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In times of declining resources, educational institutions and agencies that serve the needs of families are questioned about the value of their existence. Therefore, it is imperative that they address the most critical family issues. Issues Validation is presented as a new environmental scanning process for family life educators that combines literature reviews, professional and public opinion, and survey research in a process of identifying critical social and economical issues facing families and youth. This study discusses the findings of a three-state issues Validation project in which samples of state residents, local advisory committees, and community professionals ranked 33 issues facing families and youth in their respective states. Similarities and differences among the samples and states are discussed Potential uses of Issues Validation by family life educators, decision makers, and program planners are described

Two types of interorganizational conflict investigated in this study are structural and operating conflict. Structural conflict involves rules that govern a relationship, whereas operating conflict occurs over interpretation and application of such principles. Among the many factors affecting interorganizational relationships are the similarities and differences of the interacting units. Comparative properties represent the fit, congruence, and compatibility of the interface between organizations. The purpose of this study is to develop a model of interorganizational conflict that incorporates key aspects of the organizational interface, explaining conflict on the basis of similarities and differences of the interacting organizations. The study examines 147 dyadic relationships in networks of natural resource organizations in five non-metropolitan midwest counties. The model includes variables measuring domain and administrative context as well as organizational age, differences as exogenous factors causally related to interdependence and the two types of conflict. Results show comparative properties to be significant determinants of interorganizational conflict. Comparative variables were primarily related to interdependence and structural conflict. Most operating conflict originated in conditions of perceived structural conflict. Implications of comparative properties for the study of interorganizational relationships are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on three theoretical perspectives and their ability to explain a community's adoption of land use controls: population growth, community affluence, and organizational size. Comparisons are made between 79 communities ranging in population size from 1,000 to 100,000. The population-growth and community-affluence perspectives are both supported by the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the proportion of females who are employed has been increasing, female workers remain concentrated in a small number of occupations. Previous studies suggest social-psychological reasons for this. We hypothesize that characteristics of the local community also are related to sexual segregation in occupations. To test this, we use secondary data from 71 relatively independent communities. Measures of availability, economic necessity, class structure, and heterogeneity in the community are related to an index of occupational segregation by sex changes little from 1960 and 1970, the most efficient explanatory variables change from economic-necessity items to class-structure measures. But further analysis reveals that variables from each set combine to provide the best explanation of occupational segregation in small communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrialization has generally been thought of as beneficial for communities. Case studies have shown that industrializing communities experienced increases in aggregate, median family, and per capitaincome, and in the equitable distribution of income. This study investigates the impact of industrialization on changes in income levels and distribution between 1960 and 1970 for all Iowa towns of 2,500 to 10,000 population (N = 75). Relationships between change in manufacturing and change in levels of income found support when employment data were used but not when institutional data on firms were examined. No support was found for relationship between changes in manufacturing activity and the distribution of income. Controls for population size and change, distance to SMSA, and type of industry did not change the original relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational goals are investigated in farmer cooperatives. An organizational goal model is constructed on the basis of Talcott Parsons' functional imperatives. The goal model includes: flexibility, satisfaction, efficiency, and productivity. Two dimensions of organizational goals are compared: general importance of the goals and the specific pressure to achieve each goal. The results show that the managers differentiated among the goal on both dimensions. The goals of efficiency and satisfaction were found to be that most important and convey the most pressure to the managers. Limited relationship was found between the dimension of importance and pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to improve the conceptualization and measure-merit of interorganizational fields and organization-environment relations. Cohesiveness of interorganizational fields and centrality of organizations vis-à-vis other units in their task environments are examined. Matrix algebra and sociograms are used to analyze data collected through interviews with the top administrator in 159 community development organizations. Cohesion of 16 interorganizational fields (counties) and centrality of 15 different types of organizations were determined using both high and low intensity of interaction measures. Three organizational coalitions were located and found to group around concerns about agriculture, social services, and natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral and affective forms of membership involvement are compared on the basis of data collected from members of three farm organizations in Wisconsin. The relative effect of selected independent variables on each involvement form is the key problem of this article. The rank order of independent variables as determined by the size of their partial beta coefficients varies considerably between the two forms. However, when the immediateness of the variables is considered, specific attitudes are found to account for a larger percentage of the variance in both involvement forms than are general attitudes or social background characteristics. The results of the study suggest the need for developing models of involvement, the necessity of using multivariate techniques, and the potential contribution of path analysis to an understanding of membership involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Control in voluntary farm organizations was analyzed by the use of data from 220 memberships in numerous local units of the Farm Bureau, Farmers Union, and National Farmers Organization in Wisconsin. We hypothesized that three aspects of control—amount, distribution, and congruence between actual and ‘ideal’—would be related in a positive direction to affective and behavioral measures of membership involvement and to perceptions of income and other organizational benefits. The results are only partly consistent with those of previous studies. As expected, at • least moderate correlations of involvement and benefits with amount of control are evident. Neither the hypothesis about correlations with the distribution of control nor that about correlations with the congruence between actual and ‘ideal’ amounts of control received positive support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]