Survey responses were used to develop career skill portfolios for a sample of former agriculture students. Cluster analysis identified three distinct career profiles differentiated by the relative need for communication skills; interpersonal skills; computer, quantitative, and management information; business and economics skills; and technical skills. Statistical tests supported the hypothesis that distinct skill and competency portfolios obtain differential values in labor markets. Results suggested that career advancement strategies should emphasize communication and interpersonal skills and that these skills be developed early in an employee's career.

Market returns to agribusiness skills and competencies.

Talent assessment is a critical element in agribusiness success. Unless the correct people are identified and rewarded with promotion and other organizational rewards, organizational motivation and leadership will wane. A new efficient and effective talent assessment method called Team Evaluation has been developed by leading agribusiness firms and provides advantages not available with traditional procedures. The Team Evaluation process enhances the firm's information about people. When added to the existing supervisory assessment procedures. Management Systems (MS), the combination of the TE + MS upgrades the quality of human resource decisions, improves rewards equity and the link between pay and performance.

Agribusiness talent assessment through team evaluation

Employee groups account for a large part of the variation in effective agribusiness performance. TEAMS-G profiling provides an employee driven mechanism for identifying relative strengths and weaknesses of work groups. TEAMS-G appraisal allows an organization to identify the performance of work groups relative to other groups. Identification of group performance facilitates the targeting of training and development interventions as well as the more equitable differential distribution of organizational rewards.

Michael W. Woolverton

Papers

Appraising work team performance: New productivity solutions for agribusiness management