Organizational
Management and Development
COUNTY CLUSTERING
Since clustering was initiated in the mid-1990’s it has had
its proponents and its detractors. When clustering was first implemented,
it was sold to the counties on the basis that any time their agent
spent working in another county would be matched by an agent in another
county providing programming for them. Most districts even went so
far as to develop a chart showing the exact percentages of time that
each agent would spend in each county. Unfortunately, as we started
losing positions to budget cuts and revisiting staffing patterns, the
whole premise started to fall apart.
To the credit of our county faculty, clustering has worked in many
places despite some of the challenges it presents. However, in some
places it never worked well for a variety of reasons.
While we have not totally settled on how this will work, District
Heads and PDC’s have generally come to consensus that the old
clustering system needs revamped and we will probably do away with
formal clusters and in fact stop using the term “cluster” altogether.
A committee will be charged in the near future to study this issue
and make recommendations to Extension Administration.
This concept fits well with one of our guiding principles of the Review
of Extension Delivery which stated that we will not employ a “cookie
cutter approach” to Extension programming.
| UPDATE 12/16/05: |
In September, 2005 the policy of specifically
designated county clusters was abolished in Georgia Extension.
Counties are still strongly encouraged to work together and collaborate
on programs where it makes sense to do so. In fact all agents
are expected to have in their plan of work at least one collaborative
program or issue with other counties. These county groups will
be called working groups or teams but will no longer be called
clusters.
These teams of counties will not necessarily be the same for
each program area. For instance one group of counties may work
together on a 4-H issue and a Family & Consumer Science agent
may work with an entirely different group of counties. The new
structure will allow total flexibility for agents to determine
what county working groups make sense for their particular program
area. |
Return
to County Staffing
|
