Perceptions of university outreach and extension agriculture business counselors as a learning organization

The relationship between the learning organization and the extension service is not well understood. The extension service has a history of facilitating learning environments in rural areas. In recent years, there has been concern about the effectiveness of the extension service in initiating change through educational efforts. Research indicated that the use of learning organization concepts within an organization increased that organization's viability and effectiveness.; The Agriculture Business Counselors, a group within University Outreach and Extension, University of Missouri was evaluated as to their perceptions of learning organization concepts within their organization. This group was formed to facilitate value added agriculture enterprises. The Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) and six organizational questions were used in the evaluation. The DLOQ uses seven action imperatives of a learning organization. These action imperatives include (a) create continuous learning opportunities; (b) promote inquiry and dialogue; (c) encourage collaboration and team learning; (d) establish systems to capture and share learning; (e) empower people toward a collective vision; (f) connect the organization to its environment and; (g) use leaders who model learning at the individual, team and organizational level.; Results showed that when compared to two other organizations the Agriculture Business Counselors had higher overall scores for six of the seven action imperatives and were significantly different for five of the seven action imperatives when compared to both organizations. Scores were significantly different from those employees with less years in their organization for three of the seven action imperatives. Employees with the highest level of participation in the Agriculture Business Counselors Group had the highest scores as compared to those with lower levels of participation. Scores of employees who had a high level of participation were significantly different from those with medium, low or both medium and low participation for each of the action imperatives, except for the action imperatives of create continuous learning opportunities and promote inquiry and dialogue.