Employee management and animal care: a comparative ethnography of two large-scale dairy farms in China
department or school: Land and Food Systems, Faculty of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Chen, Maria
issued: 2021-04-14T19:11:54Z
issued: 2021
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Farm management can directly and indirectly affect animal care. I explored how farm management affected animal care on 2 large dairy farms in China (anonymized as Farm A and Farm B). I used a mini-ethnographic case study design, living for 38 days on Farm A and 23 days on Farm B. I conducted participant observation and ethnographic interviews with farm staff positions within 5 departments in Farm A and 6 departments in Farm B. In addition, I conducted 13 semi-structured interviews (7 on Farm A; 6 on Farm B). I used template analysis to generate key themes. On both farms, workers believed that animal care practices had improved over time, due to 3 key employee management factors: 1) organizational culture, 2) competency of worker and management, and 3) an effective incentive system. These results suggest that animal care may be improved in this context by: 1) promoting a culture in which workers have ‘grit’ and are eager to learn, 2) ensuring basic worker wellbeing, and 3) using animal care outcomes as performance indicators linked to pay.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/77776
note: EMPLOYEE MANAGEMENT AND ANIMAL CARE: A COMPARATIVE ETHNOGRAPHY OF TWO LARGE-SCALE DAIRY FARMS IN CHINA by Maria Chen B.Sc., The University of British Columbia, 2018 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Applied Animal Biology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April 2021 © Maria Chen, 2021 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, a thesis entitled: Employee management and animal care: ethnographies of two large-scale dairy farms in China submitted by Maria Chen in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Applied Animal Biology Examining Committee: Dr Daniel M. Weary, Professor, Animal Welfare Program, UBC Supervisor Dr Marina A. G. von Keyserlingk, Professor, Animal Welfare Program, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr Sabina Magliocco, Professor, Sociocultural Anthropology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr Susan Cox, Associate Professor, School of Population and Public Health, UBC Additional Examiner iii Abstract Farm management can directly and indirectly affect animal care. I explored how farm management affected animal care on 2 large dairy farms in China (anonymized as Farm A and Farm B). I used a mini-ethnographic case study design, living for 38 days on Farm A and 23 days on Farm B. I conducted participant observation and ethnographic interviews with farm staff positions within 5 departments in Farm A and 6 departments in Farm B. In addition, I conducted 13 semi-structured interviews (7 on Farm A; 6 on Farm B). I used template analysis to generate key themes. On both farms, workers believed that animal care practices had improved over time, due to 3 key employee management factors: 1) organizational culture, 2) competency of worker and management, and 3) an effective incentive system. These results …
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2021-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0396696
language: eng
degree discipline: Applied Animal Biology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/77776