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Communication Improvements

  • According to Tilt, UMSFP can effectively promote their cause and enhance communication with viewers when the site is visually pleasing, easily navigable, and provides relevant as well as forward-looking information. Specifically, we suggest that UMSFP condense the information on their website in order to improve navigability. 
  • According to Agarwal, viewers  are  concerned with a website's ability to appeal to their emotions and sense of community. The organization must know who their audience is, make clear what they  are promoting, and keep that information consistent. UMSFP can attract more followers by promoting a story that resonates with the rest of the student body. We recommend that UMSFP communicates this story on their website. We would encourage the members to link the organization back to U of M, Ann Arbor, and other aspects of the campus that define the U of M narrative.
  • The reading by Mero indicates that UMSFP could enhance student participation by using explicit links Twitter, Facebook, and other social media on their website. We recommend that these links be included on the home page. We also recommend collaborating with local news agencies, such as The Michigan Daily, to publicize their message as well as their Twitter or their Facebook page.  Publicizing the existence of specific social media outlets as well as frequent updates are imperative for this method of communication to work.


 



  • We recommend for UMSFP to acquire space to meet regularly. Meeting at a regular time and day will improve scheduling and will make meetings a part of the routine for members, and in turn increase attendance. If available, a permanent location will also help improve UMSFP's identity and presence on campus along with attendance rates.
  • ​We believe that communicating via social media will not only improve the flow of information among active members, but it will also improve recruitment by establishing a strong presence on the university's social network. Communicating via e-mail can be extremely inefficient and we believe the rate of members who open and read e-mails is disappointingly low. By forming a group on Facebook, it will increase viewership significantly.
  • An increased presence on campus can be very beneficial for UMSFP. Some examples of simple improvements are Diag events, elaborate attention-seeking posters, newsletters that are available in dining halls, etc.
  • Faculty involvement can enable the opportunity for them to not only offer advice, but also improve word-of-mouth significantly because even a single mention of UMSFP during a professor's lecture can reach the ears of a hundred students all at once that may be interested in joining.
  • Lastly, we recommend that the individual representative approach that is used currently in UMSFP be revamped to encourage more active involvement among all members of each group. The current policy puts all the pressure of information at a single choke point with the individual representative. This greatly increases the risk of information not properly flowing from the UMSFP board to the group members. A more direct communication line from the board to the members will alleviate this risk and improve overall communication.

    Sources:

    • Farming rows [Online image]. (2008). Retrieved April 13, 2012 from http://www.wallpaperpimper.com/wallpaper/Dual_Screen/Dual-Screen-Fields-Of-Root-Vegetables-2560x1024.jpg

    • Vegetables [Online image]. (2008). Retrieved April 13, 2012 from http://www.wallpaperpimper.com/wallpaper/Food/Vegetable/Vegetables-30-ZXC98HZNDI-1280x960.jpg​

Economic Improvements

  • Orr's studies lead us to recommend that larger amounts of interaction between groups will lead to higher productivity and a refocusing of members towards interacting with a variety of normative types. Our recommendation is for UMSFP to have more events where every group member meets and can network with other groups' members. This can prevent the manipulation effect, in which individuals feel that friendships are coerced within the group. By encouraging members to float freely between groups, opportunities for groups to realize more efficient economies of scales by shifting toward operating at minimum long-run average "costs", when members transfer from groups that are functioning in diseconomies of scale emerge. 
  • Based on the reading by Trond Peterson, we recommend that a funding-incentive scheme be instituted alongside the UMSFP budget allocation. By allocating funding based on performance, free riding is alleviated by mutual monitoring and the burden of monitoring is now shifted from the principal, UMSFP Board, to the agents, the group members.

Psychological Improvements

  • Based on the reading by Dovadio, we would recommend that UMSFP work to establish a single identity with which to champion their program. Focusing UMSFP in a single, established identity will improve goals and results to be more mutually beneficial among all of the groups in UMSFP.
  • We would recommend that UMSFP encourage each member group to investigate why students join UMSFP, why they stay a part of the coalition, and how they use the relevant projects outside UMSFP. What are the intrinsic motivations of the members, as well as the member groups? What are the external motivations? Could students receive a stipend from the university for research or community service hours for eco-restoration projects organized through UMSFP? Could environmentally-minded classes engage with UMSFP and do field work? Answering these questions can lead to better recruitment strategies.
  • For upcoming recruitment events such as Festifall, UMSFP should reevaluate how they frame their program and the respective member groups.  This will enable interested students to easily identify if they could see themselves fitting into a member group of UMSFP.
  • ​We recommend that UMSFP should make it a priority to develop intrinsic motivation by describing direct benefits of local and sustainable food at every opportunity available. Students who are intrinsically motivated are much more likely to engage in the task being described and change their behavior, which will lead to higher membership retention rates.

General Recommendations

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