Comparison of Affective Work Competencies and Selected Background Experiences of Students, Graduates, and Supervisors in Agricultural Mechanization

156 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1981.Purpose. The purpose of this study was to compare the rated level of affective work competencies and selected background experiences of students, graduates, and industry supervisors of Illinois community college agricultural mechanization programs.Procedures. Illinois community colleges with approved agricultural mechanization programs were selected to provide a population of 922 subjects. The names of the thirteen colleges were arranged in a random order and eight were chosen from the list to obtain a sample of sufficient size. Affective Work Competencies Inventories (AWCI) were then administered to a sample of 646 subjects from the eight colleges and responses were categorized by selected background experiences. A total of 506 people responded, thus making the return rate 78.33 percent. The two independent variables of the ex-post-facto design were: three role classifications (student, graduate, and supervisor) and three background experiences (FFA membership, agriculture course enrollment, and work experience). The fifteen dependent variables were the affective work competency clusters (ambitious, cooperative, adaptable, considerate, independent, accurate, careful, pleasant, follows directions, emotionally stable, persevering, neat, dependable, efficient, and dedicated). Data were analyzed by an analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical procedure and a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) procedure with a significance level of .05.Findings and Recommendations. (1) There were significant differences in affective work competency cluster scores found among the role classifications of students, graduates, and supervisors. Supervisors generally scored higher in the possession of these competencies than the students and graduates. (2) There were significant differences found between respondents' scores who had FFA membership in high school over those who had not. Active involvement by an FFA member in a quality FFA program should lend itself to attainment of these affective competencies. (3) There were significant differences found between respondents' scores who had been enrolled in agriculture courses in high school over those who had not. Active involvement by a student in a quality agriculture program, which includes a supervised occupational experience program, should also enhance the acquisition of affective work competencies. (4) Only one significant difference was found in respondents' scores who had various lengths of work experience, probably due to the fact that most of the respondents had less than five years work experience.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD