低收入国家的农村金融市场:最近的争论和教训

贷款的拖欠及呆帐已经干扰了低收入国家的农业信贷计划,尤其是农业发展银行。不难发现,拖欠贷款,甚至在再贷款之后,占未偿清贷款的30％以上。会计报表可能将贷款问题掩盖起来,而这些问题往往要比资金报告里所提到的问题严重得多。大量文献论述了低收入国家拖欠贷款问题,尤其关于农业信贷和公共部门的发展银行。文献里的传统观点是,借款人拖欠贷款有两种原因:他们没能力偿还贷款,或者他们不愿偿还贷款。不能偿还贷款的原因可能是收入不足,收入不足可以解释为偶然事件造成的,如坏天气、虫灾、价格突然下跌,或者由于结构上的缺陷,如不适当市场、基础设施或技术等。不愿偿还贷款的主要原因是:贷款被视为福利补贴或政治资助。或者更简单些,借款人从借款时就不打算还款,因此将贷款转入消费支出。     

Manage your human sigma

If sales and service organizations are to improve, they must learn to measure and manage the quality of the employee-customer encounter. Quality improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma are extremely useful in manufacturing contexts, but they're less useful when it comes to human interactions. To address this problem, the authors have developed a quality improvement approach they refer to as Human Sigma. It weaves together a consistent method for assessing the employee-customer encounter and a disciplined process for managing and improving it. There are several core principles for measuring and managing the employee-customer encounter: It's important not to think like an economist or an engineer when assessing interactions because emotions inform both sides' judgments and behavior. The employee-customer encounter must be measured and managed locally, because there are enormous variations in quality at the work-group and individual levels. And to improve the quality of the employee-customer interaction, organizations must conduct both short-term, transactional interventions and long-term, transformational ones. Employee engagement and customer engagement are intimately connected--and, taken together, they have an outsized effect on financial performance. They therefore need to be managed holistically. That is, the responsibility for measuring and monitoring the health of employee-customer relationships must reside within a single organizational structure, with an executive champion who has the authority to initiate and manage change. Nevertheless, the local manager remains the single most important factor in local group performance. A local manager whose work group shows suboptimal performance should be encouraged to conduct interventions, such as targeted training, performance reviews, action learning, and individual coaching.     

An evaluation of the effectiveness of televised road safety messages in Ghana

The goal was to evaluate the effectiveness of recent televised advertisements conducted by the National Road Safety Commission in Ghana. These concerned speeding and alcohol-impaired driving and were targeted towards commercial drivers. Focus group discussions were conducted with 50 commercial drivers in four cities. Discussions addressed coverage, clarity and appropriateness of messages, including suggestions for improvements. Most discussants indicated that the messages were clear and appropriate. Television reached all participants in this urban group. However, they felt that other modes of communication, such as flyers and radio, should also be used to reach drivers who did not own televisions. A particular problem was language. The advertisements had been in English and Akan (the most common vernacular language). Participants wanted the messages diversified into more of the major Ghanaian languages. Some participants were unclear on the behaviour that the advertisements were telling viewers to take. Participants advocated greater involvement by police in road safety and called for laws banning the sale of alcohol at bus stations. The advertisements reached and were understood by most of the target audience. Opportunities for strengthening the messages included using other media; increasing the number of languages; and stressing the change in behaviour being recommended. Overall road safety activities would be strengthened by increasing accompanying law enforcement activities related to speed and alcohol-impaired driving. To the authors' knowledge this is the first formal evaluation of a road safety social marketing programme in a low-income sub-Saharan African country. This evaluation will hopefully assist Ghana and other similar countries in strengthening road safety work.     

Nursing career fulfillment: statistics and statements from registered nurses

A state-level survey of registered nurses confirmed national findings and raised new issues. Findings revealed that while nurses love the intrinsic reward of nursing, they report workplace, relationship, and stress issues which contribute to frustration and exhaustion. These issues may prevent registered nurses from giving the nursing care they desire to deliver, hastening preventable retirement and costly turnover decisions.     

Building a clinical ladder for ambulatory care

Finding innovative rewards for nursing service will be integral in meeting the challenges of future shortages of nursing staff. A clinical ladder is one tool worth exploring and perfecting to address those challenges. Exploration of a case study demonstrates a method for developing a clinical ladder. Steps and pitfalls in developing a clinical path are illustrated. Future uses, benefits, and opportunities for clinical ladders are suggested.