, and attributes or characteristics of the people likely to perform it well. Some firms also use the job description to formally state such terms of employment as pay, benefits, and performance standards.

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Managers wear many hats. These can be divided into three, basic groups: interpersonal, informational, and decisional.

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INTERPERSONAL: Figurehead, Leader, and Liaison
INFORMATIONAL: Monitor, Disseminator and Spokesperson
DECISIONAL: Entrepreneur Disturbance Handler, Resource Allocator, and Negotiator

All these require knowledge and skill. Organizational and personnel management are complex activities, so investments in managerial awareness, knowledge, and skills are instrumental to good business results.

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Working together can bond families and gratify each family member.

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FAMILY MEMBERS who work on the farm may not be “employees” in a traditional or legal sense. However, managing to take advantage of their capabilities involves largely the same processes as if they were hired help. Structure and policies can effectively support managers who mix family and business.

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A large Southern Oregon employer is guided by the philosophy that “Everything begins with people”

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A MAJOR DIVISION of this large agricultural enterprise depends on the good work of its nearly 100 year-round and 500 seasonal employees, including the 38 field staff members who have first-line supervisory responsibilities. This division invested in these key employees in 2001 through a program to develop job-related skills in four areas: English, mathematics, horticulture, and computer use. The learning program has contributed to the business as well as supervisor’s personal lives in unanticipated ways.

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Managers can counter the causes of poor performance.

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PERFORMANCE THAT FAILS to meet expectations can be sorted into three classes of cause: (1) “don’t know,” (2) “can’t do,” and (3) “won’t do.” If workers are unsure about what is expected of them or do not know enough about the overall operation to do more than the minimum in their own jobs, the manager ought to find ways of delivering the missing information. Once employees understand what is expected of them on the job, their performance depends on their ability and motivation—what they can do, as well as what they will do. Managers who want better worker performance may need to consider management practices that affect ability, motivation, or both.

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Success as an agricultural business operator takes more than the knowledge and tools farmers have traditionally used.

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MANAGERS generally perform the following five broad functions, which result in other people carrying out work: 1. Planning; 2. Organizing; 3. Staffing; 4. Leading; and 5. Controlling-Assessing results against objectives, seeing what was actually done compared to what had been planned, and taking corrective action where required.

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Pay systems many not reward what managers want.

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THE RELATIONSHIP between wages paid and operational results on a farm is not a given. It is strongly shaped by decisions that managers make in structuring and administering pay. Employers who want to get more of what they are paying for need to think about whether they are paying for what they really want.

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Accurate personnel records meet legal, tax, and human resource management needs.

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GOOD PAYROLL MANAGEMENT is vital to maintaining good relationships with both employees and government agencies. Accurate personnel records can inform day-today administration, as well as longer term planning decisions.