bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A comparison of self‐directed learning readiness in U.S. and Hong Kong samples and the implications for job performance
Authors: Guglielmino Paul J. , Roberts Donald G. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractA comparative study was made between 753 employees in a U.S. telecommunications company and 655 employees of a Hong Kong telecommunications utility in order to determine whether similarities and differences exist between learning style and job performance. The study revealed a positive relationship between readiness for self‐directed learning as measured by the Self‐Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) and job performance in both samples. In general, U.S. respondents scored higher than Hong Kong respondents on the scale.
Using the work group as a laboratory for learning: Increasing leadership and team effectiveness through feedback
Authors: Lawrence Harriet V. , Wiswell Albert K. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractAn experimental field study was conducted in a large municipal government to determine the effects of training designed to improve managers' interactions with their natural work groups. The SYMLOG Leadership Values Instrument was used to measure group and individual effectiveness on three bipolar behavioral characteristics (Dominance‐Submis‐siveness, Friendliness‐Unfriendliness, and Accepting‐Opposing Task Orientation of Established Authority) before and after training. Managers practiced feedback skills and group process methods in the workshop, applied them in the workplace, and received feedback in peer teams at the next session. A statistically significant difference was found, with the treatment group perceiving themselves and their natural teams as more effective and as characterized by greater Dominance and Friendliness. Thus, the increased use of feedback skills caused these managers to view themselves and their subordinate work groups as more proactive, engaged, and cohesive as a team.
Survey of bank sales training practice
Authors: Parker R. Stephen , Pettijohn Charles E. , Carner William 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThis study sought to determine the commitment that banks have made to providing their employees with sales training. The study, which uses a national sample, examines the amount and type of sales training provided and the general attitude held by management toward sales training. Results are given for eight areas: prospecting, approach, need identification, objections, close, postsales service, product knowledge, and self‐motivation. Chi‐square analysis was used to determine whether significant differences existed in the type of training received and asset size. Directions for future research are suggested.
Invited reaction: Level and strategy should and do make a difference!
Authors: Muschewske Robert C. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe preceding study did not yield results that supported the authors' hypotheses related to the effects of management level and corporate strategy on management development programs. I contend that this occurred primarily because of a reliance on outdated theories (Katz, 1974), inadequate categories of management development training program content (Burke & Day, 1986), and outdated and/or inappropriate strategy classifications (Hitt & Ireland, 1985) rather than because of a faulty premise—that management level and corporate strategy have an impact on management development programs. My research and consulting experience clearly indicate that they do.
A model for training research from the workers' perspective
Authors: Bjorkquist David C. , Lewis Theodore 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIndividuals are not inclined to think of themselves as human capital in the workplace. Workers are uniquely different from other factors of production because they make choices. Workers' perspectives need to be considered in human resource development, and a model for training research with this viewpoint is presented here. One axis of the model describes the workers' agenda: worker autonomy, compensation, health, and worker‐environment fit. The other axis identifies influences on training outcomes that must be considered in any training research: identification of performance deficiencies, learning conditions, and worker commitment. The literature that supports this model is reviewed, and examples of research questions generated by the model are provided.
Invited reaction: The necessary ingredient for authentic participation in the planning process for training is a labor union
Authors: Rosen Stanley 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe preceding article presents us with the sound proposal that the best quality and most effective training can be achieved by incorporating workers' inputs and perspectives. My response provides an analysis of power relations that questions whether any meaningful participation can take place where management goals and objectives dominate the training process. I propose that lacking a union, no meaningful participation can or will take place. Further, under all circumstances collaborative and participative research is required as a first step to ensure worker input.
Workplace social networks and their relationship to student retention in on‐site ged programs
Authors: Vann Barry A. , Hinton Barbara E. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractA food‐processing corporation hosted on‐site General Educational Development (GED) programs. Despite a monetary reward for completing the time‐and‐achievement criteria established by the host corporation, student retention was low. This study suggests that on‐site program planners should address the social environment of the workplace as a factor influencing student retention in GED programs conducted in workplace locations. The research examined the workplace socialization factors that affected whether 151 former students became program finishers or dropouts. Sixty‐eight former students participated in the study. Thirty‐one of the respondents were classified as program finishers, and 37 were classified as dropouts. The respondents completed a sociometric instrument that delineated their previous educational levels, their in‐plant networks' educational levels, and their in‐class clique status. A chi‐square test found a relationship between clique‐membership status and retention ([1, N = 68] = 10.83, p < .001). An analysis‐of‐variance (ANOVA) test found that the educational levels of the finishers' networks differed from those of the other groups, (F[3, 218] = 10.17, p < .01).
Power and the production of knowledge: Collective team learning in work organizations
Authors: Brooks Ann K. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractExtended and complex work environments have made it difficult for individuals to single‐handedly conceptualize and solve organizational problems. Recognizing the limited information and knowledge available to a single person and the potential creative power of teams, organizations have increasingly used teams to take on learning tasks such as product development, improvement of work processes, and strategic planning. In spite of the extensive research on groups and teams, little research has been conducted on how teams learn.This article draws on a qualitative multiple case study to identify team‐learning tasks, and then to examine how organizational structures make it difficult for low‐power members to carry out those learning tasks. It proposes that unequal formal power among employees is a “critical level” influencing the success or failure of learning teams and links the difficulties teams encounter to the culture and history of the United States.
A diagnostic model for team building with an illustrative application
Authors: Bottom William P. , Baloff Nicholas 
Published: July 2007

AbstractTeam building is a very popular HRD intervention. Yet research results have been mixed, providing little support for such widespread application. This study begins by examining the reasons for these inconsistent results. In general, researchers have failed to diagnose the appropriateness of team‐building interventions and to tailor interventions to the specific needs of teams. This in turn reflects the absence of an explicit theory of team building in which relevant variables are identified and related. To correct this, a group‐process model is proposed for purposes of diagnosis and for designing specific team‐building interventions. Application of this model is illustrated with an empirical study of team building utilizing a complex management‐simulation game with newly formed groups. The results illustrate the diagnostic application of the model and provide support for team building as a means of improving group effectiveness through its effect on group process in this situation. Implications for future team‐building research and for the practice of team building are discussed.
The impact of the imf on government expenditures: A study of african LDCs
Authors: Harris Geoff , Kusi Newman 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of IMF programmes on government expenditure allocations in African LDCs since the late 1970s. There was no obvious impact on expenditure by major economic function; for expenditure by type, only subsidies changed significantly as a proportion of central government expenditure. A more detailed analysis of military expenditure found that it was more likely to be cut in countries involved with the IMF. Possibly, the economic weaknesses which drove some countries to the IMF also caused them to cut military expenditure.
Aid, the public sector and the market in less developed countries: A return to the scene of the crime
Authors: Mosley Paul , Hudson John , Horrell Sara 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe paper returns to the question of what is the correct structural form for the relationship between aid, other financial flows, and economic growth rates, using a crosssection approach and – for the first time – data for the entire 1980s as well as the 1960s and 1970s. For the 1980s the aggregate partial regression coefficient of aid on growth emerges, for the first time, as positive and (just) significant, although this result does not survive the partitioning of the sample into sub‐groups. It remains obvious that the effect of aid on growth is country‐specific, and in the later part of the paper we test a new approach under which aid effectiveness passes through a cycle, first increasing and then diminishing as a country's stage of economic development alters. If this approach is accepted (and the initial results, with an informal test, are promising) the overall crosssection relationship between aid and growth, abstracting from other influences, will be neutral in most periods.
Interest group politics and the implementation of adjustment policies in sub‐Saharan Africa
Authors: Toye John 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe political assumptions underlying the structural adjustment programmes of the 1980s were initially derived from the theory of urban bias. This paper questions the validity of those assumptions, by reference to case studies of the implementation of adjustment policies in three sub‐Saharan African countries–Ghana, Malawi and Kenya. Attention is focused on the agricultural interests of the political elites in Kenya and Malawi as an impediment to implementation. A critique is then offered of the plea for authoritarian regimes as protagonists of economic liberalization. In conclusion, the prospects of using aid as leverage for political liberalization are discussed.
The effect of real exchange rate changes on output: Jamaica's devaluation experience
Authors: Rhodd Ruper T. G. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractDeveloping economies have relied upon devaluation to assist in the correction of fundamental disequilibrium in the balance of payment. As posited by conventional economic theory and proven by empirical research, a devaluation improves the balance of payments by reducing the demand for imports and increasing the supply of exports. However, recent research on devaluation insists that correction of the trade deficit occurs concurrently with income reduction. Using a three‐market Keynesian model, the conclusion reached in this research on the Jamaican economy is that a devaluation is contractionary in the short run and expansionary in the long run.
Housing investment and chinese rural development: Preliminary results from a survey in jiangsu province
Authors: Enjiang Cheng 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe high propensity of rural households to invest in housing following economic reforms in China is a consequence of increasing household income, the changing environment for investment in farm and non‐farm production in rural areas, and inflation experienced in China in recent years. The housing boom has important implications for rural investment and output, and for the development of rural construction and related industries.
War and underdevelopment: Can economic analysis help reduce the costs?
Authors: Stewart Frances 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIt is undeniable that wars impose enormous human, social and economic costs on the countries involved. It is equally true that wars, at the very least, undermine the process of development. Despite widespread recognition of these simple facts there is remarkably little economic analysis of the effects of war and of what can be done to mitigate these effects. This paper is a step towards reversing such neglect in economic literature. The paper outlines the routes through which war imposes human, development and economic costs. A typology of wars is presented and the available evidence on some 16 countries' experiences with war is reviewed. The routes through which wars impose costs are traced with a view to identifying some policy interventions that can mitigate the economic effects. Feasible policies include interventions which help to alleviate the impact of war, such as providing food and relief to maintain social services, and those which mitigate against long‐term costs by, for example, maintaining infrastructure. There are no simple solutions, but economic analysis of wars can assist in the design of policies to reduce the developmental costs associated with wars.
The new political economy and policy reform
Authors: Meier G. M. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractEconomists involved in offering policy advice to developing countries have often expressed frustration at the extent to which political factors within developing countries have thwarted the implementation of effective economic reform. While the focus of economic policy in the first few decades after World War II was on overcoming market failures, since the 1970s the focus has been on overcoming government failures. This paper examines how politics interacts with economic policy, in particular to consider if the new political economy can help us to achieve the political reform that seems essential if economic reform programmes are to be effective. The conclusion is that economic advice, and advisers, must understand the political environment within which policies will be implemented.
NGO income generation programmes for Afghan refugees in Pakistan
Authors: Sinclair Margaret 
Published: July 2007

AbstractNon‐governmental organization (NGO) income generation programmes for Afghan refugees in Pakistan comprise waged employment such as public works and production of relief goods, provision of income‐earning ‘starters’ such as seeds and poultry, microenterprise promotion, production and marketing schemes, environmental conservation and vocational training including apprenticeship. In the early 1980s more attention was given to waged employment. By 1990 the emphasis had changed to promotion of self‐employment of vulnerable groups, notably needy female heads‐of‐household and disabled men. Some activities were reserved for disabled men, mostly war victims, to avoid market saturation. Long‐standing international NGO programmes have formed a model for the many Afghan NGOs recently established to rehabilitate Afghanistan after the devastation caused by a decade of war.
Poverty alleviation in El Salvador: An appraisal of the Cristiani Government's social programme
Authors: Sollis Peter 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThis article appraises the social programme of the Cristiani Government which intends to meet the basic needs of the poorest sectors. It identifies three main components: an emergency programme undertaken during stabilization; a social investment fund intended to compensate those affected by structural adjustment; and long‐term restructuring of social service delivery. Each component is assessed in terms of the target group, donor support, institutional framework and monitoring and evaluation of impact. The article examines the claim that the model of social service delivery in El Salvador is a model for other Latin American countries. The conclusions reached are that programme congestion at the local level is likely to thwart attempts to decentralize service delivery, and that community participation is a key element in any attempt to reform the social sector.
Good science for public policy
Authors: Thompson Michael 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe paper shows how scientific research intended to identify and evaluate policy options incorporates social constructions of reality which make some assumptions appear plausible and others not. The point is not to argue the relativism of science, but rather to argue that there is a restricted set of social constructions, for example of the nature of the environment, broadly associated with different kinds of social groups. Good policy practice recognizes these plural rationalities.
The integration of financial and economic analysis in project analysis
Authors: Sell Axel 
Published: July 2007

AbstractEconomic analysis can be considered as an enlargement of the scope of financial analysis and is best based on the gross financial cash flow schedule. In a properly arranged income distribution table it is possible to split up the economic net benefit of a project into the investor's financial benefit and that of other parties involved, including the state. Multicriterion analysis cannot substitute for cost‐benefit analysis of typical development projects, but it might become a supporting tool to use in structuring decision problems if intangibles are of relevance.
Adjustment policy and agricultural development
Authors: Guillaumont Patrick 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThis paper surveys the main relations between adjustment policy and agricultural performance during the 1980s with special focus on African countries. Firstly it shows why adjustment may favour agricultural development. Then it considers why the implementation of the main policy measures may not lead to the expected results. Special attention is given to the exchange rate policy (strong currency depreciation is often associated with a decline in real producer prices), trade liberalization (and the conditions of an efficient producer price stabilization) and fiscal policy (decreasing fiscal deficit has different consequences on the agricultural sector depending on the tax increases and expenditure cuts).
Land reform in south africa: Options to consider for the future
Authors: van Zyl J. , van Rooyen C. J. , Kirsten J. F. , van Schalkwyk H. D. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe paper examines alternative modalities for the forthcoming process of land reform in South Africa. It is argued that the criteria of relieving rural poverty and maximizing allocative efficiency will conflict to some degree. However, it is possible to visualize a range of land reform options which encompass both of these objectives as a basis for the operations of the new multiracial government which will take office in South Africa on 27 April, 1994.
The use of aid money for debt reduction a view from inside
Authors: van Kesteren Karel 
Published: July 2007

AbstractA description is given of debt reduction operations funded with aid money from the Netherlands. On the basis of his experience in the Netherlands aid administration, the author draws some lessons from those operations, making a distinction between debt buy‐backs and debt swaps (the latter variety containing a local currency payment by the debtor government). The implications of those operations for the debtor's economy at large are reviewed, as is the parallel between reduction of bank debt and that of bilateral official debt. The detailed conclusions can serve as guidelines for those using aid money for debt reduction or considering that option.
Trade, aid and relative price changes in sub‐saharan africa in the 1980s
Authors: Helleiner G. K. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThis note suggests that sub‐Saharan countries have experienced declining terms of trade during the 1980s but also an increase in export diversification. On the evidence presented it is unlikely that those countries which have undertaken significant real devaluations in adjustment programmes in the 1980s now exhibit any significant distortion in respect of their real exchange rate.
Policy and technology for rice productivity growth in Asia
Authors: Rosegrant Mark W. , Pingali Prabhu L. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIn the past decade, declining rice prices, a slowdown in research expenditures and output growth, reduced irrigation investment and degradation of irrigated land, declining marginal returns to input use, and a stagnant technological yield frontier caused declining growth in rice yields per hectare in much of Asia. Future growth in rice productivity will increasingly come from improved management and efficiency of use of the resources utilized in rice production, in contrast to the rapid dissemination of modern technology which has been dominant in the past. The foundations for increased efficiency in rice production are greater investment in research, extension, and education to upgrade human capital, combined with establishment of economic incentives that reflect the social opportunity costs of scarce resources.
Recent demographic change in Tanzania: Causes, consequences and future prospects
Authors: Mturi Akim J. , Hinde P. R. Andrew 
Published: July 2007

AbstractFertility in Tanzania has declined from seven children per woman in the early 1980s to about six in the early 1990s. This trend is a result of a rise in the age at first marriage for women, a decline in infant and child mortality, a rise in the percentage of the population with education, and rural development. The continuing universal and prolonged breastfeeding also has a significant negative effect on fertility. A further fertility decline in Tanzania will depend mainly on the success of the family planning programme, which in turn will improve the performance of the economy, health, education, employment, agriculture and the environment. Mortality levels have declined but are still high owing to various factors, including short birth intervals, teenage pregnancies, the low status of women, the lack of adequate health services and facilities and a lack of proper programmes targeted at regions and families with relatively high mortality.
Expenditure reductions in developing countries revisited
Authors: Hicks Norman L. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractDuring the 1980s, various factors have caused developing countries to reduce government expenditures in real terms. In many countries, rising debt service burdens have squeezed non‐debt service expenditures. This paper examines data for 24 developing countries, to see which kinds of expenditures were cut and which were protected. In general, it finds that capital expenditures were reduced more than current expenditures. Among the various sectors of government expenditure, the social sectors and defence were relatively protected, while the productive and infrastructure sectors bore a relatively larger burden of the adjustments.