The “Four Public Servants”

Public sector is an interesting sector that has so much influence on governments. Employees in the sector usually referred to as public servants have very strong bargaining power and form an important group that every government would hope never to wrong as any slip by government may result in agitations. It is a group that is so pampered because of what they can do to governments. They can build or destroy governments.

Unlike their counterparts in the private sector who are bound by the business mindedness of their CEOs and the quest to sustain their business to act on lay down rules and regulations and to deliver, very little is demanded from the public servants. Productivity in the private sector without doubt is better compared to the public sector yet the public servant is more powerful with regards to how much influence they have on any economy.

But have you wondered why performance at the sector is always a source of concern to many people including governments? From my little lenses, I have noticed some mind boggling characters that are worth deliberating on.

Six years in the business circles as a private businessman since bowing out of public service revealed these characters following my regular transactions with government agencies. Being the front liners in the sector it is obvious that the day to day transactions are spearheaded by public servants.

 Interestingly enough, the attitudes exhibited by these public sector workers as I observed through my little lenses have compelled me to categorize them in four interesting groups.

First, the "Light-weight" public servants who only attend to you or your documents unless they receive or are promised monitory reward for the job they do despite their monthly pay. Another group is the “Laissez –faire” public servants. They are not innovative and show little or no concern towards clients. Social media is their ultimate companion, more important than the one in front of them trying to get some assistance. Their physical presence at work is all they need to guarantee their monthly salary. To them it is just their right as citizens of the land to be employed to guarantee them money for their livelihood. And dare you question their contribution to the growth of the organization and everyone would know you as next to the devil.

This group is closely followed by the “All nosy unproductive” public servants. For this group, they are always very busy from one office to the other, guess what? Discussing trivial matters including the hair style of other colleagues, the new celebrity in town or how ugly one influential public figure is. Productivity is the least of their worries. They never remember anything about the institution but can give vivid account of the attire every worker wore to the office every week for a whole year. They are specialized in nick naming others for their principle stands  since Principle has a different meaning in their dictionaries.

The fourth and final group is the “All business” public servants: Without doubt, this group is filled with the spirit of patriotism and growth that their dedication to work is in most cases difficult to understand. They are smart and do not need to be reminded of your reason for being in their department if only they ever attended to you. There is that sense of urgency in their response to duty, and trust them to get to you if they are busy and promised to attend to your documents later. The rapid penetration of mobile phones even makes it easier these days. The all business public servant is results oriented and even get depressed if they fail to achieve targets; they will not stop apologizing for failures or disappointments. 

Having being exposed to all these categories of public servants which of them would you want to meet in your line of duty? Your guess is as good as mine.

BIRIM NORTH: Increasing mining activities threatening livelihoods-Chief

As mining activities in the Birim North District increases, residents are faced with challenges of how to sustain their livelihood as the effect of giving away their lands for mining is beginning to have a toll on them.

Most communities where Newmont, the licensed mining company operating in the area has concession, large
tracks of land have been acquired for mining activities.

In an exclusive interview with Ghanadistricts.com, Nana Osei Agyeman Prempeh Dwamena II, chief of
Hweakwae, one of the most affected communities said they have gotten to a stage where there is a need to
re-think of innovative ways of giving hope to residents in the area.

According to him, a large number of residents have lost their farm lands as a result of increased mining
activities. Not only is this development affecting food production but has also rendered the residents
jobless.

Even though Nana Osei Agyeman Prempeh Dwamena II admitted that compensations were paid to owners of those lands, he noted, most people have already spent the money either to building a house or other things.

"The main concern is, what would these people be doing for daily up keeps", he quizzed? "There should
be alternative means of livelihood. Currently, there is none to many of the affected farmers", he added.

Meanwhile, as a first step, the community through the assistants from BigStep Foundation, a non governmental organization operating in the Birim North District with a branch in the Netherlands and
students from Delft University in Holland have moved in to assist the youth in acquiring employable skills in technical and vocational skills.

As a result, an apprenticeship training centre has been built and expected to start in September.

However, Nana Osei Agyeman Prempeh Dwamena II is calling on the government to use its social
intervention programmes like Local Enterprises and Skills Development Programme (LESDEP), Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) as well as other development partners to assist the providing machinery and other important equipment for effective training to take place at the centre.

He expressed hope that the youth having been given the necessary training would have the opportunity to
be employed by the mining firm since their major constraints now is lack of skills.

Ghanadistricts.com

Discuss the AIETA Model as presented by Everett Rogers in his work Diffusion of Innovation

Communication has played and continues to have significant role in everyday life. Whatever form the communication takes brings about changes in individuals, societies, groups and the likes. The interesting nature of this field has therefore led to a number of theories being propounded by various scholars to measure the rate of changes or the way and manner people responds to various concepts.

One of such was the theory that examines how people receive and responds to innovations.

Everett Rogers and Floyed Shoemaker in their work Communication of Innovations: A Cross-Cultural Approach defines Innovation as an idea, practice or object perceived as new by an individual. They opined that “It matters little, so far as human behavior is concerned, whether or not an idea is objectively new as measured by the lapse of time since its first use or discovery”.  

  

Diffusion on the other hand is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system.

Over the years, a number of models were developed by various scholars to explain the various processes that individuals go through to finally make a decision to adopt innovations.

Among the models include AIDA (Affection, Interest, Decision, Action), DAGMAR (Awareness, Comprehension, Conviction, Action, Result).

But Everett Rogers’ work in 1962 in his book “Diffusion of Innovation” has been widely accepted by many.

According to Everett Rogers, the acceptance or otherwise of any new idea, practice or object is dependent on individuals decision to make; but this decision is not taken in a vacuum. It is informed by certain prevailing factors.

Everett Rogers reveals that adoption of innovation does not happen overnight rather the individual goes through certain stages to make a decision.

In developing a model for diffusion of innovation, Everett Rogers identified five processes that individuals go through.

1- Knowledge

2-Persuasion

3-Decision

4-Implementation

5-Confirmation

First and foremost, the individual has to be exposed to the innovation. That is getting knowledge of the existence of such a new idea, practice or object. A person becomes aware of an innovation through the mass media or inter-personal interactions with other people around him or her.

Persuation-Having been exposed to innovation, the thought of it makes the individual to develop an attitude towards the innovation which can either be positive or negative. 

Decision-Decision is then taken where a person engages in activities that lead to a choice to adopt or reject the innovation.

Implementation – This step become very significant to test the suitability, efficacy or usefulness of the innovation. It is only at this point that the individual can be sure the innovation meets his needs or expectations.

Confirmation – Person evaluates the results of an innovation-decision already made. This become the final stage when the person adopts and keep to the innovation

Later in 1977, Krugman developed the AIETA model of how potential consumers are likely to respond to new products. His model was based on Everett Rogers’ model of Diffusion of Innovation.  

AIETA is an abbreviation of the five stages; each alphabet represents one stage.

1. Awareness: the individual is exposed to the existence of the innovation. Knowledge of the product or idea is acquired and it ends there. There is no other information beyond its existence and some idea of its benefits.

2. Interest: the prospect becomes interested, seeks information, and begins to gather details.

3. Evaluation: the prospect imagines him- or herself using the product

4. Trial: Experimentation is carried out on the innovation on a small scale in an effort to become intimate with it and learn how to use it to his or her best advantage.

5. Adoption: the prospect begins large-scale use, which hopefully leads to preference, satisfaction, and repeat purchases.

REFERENCES:

Everett Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations. 1962:17-18.

Melvin L. DeFleur, Mass Communication Theories: explaining origins, process, and effects.2010:228-229

Everett Rogers, (1976), New Product Adoption and Diffusion. Journal of Consumer Research, 2(March) 290-301.

Diffusion of Innovations, by Everett Rogers (1995), Reviewed by Greg Orr, March 18, 2003

www.5metacom.com

WHY SHOULD A COMPANY LIKE COCA COLA CONTINUE TO ADVERTISE?

George E. Belch & Michael A. Belch define advertising as any paid form of non-personal presentation and promoting of ideas, goods and services through the mass media with an identifiable sponsor.

The place of advertising in marketing cannot be under estimated since of all the marketing mix; product, price, place and promotion, advertising plays an important function in the promotion mix. It is the communication tool usually adopted by marketing to reach out to its targeted audience especially those institutions targeting mass consumers.

Promotion here refers to the coordination of all seller initiated efforts to set up channels of information and persuasion in order to sell goods and services or promote an idea.

According to the Business Dictionary continuous advertising is a marketing strategy in which the consumers of goods or services are continuously reminded of it even during periods its sales are insignificant or unlikely.

With this in mind, it will be unwise for companies especially well established ones with well known brand names like Coca cola with many years of experience to seize advertising because continuous advertising comes with a lot of advantages to the company.

Among them include:

Increase awareness. There are many more individuals out there that the company needs to reach out to increase sales. Besides competition is getting keener by the day with new competing products being introduced into the market, hence need to keep reminding consumers of the existence of the coca cola brands of products.

Secondly, continuous advertising is important to introduce new products. Coca cola has more than one product and continue to add more to its range of products. It is therefore reasonable to get the public informed any time the company introduces new products. Advertising is therefore designed to suit and appeal to the targeted consumers.

Furthermore, it is used to announce a change. Continuous advertising is important to provide information to customers about changes in quality of existing products designed to respond better to their needs and for which reason they should even purchase the product more.

Another reason is to alter the attitudes of people. An effectual advertisement results in a swift change in the attitudes and habits of the people.

Take care of customers. Advertising takes care of customers. It helps in holding on to the loyal customer, decreasing the number of lost customers and enlisting new customers. Thus the overall effect of advertising is increase in the number of customers that will gradually become loyal to the product.

It also worth noting that, every responsible company should be interested in the welfare of its customers and must put in measures to protect consumers. Intense competition and quest for money has led introduction of imitation of products and the worse hit are famous brands like Coca-Cola hence consumers who trust the Coca-Cola brand for example is obliged to educate its consumers of the features that help them to differentiate quality from fake products.

Advertising is also used to provide information on other undertakings the company is engaged in. Coca-Cola is without doubt a big brand with several branches across the world. Their publics therefore expect them to also do well with their social responsibilities as a way of giving back to society. This also attracts a lot of customers to them hence they need to inform the public about it through advertisement and to attract beneficiaries. Example of this is the involvement of MTN, a communication provider in Ghana in its “21 days of Yellow” where they assist schools with classroom blocks.

These reasons provided above among others therefore provide a strong case for companies especially those with strong financial base to make budget for continuous advertising though the cost involved may be huge.

Reference

George E. Belch & Michael A. Belch, 8th Edition, Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective.

www.businessdictionary.com

http://inventors.about.com/od/advertisingmedia/a/effective_marke.htm