School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Theses

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Start date: 2000 × End date: 2009 × Author: Nettle, Ruth. ×

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    Dairy farm employment and support for change
    Nettle, Ruth. (University of Melbourne, 2001)
    Changes in the Australian farming sector over the last few decades have included an increase in farm size, a greater emphasis on product quality, and attempts by farm managers to increase labour productivity and/or substitute labour with capital. New demands on managers and farming systems are emerging from these changes that express themselves as pressures for improved business performance. An important issue for individual farmers as they expand their farms has been that of labour. Farms are facing organisational change, structural change and social change. Increasingly, "farm management" does not just concern the technical and biological issues of production. People management, relationship building, coping with employment law and wages, are all components of the altered management regimes. The issues of labour and employment are most prevalent in the dairy industry, yet research in the area has tended to focus on the technical and economic challenges of production, broad patterns of rural labour markets or aggregated sociological analysis of employment trends. Most studies of labour and employment in agriculture have taken as "given" the social aspects of production. These approaches have informed, but not assisted the issues most keenly felt by farmers or the dairy industry. This thesis is concerned with defining the nature of dairy employment issues from the employer and employee perspectives with a view to the design of effective support and intervention in the employment domain. The research involved study of case farms in Gippsland, Victoria, which accounts for 27% of Australia's milk production. The methods used included in-depth interviews over time with case study dairy farm employers and employees, an action research group involving farm owners struggling with employment change on their farms, and interviews with people contributing to training and other aspects of labour in the dairy industry. These methods provided the data for analysis using a grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) to explore social processes. Analysis of the nature of employment relationships provided a means of understanding change processes through time. This understanding is summarised in a conceptual model. Through the conceptual model, employers, employees and intervening third parties can see that the employment relationship itself is purposeful and not just functional in achieving farm, job or financial outcomes for participants. It is the different perspective that employer and employees bring to the relationship and the mutual involvement in relationship processes that appears to determine employment relationship outcomes. The thesis concludes that the employment relationship is central to an understanding of farmer and employee issues on farms, but that understanding cannot be gained from just the sum of the employer and employee perspectives. This means that employee and employer need a joint understanding of the fundamental relationship processes, and their role in these, if mutually favourable outcomes are to be achieved. Critical transition points in the change in emphasis from production management towards people management are also identified. Employers, employees and third parties can identify these critical transition points in advance to assist their adaptation in employment. Support in the area of farm employment relationships was seen to be lacking from current third party intervention, and correcting this deficiency may offer the best opportunity for improvement. A group intervention using action research provided insight into possible future support mechanisms, with a focus on learning rather than training. It is argued that there is a need for a widening of the focus of extension interventions to include human relationships and interaction for the employment realm. A collaborative learning platform involving interveners and employment relationship actors is seen as a way forward for a change in employment and extension (intervention) practice. The conceptualisation of farm employment and intervention is presented as a solid platform for future research and development.
  • Item
    No Preview Available
    Dairy farm employment and support for change
    Nettle, Ruth. (University of Melbourne, 2001)
    Changes in the Australian farming sector over the last few decades have included an increase in farm size, a greater emphasis on product quality, and attempts by farm managers to increase labour productivity and/or substitute labour with capital. New demands on managers and farming systems are emerging from these changes that express themselves as pressures for improved business performance. An important issue for individual farmers as they expand their farms has been that of labour. Farms are facing organisational change, structural change and social change. Increasingly, "farm management" does not just concern the technical and biological issues of production. People management, relationship building, coping with employment law and wages, are all components of the altered management regimes. The issues of labour and employment are most prevalent in the dairy industry, yet research in the area has tended to focus on the technical and economic challenges of production, broad patterns of rural labour markets or aggregated sociological analysis of employment trends. Most studies of labour and employment in agriculture have taken as "given" the social aspects of production. These approaches have informed, but not assisted the issues most keenly felt by farmers or the dairy industry. This thesis is concerned with defining the nature of dairy employment issues from the employer and employee perspectives with a view to the design of effective support and intervention in the employment domain. The research involved study of case farms in Gippsland, Victoria, which accounts for 27% of Australia's milk production. The methods used included in-depth interviews over time with case study dairy farm employers and employees, an action research group involving farm owners struggling with employment change on their farms, and interviews with people contributing to training and other aspects of labour in the dairy industry. These methods provided the data for analysis using a grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) to explore social processes. Analysis of the nature of employment relationships provided a means of understanding change processes through time. This understanding is summarised in a conceptual model. Through the conceptual model, employers, employees and intervening third parties can see that the employment relationship itself is purposeful and not just functional in achieving farm, job or financial outcomes for participants. It is the different perspective that employer and employees bring to the relationship and the mutual involvement in relationship processes that appears to determine employment relationship outcomes. The thesis concludes that the employment relationship is central to an understanding of farmer and employee issues on farms, but that understanding cannot be gained from just the sum of the employer and employee perspectives. This means that employee and employer need a joint understanding of the fundamental relationship processes, and their role in these, if mutually favourable outcomes are to be achieved. Critical transition points in the change in emphasis from production management towards people management are also identified. Employers, employees and third parties can identify these critical transition points in advance to assist their adaptation in employment. Support in the area of farm employment relationships was seen to be lacking from current third party intervention, and correcting this deficiency may offer the best opportunity for improvement. A group intervention using action research provided insight into possible future support mechanisms, with a focus on learning rather than training. It is argued that there is a need for a widening of the focus of extension interventions to include human relationships and interaction for the employment realm. A collaborative learning platform involving interveners and employment relationship actors is seen as a way forward for a change in employment and extension (intervention) practice. The conceptualisation of farm employment and intervention is presented as a solid platform for future research and development.