Perceptions of County Development Coordinators Toward Implementing the Rural Partners(RTM)/Kellogg Program

256 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1994.The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of the County Development Coordinators regarding the organizational support available to the CDC teams, group processes involved in the achievement of RURAL PARTNERS$\sp\circler$/Kellogg Program goals and objectives.The study employed a descriptive-correlational survey method. The population consisted of sixty-one current coordinators and twenty-three former coordinators. Data were collected using a questionnaire, which inquired about the socio-economic characteristics of CDC team members, perceptions on organizational support, group processes and outcomes of the RURAL PARTNERS$\sp\circler$/Kellogg Program.The findings of the study showed that sponsoring organizations and the University of Illinois program staff supported the CDC team to implement the RURAL PARTNERS$\sp\circler$/Kellogg Program model in the counties. However, support provided by local government, private organizations and residents to the CDC team appeared to be lacking.Goal integration was the most effective process which determined the higher output of the program. This was followed by the team interactions. The role performance and leadership in the CDC team were the processes which contribute the least to the output of the program.Major output of the program focused in the study were: goal achievement, satisfaction of the CDC team members, and sustainability of the program. The majority of the current coordinators agreed that they were able to achieve most of the tangible and intangible outcomes of the program. Most of the current coordinators were satisfied with many aspects of the program. They are proud of being part of the program and have a sense of ownership of the program in the county.Coordinators perceived that the sustainability of the program in local counties was uncertain after funds and assistance from the RURAL PARTNERS$\sp\circler$/Kellogg Program ends in 1994.The correlational analysis revealed that neither age, educational level, or income level of coordinators correlated significantly with perceptions of output variables which are goal achievement, satisfaction and sustainability of the program.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD