Performance appraisal should focus on contributions to specific, well-defined objectives. Desired performance must be clearly linked to rewards or both performance and motivation will be diminished. It tells the piccolo player when and what to play and it tells the conductor when and what to expect. It's the conductor's job to focus the piccolo player's skills on the orchestra's performance according to the score. The best people will leave, while those remaining become experts in following procedures and not rocking the boat.
Extension has little choice but to become information-based.
But it's clear that the task of building this new organization is still ahead of us. It's the challenge of Extension management in the 1990s. ECOP, Extension in Transition, p. Inc. ISSN 1077-5315. Articles appearing in the Journal become the property of the Journal.