Contents
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Introduction
This study reviewed a cluster of organizational change efforts of Oregon
State University and its Extension Service with a primary focus on the
extent to which those changes have achieved their intended outcomes.
OSU and its Extension Service were successful at putting their planned
changes in place, and this study indicates that Extension’s professional
staff perceive significant positive changes with respect to the two themes
most directly addressed by the innovations, integration and scholarship,
and also a third theme, flexibility. A fourth theme showed mixed results
and a fifth showed negative trends.
As reported in the preceding sections:
- There have been significant positive shifts in several measures of
the integration of Extension professionals and the Extension
function within academic departments, according to the study participants.
- Scholarship activities carried out by Extension faculty are
perceived to be enhancing Extension programs, more so than in 1995.
- By several measures, Extension is perceived as being significantly
more flexible or adaptive than it was in 1995. Various types
of flexibility are recognized as important – new media and methods,
new services to existing clients and to unserved or underserved groups,
new teams and new hiring – although there is cautiousness about
moving into entirely new program areas that Extension hasn’t addressed
before.
- Although Extension’s responsiveness to public input
was not directly addressed by the innovations, there were relatively
small positive changes (most of them not statistically significant)
in a variety of measures. Study participants perceive that the organization
listens attentively to the people it serves and makes use of their guidance
to shape its programs, but is perceived to make significantly less use
of the broader public’s guidance.
- Despite a relatively high level of organizational resources flowing
into support staff and program support resources,
items asking whether these were sufficient received relatively low ratings,
with a perceived negative shift since 1995. This finding deserves further
inquiry.
The “outcome” measures chosen for this study fall into three
areas: outcomes for the state of Oregon (the ability to contribute to
quality of life for people of the state), outcomes for the Extension organization,
and outcomes for the individual Extension professionals.
Most of the outcome measures received relatively high ratings for both
1995 and mid-2001. The exceptions:
- Respondents rated “Extension’s contribution to the quality
of life in Oregon for those who need its help the most”
significantly lower than its more general counterpart (“Extension’s
success in making a worthwhile contribution to the quality of life in
Oregon”).
- Extension’s “financial well being” for 1995 was the
only item of the six outcome indicators with an average that fell below
the average of all 29 items. Its mid-2001 rating showed a significant
increase over its 1995 rating.
The other five outcome measures showed either small increases from 1995
to mid-2001, or decreases that were not statistically significant.
At the risk of oversimplifying a rich and complex set of findings, the
following table provides a visual summary of these results.
Simplified summary of findings by theme. UP indicates
a favorable finding; DOWN indicates an unfavorable finding;FLAT
indicates a mixed or neutral finding.
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Theme
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Status
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Comment
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Integration
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UP
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Positive shift, solid current ratings
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Scholarship
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UP
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Positive shift
Solid current ratings for Extension scholarship
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Responsiveness
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FLAT
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Weak positive shifts
Solid current ratings for responsiveness to clients, weaker for
general public
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Flexibility
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UP
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Positive shifts
Current ratings vary regarding nature of shift; there are limits
to flexibility
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Resources
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DOWN
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Low ratings; deserves further inquiry
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Outcomes
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FLAT
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Favorable current ratings for contribution to QOL and outcomes
re individual Ext. faculty, but no clear trend 1995-2001. Many factors
beyond the innovations affect the outcomes.
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Several standard precautions apply to the interpretation of these results:
correlation does not prove causality, even when there is proximity in
time. Human and organizational behavior are influenced by an array of
factors, so the Third Mission innovations are partial causes at best.
Nonetheless, it is noteworthy that two themes that are central to the
OSU innovations of the mid-1990s, integration and scholarship, show positive
shifts; most of them are statistically significant with strong current
ratings. The other theme that showed very positive ratings, flexibility,
was not so directly associated with specific innovations but was, nonetheless,
an intended impact area with a number of plausible links to the innovations.
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