Assessing the Impact of Management Skills on the Productivity of Lying Farms in Isfahan Province

The poultry industry is one of the sub-agricultural sectors that is able to attract capital and apply updated world technology to earn a special place in production and employment in the country. This position requires adherence to modern management methods and consistency with economic fundamentals. Given the importance of this industry, this study investigated the effect of managerial skills on the productivity of laying flocks of Isfahan.

This study is an applied research that the major part of data collection was based on field studies. Management skills in three areas, i.e., conceptual, human and technical were evaluated. For this purpose, index making was done by using factor analysis. Productivity as the dependent variable for each unit was calculated using the Fisher's numerical index. The population was 70 units of laying flocks, which were census using a questionnaire designed by the researcher. Validity and reliability of measurement instruments calculated using Cronbach Alpha and KMO statistic equal to 0.712 and 0.803.

The results showed that the total productivity of farms using the Fisher index was between 1/0721 and 0.9642 and the mean is 0/993417. The results of the Pearson correlation test showed a significant relationship between farm productivity and cognitive, human and technical skills of managers at the 99% level of confidence. Results of multivariate regression analysis showed that management skills, economic decision, pullet's ages, pullet capacity and geographical features farm have direct effects on productivity. Research limitation: According to research findings that confirm the effectiveness of the human and the perceptual dimension of managers on farm productivity, it is recommended that the effective factors on human and perceptual skills be investigated in future studies. Practical implication: Given the role of human, conceptual and technical skills of management in productivity improvement in the poultry sector, it is essential that, in addition to technical skills, human and conceptual skills steps are taken into consideration to improve effectiveness. Original/value: In this regard, this study is important that, so far, the effect of human perception and management skills to enhance agricultural productivity has not been assessed.