IIHFD
Annual Reports
June 1995
Human Factor Issues in the History of Economic Underdevelopment
Fidelis Ezeala-Harrison, Department of Economics, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, N.B.
In this paper I expound on how and why economic underdevelopment in present-day less developed countries (LDCs) can be attributed largely to what I refer to as human factor (HF) depravity, as against HF inadequacy per se, on the parts of both the LDCs concerned, and the larger external elements, that have contributed to their perpetual underdevelopment. The pertinent issues of economic development and underdevelopment in the LDCs: Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, are considered from their historical standpoints. The role of the HF is traced through the course of the trends, and views are expressed as to how lessons from these could be used to guide the efforts to combat poverty and underdevelopment in LDCs.
Development Research and Africa's Development Crisis
Benjamin Ofori-Amoah, Department of Geography and Geology, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
This paper examines the role of development research in the current crisis of Africa's development. The paper argues that development research has contributed towards the current development impasse in Africa because it has suffered from three main weaknesses or syndromes. The first is the saturation hypothesis syndrome, which causes developoment researchers to conceive development problems and issues in Africa in terms of what is currently considered the most important in developed countries. The second is the extrapolation syndrome which causes development researchers to use development experiences elsewhere as guides to development research in Africa, irrespective of the local context. The third is the overgeneralization syndrome which causes researchers to grossly overgeneralize their research findings to cover the entire continent. The paper offers practical ways to remedy these syndromes.
Is Africa's Development a Basket Case?
Francis Adu-Febiri, Department of Social Sciences, Camosun College
This paper examines the prospects of African development from a positive perspective. Since the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the international community, Western media and academia have increasingly focused on the non-sustainable aspects of Africa's development. They highlight the failures, disasters, crises and tragedies of Africa. This has created a sense of despondency among Africans and non-Africans alike. The paper seeks to emphasize that it is high time we put the success cases and strengths of African societies in the lime-light. The objective is to convey a message of hope and to show that Africa still possesses the basic ingredients to compose a recipe of sustainable development. If after 200 years of Africa's occupation by European colonizers it could mobilize and organize a force dynamic enough to drive out the foreign usurpers, Africa could also break the yoke of underdevelopment by developing and applying its human factor (HF) effectively.
A Productivity and Quality Enhancement Model for African Managers
Senyo Adjibolosoo, Faculty of Business and Economics, Trinity Western University
This paper develops a theoretical model for determining how much of existing resources must be put into monitoring development programs in African countries (ACs), and suggests how to go about determining the most efficient level of monitoring that is required for improving average labor productivity of both skilled and unskilled labor in Africa. It also analyzes how business managers in ACs can better choose labor productivity and quality enhancement techniques. It is argued that with the availability of the human factor (HF), it would be unnecessary to channel too many of the available resources into monitoring programs. This is so because employees who have acquired the HF will require little or no monitoring to be productive.
The Human Factor and the Quality of Health Care in Rural Ghana
Joseph R. Oppong, Department of Geography, University of North Texas, and J. Rafael Toledo, Department of Psychology, University of North Texas
Health problems in African countries have been attributed primarily to the shortage and maldistribution of health inputs including personnel and supplies. The obvious policy approach becomes improving the quantity and distribution of such resources as physicians, nurses, hospitals and medical supplies. Foreign donations feature prominently in this strategy. While negative manifestations of the human factor (HF) such as drug thefts and fake drugs are acknowledged, they continue to be neglected in trying to find solutions to the health problems. This paper argues that until the problems of HF decay and/or underdevelopment are properly addressed in health care policy, efforts to improve the quality of, and access to, health care will yield minimal results.
Racism and Economic Development
Mahamudu Bawumia, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University
This paper argues that the traditional explanations for racism, in failing to distinguish between inter-racial from intra-racial racism, are ad hoc. Racism is explained as the result of different levels of economic development among races. In this respect, racial attitudes toward a particular race will change as economic development proceeds in their perceived "nation" of origin.
The Role of the Human Factor and Co-Management in Managing the Sardinella Fishery of Ghana
Moses Acquaah, Faculty of Business Administration, Simon Fraser University, and Senyo Adjibolosoo, Faculty of Business and Economics, Trinity Western University
Pelagic fish stocks are the most frequently harvested fish along the West African coastline. Ghana is fortunate to be endowed with abundant pelagic fishery resources, especially the sardinella stock. However, the sardinella resources have been over-exploited in recent years by the application of excessive effort in the fishery. This is due to the low level of income and lack of alternative employment opportunities for the fishermen, the common property and open access nature of the fishery resource. This paper evaluates the causes of over fishing in the sardinella fishery and argues that the devolution of responsibilities to fishermen organizations' offer an effective and efficient means of regulating and managing the sardinella resource in Ghana. The effectiveness of this approach in the regulation and management of the fishery resource would, however, depend on the role of the human factor (HF).
Developing Trust in Undergraduate Students Influences Their Later Professional-Client Relationships
Robin G. Dalziel, Faculty of Business and Economics, Trinity Western University
The relationship between professor and student builds the foundation for all future professional - client relationships. The ethics and character traits of key professors will have an impact on the student's later professional life. If a professor models a high level of ethic behaviour and expects professional conduct from the student, then the student will benefit. The best transfer of these traits occurs when the student trusts the professor. The professor needs to model and build trust with the students who are taking his or her courses. This paper argues that in the accounting field the qualitative characteristics of being a professional often carry more weight than being good at accounting procedures or standards. The paper notes further that an interpersonal relationship between accountant and client, that is based on trust, integrity, competence, and objectivity, is crucial. It is pointed out in the current paper that as a professor models these traits in a mentoring relationship, students are more likely to exemplify them after graduation.
December 1995
Rethinking the Sources of Economic Underdevelopment in Ghana
Senyo Adjibolosoo, Faculty of Business & Economics, Trinity Western University
Since Ghana achieve political independence from Britain in 1957, it has struggled for almost four decades to attain economic growth and development. The desire to develop economically led various Ghanaian governments to pursue economic development plans, policies, programs and projects that have been deemed to be relevant to the development process. However, regardless of how many attempts that have been made at the development program, very little has been accomplished. At the present moment, the highly celebrated structural adjustment program (SAP) seems to be faultering. The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Government of Ghana are having a hard time in determining what it is that is denying the SAP the expected success. In view of this observation, the primary objective of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the SAP on the well-being of Ghanaians and human factor (HF) development. The critical impact of the HF on the performance of the SAP is also evaluated. Using data collected through questionnaires and interviews, the paper argues that top level development experts are not only confused and ignorant about the actual causes of Ghana's underdevelopment, but also fail to perceive that the so called market solution will not work in Ghana in the presence of HF decay and/or underdevelopment. The paper concludes that unless the relevant HF is developed in Ghana, economic development will not happen even in a million years.
The Constraining Factors That Undermine Technological Development and Effective Utilization of Scientific Manpower: The Nigerian Experience
Chikwendu Christian Ukaegbu, Department of Sociology/Anthropology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and Department of Sociology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, U.S.A.
Individuals who apply their labor to production situations must be motivated so that their mental and physical abilities can be effectively utilized. That is not the case with Nigerian scientists and engineers. Using data from two field studies conducted in 1980 and 1990, this paper argues that although nonmotivating working conditions tend to inhibit the effective utilization of scientific and technological manpower and technological development, the fundamental constraint lies in the persistence of governance structures that nuture, promote and sustain human factor decay. Nigeria's quest for technological development should therefore start with the emergence of a political leadership that has positive or appropriate human factor.
Structural Adjustment and African Formal Wood-Processing Sector (1983-1991)
J. Henry Owusu, Department of Geography, University of Connecticut
In 1983, Ghana embarked on an economic recovery program known as the structural adjustment program (SAP) under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and other donar agencies. Ghana's SAP, the economic recovery program (ERP) has been acclaimed internationally as a success story, especially in the corridors of the World Bank. This paper examines the political economy of Ghana's ERP and its effects, relative to the development of nationally integrated economies in sub-Saharan Africa. It uses evidence from the formal wood-processing industry, a key sector of the Ghanaian economy, to show that contrary to the claims of success by the sponsors, the program, like the classical "Trojan horse," is a snare. Through mechanisms like sector adjustment loans (SECALs), the program has snared Ghana into accumulating substantial external debts; reinforced its external dependence; and stymied the development of a crucial nationally integrated economy. These occurred as international capital reaped tremendous benefits in such forms as huge profits; assured and increased supplies of cheap raw materials; and dependable markets. The successful delivery of the "Trojan horse" and the unloading of its developmentally devastating contents were facilitated largely, by human factor (HF) decay and/or underdevelopment.
Human Factor Engineering For Development in Africa: The Role of Social Rituals
Francis Adu-Febiri, Department of Social Sciences, Camosun College, Victoria, Canada
We need a paradigm shift in develoopment thinking and practice to bring Africa from the slippery side to the solid side of the development mountain. The International Institute for Human Factor Development (IIHFD) Society is committed to making this happen in developing countries. The Institute's research agenda will help developing countries, especially, those in Africa, to accomplish this shift. To be able to achieve this valuable task, the research agenda of the IIHFD Society should not focus on formal education and training programs alone. It must also study the techniques of social rituals to discover the relevance to human factor (HF) engineering in African countries. Given the pre-colonial experiences of African societies and the realities of contemporary Africa's social dynamics, this paper argues that the social rituals technique can be used to complement effectively formal education and training programs to produce the necessary HF required for the realization of Africa's development dream. Social rituals, focusing on HF development, could contribute substantially to the generation of the strong emotional energy needed to empower Africans and Africanists to develop and use the critical human qualities of responsibility, accountability, integrity, honesty, loyalty, commitment, hard work, self-discipline and the like.
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