A case for professionalization of water management in irrigation projects in India
The heavy investment in irrigation in India has not brought the expected benefits and this article argues first that a major difficulty arises from the way irrigated water is administered. The distribution of water is controlled by irrigation engineers who lack the knowledge and information to manage water in a way that maximizes agricultural production and achieves the confidence of farmers. The staffing structure and related professional values discourage the development of a new more appropriate specialism. The article goes on to argue that a new organization of work and associated staffing structure is needed which will encourage a new professional specialization bringing together staff and expertise currently dispersed in separate specialisms in engineering, agronomy and other aspects of agriculture.
Exploring normative commitment with Nigerian extension workers
This 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.
The Legacy of Art in Plastic Surgery
Summary The consistent relationship between surgery and art has been very well documented since 2000 BC. The close relationship between plastic surgery and art is historical and is still expected by the public and our patients. This article emphasizes the many links plastic surgery has with art, and presents a few practical examples of its reverberation in aesthetic and reconstructive plastic surgery procedures. Based on his surgical and actual sculpting activities in the realm of contemporary art, the author elaborates on 7 contributions art education affords the plastic surgery praxis, as an incentive and a reflection of its value to the plastic surgeon’s life.