Today, management has been recognized as a serious concern of virtually all segments of human endeavors. With agriculture becoming globally competitive in the post-WTO era and with the advent of intellectual property protection, planning and management of agricultural research have gained more urgency and importance than ever before. Experience has shown that management capability becomes a limiting factor in getting the full benefits from an agricultural research system.
In order to design and develop a need-based management training program for the agricultural research managers that would help them plan, manage, and execute research programs and institutional activities more effectively with the available human, natural, and financial resources, a systematic training needs assessment was undertaken. Information on the management-training needs was collected through a questionnaire. The results of the study indicate that the five themes that are needed to be covered in the training program included research project management, human resource management, administration and finance management, institution management, and information and communication managementin that order of importance. Under each of the themes, information was elicited on the individual topic requirement.
The requirement index for various topics in each of the identified five themes was worked out, which indicated the relative importance of these topics, as perceived by the respondents. The present study highlights the importance of management training for agricultural research managers. The results of the study are expected to facilitate planning, organizing, monitoring, controlling, and evaluating a need-based management training program for the agricultural research managers. |
