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Apply for 2026 Nuffield NZ Farming Scholarship by 17 August 2025. More details...

Is the dairy farm training working?

Edward Von Randow

Executive Summary

Executive Summary

Is there an issue with how dairy farm staff are being trained off farm and is this giving the results the farmers need. For the diary sector to continue to farm in New Zealand we need to make sure that our staff are well trained in all aspects of farming not just the day to day work but also financial skills and we now also need to train the soft skills of management as well as the importance of how we are perceived by the Urban sector.

Is it important to have clear roles in a business and why is this and what are the outcomes if we get this right or wrong.

In The Inescapable Laws of Organizational Structure;

  1. Fritz also argues that organizations are structured either to advance or to oscillate . Advancement is a positive move from on state to another that acts as a foundation for further advances. Fundamental to structural advancement is the concept of resolution when an outcome is achieved and a particular problem is resolved. According to Fritz (1996:6), management in an organization that is structured to advance coordinate ‘individual acts into an organizational tapestry of effective strategy.’ When all the individuals in this utopian organization are acting together, the result is synergy, allowing the achievement of ‘enormous feats.’
  2. The alternative is structural oscillation. Fritz (1996:6) explains this: ‘Oscillating behaviour is that which moves from one place to another, but then moves back towards its original position.’ So many organizations set out on some change program, full of enthusiasm and energy. But, six months later, the enthusiasm has evaporated and the program peters out leaving very little changed.

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