Validation of the Identification Method of Management Degree (MIGG) using the methodology of focus groups

This study aimed to validate the Identification Method of Management Degree (MIGG) as a tool for diagnosis and intervention, applicable in various activities of agricultural production. The MIGG aims to provide information to producers to enhance their economic activity and turn it into an organized and profitable business over time. Their design aimed to develop a questionnaire for quick and easy application, able to classify the levels of management of economic activities with varying degrees of organization. This classification provides nine levels of management, from the most elementary to the highest, considered excellent. This classification system allows the establishment comparisons between companies, production processes, technological levels and regions. It can also assist in assessing the competitiveness of local arrangements for sustainable regional development. The method includes parameters of leadership, strategy, planning, customers, society, information, knowledge, people, processes and results. It also lets you point strengths and weaknesses and indicate corrective actions to the constant pursuit of quality in the processes. To validate the MIGG, we used the methodology of focus groups, defined as a special type of group interviews. The focus group participants should be connoisseurs of the subject under review and are free to express their opinions. The purpose of the discussion should be well defined to encourage the effective participation of the group in the validation process. Researchers should record the entire interview so they can extract the maximum information from the discussions. To organize the agenda for discussion a researcher acts as moderator, preventing dispersions. The recommended number of participants in a focus group is 10-12 people. In this work, the group was composed of rural entrepreneurs in the coffee sector. All of them are members of the Association of Coffee Growers of Western Bahia (ABACAFÉ), Brazil. These entrepreneurs form a homogeneous group with regard to the technology used in coffee production, particularly regarding the use of irrigation, mechanization of farming and harvesting, and environmental conditions of cultivation. This uniformity is desirable in the use of the methodology of focus groups. Each group participants responded to the questionnaire MIGG, and evaluated the appropriateness and relevance of the parameters that make up this method. From this focus group discussions, adjustments in the wording of some questions were made, but without any need to change their content, which confirmed the validity of the method.