bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Administering rural development: Have goals outreached organizational capacity?
Authors: Wunsch James S. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIn a comparative analysis of 15 rural development projects the author finds five problem areas in their administration: project economics; design and location of infrastructure; design of project technical outputs (‘software’); support services; and maintenance and management of infrastructure. All but one of the projects reviewed were severely hampered by one or more of these problems. The author suggests that these problem areas are caused by three general patterns: disjunction between project designers and managers' working models of reality and reality in the field; goal conflict among diverse agencies involved; and the simple technical complexity of the rural development task. The author concludes by noting these three patterns are found throughout developed countries as well as the less developed, but may have more severe consequences in the less developed because of the absence of organizational and social redundancy to catch, correct and circumvent these perhaps unavoidable features of centraliy administered, complex projects. Fewer, but more organizationally enriched, projects may do more for rural development than the current pattern where many donors each design many projects, overwhelming at times the organizational capacity of less developed countries.
The practice and effect of development planning in Bangladesh
Authors: Hasnath Syed Abu 
Published: July 2007

AbstractDevelopment planning in Bangladesh has not been conspicuously successful. Neverthless it is essential for the nation to continue to plan its economy. Bangladesh's plans must be explored within the context of the economic and sociopolitical constraints that are placed upon the plan and its implementation. The First Five Year Plan (FFYP) was prepared within the framework of a socialist economy but not implemented accordingly. The attitude of the government was a major factor in the eventual distortion of this plan. The mobilization of national resources and their allocation, land reforms, subsidy measures, and industrial policies pursued by the government appeared to protect group interests rather than following recommendations of the plan. A bitter triangular relationship emerged among the politicians, the bureaucrats and the planners. This can explain why the implementation of the plan fell short of what was minimally expected. Subsequent plans, unlike the FFYP which placed high priority on social sectors, have been formulated in favour of the more productive sectors of agriculture and manufacturing. The outcome has been a modest increase in economic growth, but inequality and poverty have tended to perpetuate themselves. To achieve growth with social equality, planning in Bangladesh appears to need strong public commitment and bureaucratic support, the absence of which may prove to make national development planning ineffective, if not counterproductive.
Improving the project identification process in agricultural development
Authors: Smith Peter 
Published: July 2007

AbstractMany development initiatives fail because of the way the basic concepts of development relating to the stimulation of agricultural production are generated. The problem with the conventional approach to project identification is that it fails to take into account key decision‐makers (local farmers and other interested groups) and to address the problem of rationality. The accurate identification of farmers' constraints is crucial to the design of projects if these are to have the desired results. Problems resulting from the current approach to project identification are illustrated by the group farming projects in Uganda, and tubewell projects in Bangladesh. The activities of the typical project cycle are unfavourably compared with a decision paradigm, and are related to professional bias, semantic confusion and ‘groupthink’. Nine workable prescriptions are offered.
The ‘new’ policy approach to housing: A review of the literature
Authors: Nientied Peter , Linden Jan Van Der 
Published: July 2007

AbstractA new convention of ‘self‐help housing’ has become established over the past 20 years. However, a close examination of the literature shows that this approach is not widely implemented, but remains largely at the level of showcase projects; moreover the lowest income groups are usually not the principal beneficiaries of sites‐and‐service schemes. The literature gives evidence of powerful political, administrative and economic interests against the large‐scale legal delivery of sites‐and‐services, and in favour of the continued dependence of the poor on illegal access.
Civil service policies in Indonesia: An obstacle to decentralization?
Authors: King Dwight Y. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractDecentralization of a substantial portion of development activity under Indonesia's New Order has been attempted in the context of centralizing civil service reforms. This analysis, based on field observation in two areas distant from the ‘bureaucratic centre’ of Java, South Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara in early 1986, shows some ways in which the structure of the civil service and recent policies governing it have handicapped regional governments in their attempts to develop an apparatus capable of managing decentralization. For example, the structure often leads local officials to prefer rank over technical qualifications in appointments to managerial positions. The analysis also shows how they cope and attempt to maintain their legal prerogatives vis‐à‐vis the central government. In conclusion policy recommendations are offered that would help to achieve a better balance between the New Order's concerns for centralization and decentralization.
Manpower planning and development in an organization
Authors: Fyfe John 
Published: July 2007

AbstractManpower planning has in the past relied too much on the forecasting of manpower requirements in an organization or a society. It should be more concerned with gaining a better understanding of people, and how to develop and match their skills to what organizations or societies require. Employees should be involved in the formulation of manpower policy objectives. Manpower planning involves a ‘stocktaking’ of the workforce and its skills; forecasting the future demand and supply of skills; and diagnostic approach so that adjustments can be made to meet organizational and/or country objectives. The essence of the diagnostic approach is in the understanding of the reasons for any imbalance between the supply of and demand for manpower.
Disbursement, decentralization and development: Lessons from the first rural health services project in Papua New Guinea
Authors: Thomason Jane A. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIn 1983 the Department of Health in Papua New Guinea decentralized the control of health services to provincial governments. In the same year a major rural health development project commenced in six of the nineteen provinces. Conflict arose between the centralized control required by the project and the decentralized health system. This article reviews the experience of the project implementators in trying to reconcile the philosophy and reality of decentralization with the centralized project design. Lessons point to the need for closer collaboration with beneficiaries during project design, formal clarification of responsibilities of national and provincial governments in implementation, institutional strengthening as a project input and the development of mechanisms for review and change during the course of implementation.
Cost‐utility assessment: Planning with local decisionmakers in developing countries
Authors: Spear Sherilynn F. , Bruegge Ellen Vor Der , Hamilton Charles B. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIn the past decade countries and donor agencies have endorsed health policies which (1) give a very broad definition of health, (2) see the pursuit of health as part of the development process, and (3) emphasize the local community's and local decision‐maker's participation in the planning of health projects. Despite these broad principles, health delivery systems in developing countries have access to a very limited set of resources. Health planners are faced with the dilemma of creating cost‐effective programmes while recognizing the need to take into account the broad definition of health and the importance of local participation in planning. This dilemma has led to a division between those planners who put greater emphasis on the use of cost analysis techniques in which the decision‐making process rests more with professional planners (often outside consultants) vs those who emphasize greater local control of the decision‐making process. The purpose of this paper is to present a study in which two alternative approaches to cost utility analysis were used. Consideration was given both to the actual cost analysis strategy and to the integration of the cost variable into the total decision‐making process. Finally, major emphasis was placed on including local decision‐makers in the planning process and providing them with feasible and understandable decision‐making tools.
Credit and the rural poor: The changing policy environment in Bangladesh
Authors: Allister McGregor J. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThis paper reviews the changing policy environment as regards credit for development in rural Bangladesh. The experiences of a range of both successful and failed formal credit interventions in rural areas are employed to reflect upon the adequacy of the currently dominant analytical approach, (Rural Financial Markets) to credit for development. The importance for the rural poor of the quality of access to credit is stressed and the political economy of access is examined. Nevertheless, the ‘Rural Financial Market’ analysis has directed recent credit policy shifts in Bangladesh, and the paper moves on to consider the implications of this for development organisations/projects seeking to work with the formal banking system. A typology of the forms of relationship between projects and the banking system is introduced and a case study of proposals for a line of credit for a production and employment generation programme is presented. This case study seeks to explore the possibilities of restructuring the access situation with respect to formal credit given the current policy environment. The paper concludes by raising some of the broader consequences of the policy changes for the rural development strategies in Bangladesh.
Democratic decentralization or political consolidation: The case of local government reform in Karnataka
Authors: Slater Richard , Watson John 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIn 1987 the Indian State of Karnataka implemented panchayat reform legislation. The ideological orientation of the Janata Government's reforms is considered, together with the question of whether stronger local government in India increases the state's autonomy within the federation. The Karnataka reforms are expected to be significantly different from the reforms enacted in other states. Participation by marginalized groups may assist the Janata party in incorporating them into its network of patronage. Local level planning has been made more effective. The legislation gives the zilla parishad control over the line departments of the State Government. Administrative power is likely to experience increased local political direction. However the financial independence of the zilla parishad is by no means assured. The final outcome will also depend upon the attitude towards the reform of the Congress Party, anxious about its power base in the Karnataka countryside.
Exploring normative commitment with Nigerian extension workers
Authors: Munene J. C. , Dul R. D. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThis paper explores normative commitment using a sample of 60 agricultural extension workers in a voluntary rural development programme. Organizational commitment is related to participation, standardization, and coordination in order to examine their relative influence on the visit effort of extension agents. Age, education, salary, tenure, position, and participation did not have any influence on normative commitment, whereas standardization negatively influenced it. Commitment, along with red tape, influenced visit efforts. Two major conclusions emerge. The first is that traditional personal and role‐related antecedents of commitment may be related to instrumental but not to normative commitment. The second is that normative commitment can predict behaviour outcomes in public organizations.
Policy reform and rural development assistance in Tanzania
Authors: Kleemeier L. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractTanzania for a long time refused to reform its economic policies along the lines recommended by the World Bank and IMF. Eventually the foreign exchange crisis forced the government to make the changes advocated by its own pragmatic economists and the Western donor community. The reforms were necessary, but not a panacea for all the problems which had plagued rural development programmes over the past decade. Three big problems still face basic‐needs programmes: the government administration has very little capacity to manage or back up programmes; neither the national nor district governments can afford them; and rural residents have not compensated for either of these deficiencies through their own participation and contributions. This article looks at two basic‐needs programmes in the rural water supply sector to illustrate how these long‐standing problems continue to affect implementation. Both programmes are funded and implemented by donors. The conclusion is that donors have not been sufficiently self‐conscious and innovative in grappling with the more intractable problems facing rural programme assistance in Tanzania.
Local government involvement in national development planning; guidelines for project selection based upon Nigeria's Fourth Plan experience
Authors: Koehn Peter 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThis article is concerned with effective local government participation at the project selection stage in the development planning process. The context for analysis is Nigeria's first experience with local involvement in national planning. A novel evaluation scheme is elaborated and applied in assessing the proposals submitted by two local governments, Kaduna and Bauchi, for inclusion in the Fourth National Development Plan. The findings reveal serious distortions in both local development plans and demonstrate the utility of employing an uncomplicated multidimensional impact analysis scheme in the evaluation and selection of project proposals.
Chinese decision‐making: A case study of how the Hexian Paper Pulp Project was accepted for possible inclusion in China's seventh Five‐Year Plan
Authors: Stewart Sally , Choi Yeung Yun 
Published: July 2007

AbstractForeign firms working in the People's Republic of China (PRC) are usually aware that the earlier they can discover what projects have been approved the easier it is for them to become involved. Very little, however, seems to have been written about the actual process by which projects are in fact decided upon and resources allocated. This case study examines the steps by which a proposal for a pulp mill moved in the space of less than two years from its originator in a remote county to the agenda of the Sixth National People's Congress in Beijing. The dramatic opening up of the PRC to outside influences is clearly demonstrated by the fact that a foreign banker, a Hong Kong entrepreneur and an overseas consultant all played important roles in establishing the feasibility of the project at the early stages. The involvement of various official bodies, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Beijing, in the decision process is traced and the way in which personal links and informal methods of communication helped the proposal to get bureaucratic approval very quickly is shown.
Development administration in the small developing state: A review
Authors: Schahczenski Jeffery J. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractAuthors of recent case studies of the political and administrative practices of small developing states continue to disagree about the consequences of ‘smallness’ in promoting development. This paper reviews these arguments and attempts to clarify the issues surrounding the factor of state size and its impact on the relationship between politics and administration. The most important difficulty with providing any resolution to these arguments is the continued lack of comparative studies of administrative problems and potentials in small developing states.
Team Management and Development in Montserrat and Anguilla
Authors: Kersell J. E. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe British constitutional and political traditions of the Crown Colonies of Montserrat and Anguilla have been modified by their unique histories, particularly in a common commitment to team management. Some senior public servants in Montserrat are reluctant to acknowledge the virtues of a team approach, but their more junior colleagues have been given training in team techniques which has laid a firm foundation for team work and collective management. Professional effectiveness and job satisfaction have increased. The principles of team management are reciprocity, disposition for agreement, fairness, honesty, mutual trust and confidentiality. However the reluctant leadership of some Permanent Secretaries produces frustration and problems of morale. The Permanent Secretary level is the last to be impregnated with the team administration philosophy in Anguilla, too. But team management is recognized as necessary for building consensus and for the smooth running of a small public service. Subordinates employing team techniques have been assessed by their superiors as more successful in staff‐management relations, policymaking and productivity than traditional, hierarchical managers. Team techniques have been carried over into a number of small businesses on the island. This phenomenon is unique among the United Kingdom's West Indian colonies. The problems of team management include time and accountability.
Function‐oriented and functionally indirect expansion as bureaucratic responses to modernization: Yhe case of the Royal Hong Kong police
Authors: Ng‐Quinn Michael 
Published: July 2007

AbstractUsing the Hong Kong police as an empirical case, this paper explains how a public bureaucracy attempts to respond to the pressures of modernization through two types of expansion, one direct, the other indirect. In this case, functionally indirect expansion is represented by an overconcentration of control through excessive hierarchic layers and by an incommensurate relationship between ranks and functions. Function‐oriented expansion‐ aside from regular bureaucratic expansion in size that corresponds to increased functions and tasks resulting from population growth and modernization‐also takes the forms of inspection, professionalization, and externalization. Functionally indirect expansion may be potentially beneficial but also wasteful. To the extent that social prosperity, which renders bureaucratic waste affordable and tolerable, may not last forever, the rationalization of functionally indirect expansion and the promotion of function‐oriented expansion are in order.
Effect of ABS grafting degree and compatibilization on the properties of PBT/ABS blends
Authors: Sun Shulin , Tan Zhiyong , Zhou Chao , Zhang Mingyao , Zhang Huixuan 
Published: July 2007

AbstractBlends of PBT/ABS and PBT/ABS compatibilized with styrene‐acrylonitrile‐glycidyl methacrylate (SAG) copolymer were prepared by melt blending method. Grafting degree (GD) of ABS influences the morphology and mechanical properties of PBT/ABS blends. ABS can disperse in PBT matrix uniformly and PBT/ABS blends fracture in ductile mode when ABS grafting degree is more than 44.8%, otherwise, agglomeration takes place and PBT/ABS blends fracture in brittle way. On the other hand, the grafting degree of ABS has no obvious influence on the morphology of PBT/ABS blends and PBT/ABS blends fracture in ductile mode when SAG is incorporated since the compatibilization effect. However, PBT/SAG/ABS blends display much lower impact strength values comparing with PBT/ABS when the blends fracture in ductile way. Side reactions in PBT/SAG/ABS blends were analyzed and which were the main reason for the decrease of impact strength of PBT blends. Tensile tests show that the tensile strength and tensile modulus of PBT blends decrease with the increase of ABS grafting degree due to the higher effective volume. PBT/SAG/ABS blends display much higher tensile properties than PBT/ABS blends since the compatibilization effect. POLYM. COMPOS., 28:484–492, 2007. © 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers
Knowledges about herbal products among subjects on warfarin therapy and patient–physician relationship: a pilot study
Authors: Cuzzolin Laura , Francini‐Pesenti Francesco , Zaffani Silvana , Brocadello Filippo , Pengo Vittorio , Bassi Antonella , Benoni Giuseppina 
Published: July 2007

AbstractPurposeThe purpose of our study was to analyse behaviours and patient–physician relationship about phytotherapy among a sample of Italian patients on warfarin therapy for atrial fibrillation.MethodsDuring a 4‐month study period, interviews of patients on warfarin therapy, followed regularly in the medical laboratories to monitor INR values, were conducted on the basis of a pre‐structured 25‐item questionnaire.ResultsAmong a study population of 294 patients, 69 subjects reported to have been taking one or more phytotherapic products in the last year in combination with warfarin. Users were mostly in the age group >50 years and had a low level of education. Five out of 69 patients reported side effects, while 16/69 referred an unstable INR value. The majority of our subjects considered phytotherapy useful and without risks.ConclusionsThe present survey highlights the potential risk of confidence with the ‘natural world’, the lack of discussion on this argument among health care providers and patients on warfarin therapy and the need to monitor strictly the INR value. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Preparation, characterization, and chiral recognition of optically active polymers containing pendent chiral units via reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer polymerization
Authors: Wang Jian , Zhu Xiulin , Cheng Zhenping , Zhang Zhengbiao , Zhu Jian 
Published: July 2007

AbstractOptically active polymers bearing chiral units at the side chain were prepared via reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization in the presence of 2,2′‐azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN)/benzyl dithiobenzoate (BDB), using a synthesized 6‐O‐p‐vinylbenzyl‐1,2:3,4‐Di‐O‐isopropylidene‐D‐galactopyranose (VBPG) as the monomer. The experimental results suggested that the polymerization of the monomer proceeded in a living fashion, providing chiral group polymers with narrow molecular weight distributions. The optically active nature of the obtained poly (6‐O‐p‐vinylbenzyl‐1,2:3,4‐Di‐O‐isopropylidene‐D‐galactopyranose) (PVBPG) was studied by investigating the dependence of specific rotation on the molecular weight of PVBPG and the concentration of PVBPG in tetrahydrofuran (THF). The results showed the specific rotation of PVBPG increased greatly with the decrease of the concentration of the PVBPG homopolymer. In addition, the effect of block copolymers of PVBPG on the optically active nature was also investigated by preparing a series of diblock copolymers of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)‐b‐PVBPG, polystyrene (PS)‐b‐PVBPG, and poly(methyl acrylate) (PMA)‐b‐PVBPG. It was found that both the homopolymer and the diblock copolymers possessed specific rotations. Finally, the ability of chiral recognition of the PVBPG homopolymer was investigated via an enantiomer‐selective adsorption experiment. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 3788–3797, 2007