Organizational capacity survey: Capturing an extension system's current state and pinpointing areas for improvement

Abstract

An organizational capacity survey (OCS) can reveal gaps in what an organization is doing and what an organization's employees feel the organization should be doing. Mississippi State University (MSU) Extension conducted an OCS to assess perceptions of MSU Extension's vision and commitment, plan of work, working relationships, diversity and pluralism, public value, personnel knowledge and expertise, and training needs. Questions were designed to measure perceptions of how MSU Extension is currently and how it should be ideally. This design allowed discrepancy scores to be calculated to identify areas in which capacity development was needed or desired that could then be addressed through state-based professional development.