Objective Two

 The second research objective attempted to identify perceived leadership roles of

county Farm Bureau leaders by the state Farm Bureau leadership. From the interview

questionnaire, four themes emerged: leadership, political process, effective boards, and

knowledge of Farm Bureau. These were all areas that the state leadership determined

county Farm Bureau board members should possess skills. In the leadership theme area,

there were fifteen leadership competencies that state leaders thought were important for

county Farm Bureau members to possess. In the political process area, twenty

competencies emerged from responses to the qualitative instrument. Fifteen effective

board member competencies were developed from responses to the interview

questionnaire, and sixteen composed the section on the knowledge of Farm Bureau.

 The competencies were derived from analysis of the interview responses. They

evolved from the responses to the interview questions given by the interview

respondents, responses for each question were grouped together and then divided into the

four theme areas. Duplicate responses were eliminated and several were combined.

After pilot testing, several competencies were removed which were confusing or did not

contribute statistically to the scale.

Objective Three

 Objective three measured the extent to which county Farm Bureau members

practice the leadership expectations held by state Farm Bureau leaders and the

importance they place on each. This was done by designing a scale, which asked the

respondent to rate the importance of each competency and their proficiency at each. A

quantitative instrument was developed using the competencies that emerged from the