Managing Change in Extension

John Holt

Managing change in extension is capitalizing on today's strengths while buildingtomorrow's niches. A shrinking support base, increasing competition, and rapid changesin what people need and want in off-campus education are strong forces for change inextension programs. But inertia inherited from past success, the difficulties of changingmental habits, conflicting clientele signals, and rewards schema that give no clear signalsall complicate change management. Symbiosis is needed between faculty and all levels ofadministration in order to find the support, and the will, to manage changeconstructively.

Key words: extension, managing change.

"Cooperative Extension exemplifies thespecific function of the land-grant universitythat would distinguish it from otheruniversities-the connection of the universityto the public." Stanley Rosenberg, House ofRepresentatives, Boston, Massachusetts,ECOP Futures Task Force Report, p. 11

Eric Hoffer, that unlikely combination oflongshoreman and philosopher, understoodhuman nature. In The Passionate State ofMind, he wrote that "to most of us nothing isso invisible as an unpleasant truth" (p. 39).True to form, most of us in the land grantsystem have ignored the unpleasant truth thatour system must change. Some have evenmanaged not to see that extension, dealingmore directly with agriculture than eitherteaching or research, is only first heir to thedownsizing already felt in agriculture and re­lated industries.

Managing change, that is, capitalizing ontoday's strengths while building tomorrow'sniches, requires first an assessment of someforces of change. Setting expectations for re­sults requires a long-term perspective; a senseof emerging niches and the competition forthem helps develop a sense of the dynamics ofmanaging change for both programs andpeople.

John Holt is a professor and extension management economist inthe Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the Universityof Florida.

The author is indebted to Gary Fairchild, who provided encour­agement for this effort and intelligent criticisms of it, and toseveral other colleagues who critiqued earlier drafts. Gene Futrelland two other AJAE reviewers made valuable comments on anearlier version of this paper.

Some .:?orces of Change

Administrators, watching budgets shrivel, aremore acutely aware than the faculty that prac­tically any budget cut can cause people to belost. The 4.3% Gramm-Rudman budget cutwas the catalyst forcing the loss of ninety-onecounty extension jobs in Wisconsin; thirty inNorth Dakota; Minnesota had lost eighty jobsin the last five years; Texas was looking at a40% drop in staff from 1985; and Indianawould cut a minimum of sixty agents (Tevis).Even some extension economists have beencut: the whole extension marketing depart­ment in Mississippiwas shelved on 1July 1986.

National political support is eroding for allagricultural institutions, including colleges ofagriculture, Bonnen argued. The public in­creasingly sees farm programs as expensive,ineffective, and inequitable: "Farmers receiv­ing most of the benefits are far wealthier thanthe taxpayers who pay the costs" (p. 3). De­clining national support increases the relativeimportance of state support: "National repu­tations don't do you much good if the statelegislature and clientele do not believe the col­lege is committed to the state and the welfareof its citizens" (Bonnen, p. 6).

McDowell argued in Choices that makingland grant colleges more responsive topeople's needs would require major institu­tional adjustments that •• are not likely to hap­pen voluntarily within the system... for thesystem has now been captured by the profes­sors" (p. 20). At some risk of oversimplifyingit, his argument was that grant funding andpeer acclaim in scholarly journals both act to

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draw research interest away from the devel­opment of a knowledge base useful and ex­tendable to the people.

Something similar may be happening at theextension specialist level. Wallace argued thatfuture extension hirees will be "increasinglyacademic" and "less interested in innovativegeneral extension education programs' ,(p. 1134).

Perspective

The historic success of the land-grant system,including extension, retards the readiness toconsider change. Success is a powerful lul­laby, as seen in David Halberstam' s brilliantcomparison of the American and Japanese au­tomobile industries in The Reckoning. "Thepostwar years, the immense material strengthand physical might, two generations of un­rivaled prosperity-it all had lulled Americainto thinking it had attained an economicutopia, a kind of guaranteed national prosper­ity, like a concession won in some marathonbargaining session with God, a guaranteed an­nual increase in the standard of living. In thosefew postwar decades, America had taken atemporary historical accident and construed itas a permanent condition" (pp. 54, 55).

The American automobile industry not onlybelieved they made the best cars, but that theircustomers had nowhere else to go. The landgrant system was similarly arrogant, but bothour customers have choices now. Lulled tosleep by success, Detroit management becametop-heavy and complacent, while labor soughtever higher benefits without greater productiv­ity. Soberingly enough, the United AutoWorkers never had as powerful a tool as ten­ure, nor one which made change as difficult.

To keep from repeating Detroit's mistakes,land grant professionals need to concentratecontinually on what people in the respectivestates want from their university, as a first stepin developing our educational niches.

Extension's present and future role is morethan just explaining new research findings ortouting new technology. Peter Drucker wrotein Innovation and Entrepreneurship that"contrary to almost universal belief, newknowledge-and especially new scientificknowledge-is not the most reliable or mostpredictable source of successful innovation"(1985, p. 36). IfDrucker is right that new waysto combine existing technology are a key to

Amer. 1. Agr. Econ.

successful innovation, then extension in itsinterdisciplinary work with decision makerscan actually lead the land grant system in help­ing American agriculture become more com­petitive.

The perspective on managing change is thatthere are no quick fixes when building newattitudes, skills, and programs. Acquiring newhabits of mind "is a long and difficult processrequiring perhaps 5 to 10 years of sustainedreinforcement ..." (Myers, p. 10).

Niches

Capitalizing on tomorrow's niches will requiresystem-wide cooperation, from universitypresidents to county agents. A shared sense ofmission and a renewed sense of its importanceare vital in improving teamwork (Garfield),especially as diverse as these team membersare.

Drucker singles out a coming niche for edu­cational institutions. "People who have ac­quired extensive schooling in their youngeryears, especially professional or technicalschooling, will, ten to twenty years later, be­come customers for advanced professionaltraining" (1985, p. 89). Their first need likelywill be economics and management training;agricultural economists can provide that, es­pecially because we have a comparative ad­vantage in individual business management,whereas managing large corporations is thestrength of the business schools.

David Burch, of MIT, has studied the lifecycles of 7 million firms and found that 8% to10% of companies vanish every year. Thatturmoil, plus the loss of jobs in Fortune 500companies, means that 50%of our jobs vanishevery five years. On the positive side, 1.4 mil­lion new enterprises start up per year, one­fourth of which are managed by women.These start-ups are restructuring America:•• Since 1980 all net new job creation has takenplace in small companies." Again, practicallyall the start-ups need management training,and agricultural economists could becomemajor players in that developing market.

Extension has a start. In helping farmersand people in hard-hit rural communities ad­just to the 1980s, thousands of counties of­fered job counseling services, training in pre­paring resumes, interviewing skills, and thelike. In Michigan, extension developed a train­ing program for helping distressed farmers and

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their employees find off-farm employment(Ralph Hepp, personal communication).

Programs for community and family devel­opment are being developed: George Morseand Kenneth Stone were nominated for the1988AAEA Distinguished Extension ProgramAward from Ohio and Iowa, respectively, fortheir work in helping distressed communities.At the family level, forty-three states hadprograms helping families cope with stressproblems (Coop. Extens. Serv.). Exemplify­ing extension education at its best, Montanaagricultural economists explained the conse­quences of changing property tax laws, eventhough emotions were strong on that issue. Inthat effort, the whole state became aclassroom in which agricultural economistsheld center stage.

Interdisciplinary research and extension arevital and will have high payoff, long-termbenefit in improving natural resource man­agement. Questions dealing with soils, per­colation of substances through that soil, andapproaches for achieving multiple objectivesin resource use are areas where land grantuniversities dominate the requisite skill pack­ages. Looking globally, many areas of theworld are squandering their soil at prodigiousrates, and our developing expertise will bevaluable not only to us but to the rest of theworld.

Conglomerates fight for market dominancewith a vengeance; and so should extension,aided by the rest of the system, fight to main­tain its niches. In commercial agriculture, wehave niches to protect and develop in at leastpolicy analysis (Knutson and Smith), in mar­ket news (Stevens and VarrSickle), grain mar­keting and quality (Hill), and in computerizeddecision aids (McGrann).

Competition

The competition is fierce and increasing for allour niches. That is as it should be: education,that long-term national treasure, is far too im­portant to be left in the hands of a monopoly.

Monopoly there is not; competition for ex­tension education markets abounds. In com­mercial agriculture, there are consultants of allstripes; universities such as Harvard and Stan­ford conduct agribusiness seminars; inputcompanies are entering management consult­ing by dangling the carrot of financing well­planned operations.

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Federal agencies, state-level planning orga­nizations, and some state departments of ag­riculture are active in various educationalroles. They can also be collaborators as wellas competitors, but they seem intent on ex­panding their educational role. Liaisons withcommercial firms are increasingly used in ex­tension, because money is easier to obtain andthe required paperwork is less onerous thandealing with agencies (Hoette).

Local agencies and the community collegesfrequently are closer to the people than theland grants, and in many cases have betterfacilities. Many non-land-grant colleges andcommunity colleges are capturing extensionclientele by offering business managementcourses and, say, courses in Lotus 1-2-3.

At least one business school in a non-land­grant college has targeted a financially soundagricultural commodity group and is offeringthat industry a research program, an under­graduate degree program, and extensioncourses. The dean of that business schoolknows the land-grant system well: he knowshow slow it is to change, and he thinks theycan beat it.

The land-grant comparative advantage restson the strengths available from the many dis­ciplines in the system; and county extensionoffices provide a retail outlet vertically any­where there is any semblance of an economicnucleus. Extension's challenge is to capitalizeon our structure and capabilities, in educatinga changing slate of decision makers who arethemselves adjusting to rapid change.

Changing Programs

Fifteen years ago, Mike Sprott, who later be­came a dean, wrote that "the typical Exten­sion Service worker ... seldom if everdiscontinues doing anything. Most of the Ex­tension programs are taken on in addition torather than in place of a current program"(Sprott, p. 55).

Programs simply must be put to death; theywill not die by themselves. Typically, in ex­tension, old programs languish at some point,so resources are shifted to a higher priority.Then a legislator, or some other influentialperson accustomed to that old program, blastsanyone who might have had anything to dowith the reallocation decision. Consequently,the old program is resurrected, and neither oldnor new is viable.

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All the players, deans, department heads,specialists, and county agents, must be pre­pared for the criticism that accompanieschange, explain how the resources were put toa higher payoff use, and then hold an officialburial ceremony for the old program.

Winning programs are hard to build, as astudy of Integrated Pest Management hasshown. First, it takes time to build one: theknowledge base for IPM was available as earlyas 1926; it languished (pesticides were cheapand effective) until the first extension pilotprogram in 1971. By 1978, "many" states hadbegun IPM projects, and there were extensionIPM education projects in 53 land-grant col­leges and universities by 1982. Private consult­ing using IPM techniques was well establishedby 1980, and was estimated to gross over $400million by 1987. Federal government supportamounting to $48 million between 1973 and1983 was paying dividends as IPM users in themid-1980s were netting an estimated $578mil­lion more per year than non-users. Finally, ittakes a long time to measure success: thedocumentation study took thirty-two months(Canup).

So, IPM now has strong support in thestates, Congress, and probably in the Audu­bon Society. Yet, in its 1989 budget recom­mendation to the president, OMB struck sup­port for IPM, urban gardening (CongressmanWhitten's favorite lever with urban con­gressmen), and EFNEP (expanded nutrition,which is seen as support for the poor). Appar­ently aMB has cut support for these programsand put those dollars over on the national in­itiatives recommended by the ExtensionCommittee On Policy. No new net money isavailable for national initiatives. The statesmust reorient priorities at home in order tobuild new programs.

Constructive change is taking place. Threeoutstanding extension community develop­ment programs have been mentioned. Neweducational approaches are lowering the costper extension student (Oregon State Univer­sity), and programs in grain marketing (Hill)and in computerized decision aids (McGrann)have documented an international impact.Creativity is alive; one extension programeven attempted to forge a national consensusabout rural policy (Texas A&M). Severalstates are contracting outside expertise in de­veloping programs needed in their states, andcooperation between states is finally occur­ring.

Amer. J. Agr. Econ.

Changing People

Changing habits of mind not only takes a longtime, as mentioned earlier, it takes personalenergy and administrative support. Thus,symbiosis between administrators and facultyis at a premium as both work at managingchange.

In a setting where creativity is important, atop-down management style simply will notwork. As Redd Foxx put it: "The contract willget you out on the stage, but it won't make thepeople laugh." However, participatory man­agement places a prime responsibility on thefaculty to help administrators "focus on thefuture rather than on undoing the past, on theopportunities rather than on the 'problems' "(Drucker 1973, p. 176).

Department heads can follow Beattie's ad­vice to "put the needs and desires of the fac­ulty first, for only they can make you lookgood" (p. 211), while resisting the restrictions"the faculty may wish to impose on them­selves, or more likely, on 'other' facultymembers" (p. 211).

In changing habits of mind enroute to man­aging change, two different management stylesshould be resisted. Administrators shouldavoid "management by swarm," in which thewhole management team piles on the problemof the day as if it were a fumble in a footballgame. The faculty must resist "managementby exhaustion," the relentless search for theone last run that might yield the perfect modelor the perfect solution.

The Extension Committee On Policy "fu­tures" task force recommended "contractingfor knowledge acquisition and for educationalprogram development and delivery" (p. 11).Experts exist. Fred Woods told of a countyprogram in Fairfax County, Virginia, whichhad 38 paid employees and 1,400 volunteerswho contributed an additional 22 F.T.E.s. Thecounty budget was $1.3 million, with $1.1 mil­lion coming from county funds. People likethat county agent, who are winning tomor­row's game, should be our consultants. Mak­ing heroes out of outstanding performers at alllevels is the positive reinforcement that build­ing tomorrow's system requires.

Wallace asked, and answered, a key ques­tion: "If aggressive educational leadership inextension should emerge, where would I lookfirst to find it? I would look to the field wherecounty extension people, specialists, andcommitted land grant academics will risk new

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educational ventures and applied research"(p. 1136).

More research support for extension pro­grams might be stimulated by increasing thestatus of result-oriented analyses. The facultythemselves are in control of this potent aca­demic motivator and can, if they choose,award higher status to journals which publishresult-oriented, interdisciplinary work.

The enduring problem of managing changein extension will be to increase the availabilityand quality of "shelf products" that peopleare demanding while finding the support andthe will to continue to develop products thatare not yet being demanded, but which weknow are needed.

Conclusion

A shrinking support base, increasing competi­tion, and rapid changes in what people needand want in off-campus education are strongforces for change in extension programs. Butinertia inherited from past success, thedifficulties of changing mental habits and ofchoosing among different program directions,and rewards schemes that give no clear signalsall complicate change management.

Even so, there are some great individual andgroup extension programs in many states fromwhich we all can learn. And we must. Histo­rians a hundred years from now will count ourgeneration fools if, in our time, we let thehuman capital engine that is the land-grantsystem senesce, and thus set U.S. agriculture,and rural America, on a lower plane of prog­ress.

[Received August 1988; final revisionreceived April /989.]

References

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Bonnen, James T. "The Future: Agricultural Careers."Mimeographed. East Lansing: Dep. Agr. Econ.,Michigan State University.

Burch, David L. Videotaped address to the Annual Busi­ness Conference of the Greater North DakotaChamber of Commerce, Minot ND, Oct. 1988.

Canup, Terry W. "IPM: An Extension Success Story."Extens. Rev. (USDA), fall 1987.

Drucker, Peter F. Innovation and Entrepreneurship:Practices and Principles. New York: Harper & RowPublishers, 1985.

Change in Extension 873

--. Management: Tasks-Responsibilities-Prac­tices. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1973.

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Stevens, Michael J., and John Vansickle. "Market Infor­mation Systems for the IFAS VAX Computer Net­work." University of Florida Coop. Extens. Serv.,IFAS, Computer Series Circular No. 764, May 1987.

Stone, Kenneth E. Nomination for 1988 AAEA Distin­guished Extension Program Award.

Tevis, Cheryl. "Budget Cuts Create Leaner, Meaner Sys­tem: End of an Era for County Agents." SuccessfulFarming, Feb ..1988, pp. 34 D and 34 E.

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Woods, W. Fred. "Extension in the 21st Century: NewLeadership and New Preparation." Paper presentedat the 1987 AAEA Preconference Extension Work­shop.

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