Breaking the glass ceiling: experiences of women leaders in private corporate organisations in Ghana

The purpose of the study was to explore the experiences of women leaders in private corporate organisations in Ghana. To achieve this objective, three research questions were asked. What are the experiences of women in private corporate leadership positions? How do women leaders’ understanding, and perceptions of leadership shape their own leadership style? How do women leaders navigate work and non-work settings, and what are the opportunities and limitations they face in doing so? To appropriately tackle these questions a qualitative phenomenological research design was adopted as the methodology. In-depth interviews, observations and informal conversations were used as data collection methods. Seventeen informants comprising ten women leaders and seven subordinates were identified and recruited as informants for this study. Interviews were conducted with each of these informants. The data was analysed through condensation analysis. The role congruity theory of prejudice towards female leaders, the triple role theory and the concepts of transformational and transactional leadership were used as a theoretical framework to guide the study. Key findings from the study include the role of traditions and religious beliefs as a hindrance for women advancement to leadership, discrimination and prejudice against women in leadership. Other findings include the dominance of transformational leadership styles in the enactment of leadership by women leaders, the importance of self-discipline, family members and domestic workers as facilitative strategies to manoeuvre through the triple role of production, reproduction and community engagements.GLODE36

Performance of Sustainable Road Pavements Founded on Clay Subgrades Treated with Eco-Friendly Cementitious Materials

Clays encountered during road construction are mostly weak and result in major pavement failures due to their low California bearing ratio (CBR) and high swelling potential. In this study, sustainable and eco-friendly waste materials including brick dust waste (BDW), ground granulated blastfurnance slag (GGBS), recycled plastic (RP) and recycled glass (RG) at varying proportions of 11.75% and 23.5% were used as partial replacement for cement and lime in clay treatment. After determining the water content by conducting Atterberg limit and compaction test, A CBR and swell characteristics of treated and untreated clay were also conducted. A road pavement design was conducted using the Design Manual for Road and Bridges (DMRB) as a guide to determine the performance of treated clay with varying CBR values. A road pavement failure analysis was also conducted to understand the defect formation within pavement structures supported by eco-friendly treated clay. The embodied carbon of treated clay was calculated and a life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) of flexible pavement with treated clay and road with imported materials was conducted. The results show a liquid limit of 131.26 and plastic limit of 28.74 for high plasticity index (clay 1) and liquid limit of 274.07 and a plastic limit of 45.38 for extremely high plasticity index (clay 2). An increase in CBR values from 8% and 9% to 57% and 97% with a reduction in swell values from 4.11% and 5.03% to 0.38% and 0.56% were recorded. This resulted in a reduction in pavement thickness and stresses within the road pavement leading to reduced susceptibility of the pavement to fatigue, rutting and permanent deformation. Very low embodied carbon was recorded for eco-friendly treated clay and a high life cycle cost (LCC) with clay removed and replaced with imported materials compared with clay treated using eco-friendly waste materials. The study concluded that carbon and overall construction costs can be reduced using waste materials in road construction. Owners and operators can save money when clay is treated and used in road construction instead of removing clay and replacing it with imported materials

Beyond the glass ceiling: an exploration of the experiences of female corporate organizational leaders in Ghana

Although an increase in the inclusion of women in the global labor market has been reported in recent times, existing literature show that women are still heavily underrepresented in organizational leadership positions. Many studies in this area mainly focused on perceived barriers to women’s ascend to leadership positions, while little attention is paid to insights into the lived experiences of women who have already managed to assume leadership positions. This study was conducted to plug this gap in the literature. We interviewed 10 women corporate organizational leaders in Ghana to share their lived experiences as female leaders within the Ghanaian context. Our findings reveal that women still face several challenges even after breaking the glass ceiling to attain leadership positions in corporate organizations in Ghana. The main challenges were raised around the issue of gender, discrimination, age, their roles as mothers and wives. On the other hand, their positions also came with benefits and opportunities such as improved financial status, a command for respect as well as increasing their social and business networking capacity. More importantly, age although a disadvantage for the young women leaders, it was seen as a resource for older women as it enhances their respect and seen as performance of motherhood roles in this Ghanaian context. The study concludes that although women leaders’ experiences are largely negative, older women leaders seemed to utilize their positions actively and creatively and perform pseudo-motherhood roles which in turn helps them in the performance of their leadership roles.publishedVersio

Sustainable stabilisation of expansive road pavement foundations, pavement thickness optimisation and defects analysis

Expansive road subgrade has been in existence for decades resulting in major road pavement defects, high maintenance/construction costs and detrimental environmental effects associated with using traditional cement and lime in subgrade stabilisation. Taking a sustainable approach, this research aims to address these issues using waste and industrial by-products (i.e. brick dust waste (BDW), ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS), recycled plastic (RP) and recycled glass (RG) as partial replacements for cement and lime in subgrade stabilisation. The study investigates the sample characteristics, mineral structure, Atterberg limit, compaction, California Bearing Ratio (CBR), swell and microstructural properties of treated and untreated expansive subgrade materials.Sustainable waste materials and industrial by-products at proportions of 23.5%GGBS, 23.5%RP, 23.5%RG, 23.5%BDW and 11.75%GGBS, 11.75%RP, 11.75%RG, 11.75%BDW were used to achieve the optimum results. This reduced 20%Cement and 8%Lime (control mix design) to 2.5%Cement and 2%Lime. The 2.5%Cement was later eliminated and GGBS increased to 26% to see the effect on subgrade. Untreated high plasticity index (PI) (103) subgrade recorded Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) of 34.46% with a standard deviation (SD) of 23.41% and Maximum Dry Density (MDD) of 1.25Mg/m³ (SD=0.31%). A Liquid Limit (LL) of 131.26% (SD=18.18%) and Plastic Limit (PL) of 28.74% (SD=1.85%) were also recorded for untreated high PI subgrade. Untreated extremely high PI subgrade (249) recorded higher OMC of 40.97% (SD=9.42%) and MDD of 1.17 Mg/m³ (SD=0.28%) with much higher LL of 294.07% (SD=48.48%) and PL of 45.38% (SD=1.13%). CBR values for untreated subgrade increased from 0.6% (SD=4.38%) to 109% (SD=34.10%) and 200% (SD=53%) and up to 220% (SD=54%) after 28 and 90 days of curing when 20%Cement+8% Lime were partially replaced with 23.5%GGBS, 11.75%GGBS+11.75%BDW and 26%GGBS. Swell values reduced from 56.76% (SD=7.72%) to 0.04% (SD=0.01%) after 20%Cement+8%Lime were partially replaced with 23.5%GGBS and 11.75%GGBS+11.75%BDW translating into reduced pavement thickness and depth of construction when pavement design was conducted in the study.Road pavement thickness of 700mm and depth of construction of 800mm recorded for untreated subgrade with CBR values less than 2% reduced to 40mm and 50mm with CBR values between 80-100% when 20%Cement+8%Lime were partially replaced with 23.5%GGBS and 11.75%GGBS +11.75%BDW. Pavement design conducted using CBR values between 80-100% achieved for waste-treated subgrade in accordance with Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) recorded a slight reduction in pavement thickness with reduced stresses responsible for pavement defects. A gradual reduction in CBR values from 230% (SD=54,61%) to 16% (SD=29.81%) for high PI subgrade and from 200% (SD=47.79%) to 15% (SD.=20.44%) for extremely high PI subgrade was observed after ten (10) wetting-drying cycles when 20%Cement+8%Lime was partially replaced with 23.5%GGBS and 11.75%GGBS+11.75%BDW. These acceptable CBR values achieved for wetting-drying cycle were due to the formation of high Calcium Silicate Hydrate (CSH) gel in the mix where up to 44.87% (SD=11.98%) of calcium (Ca) was recorded after 28 days of curing. Mix design 2%Lime+2.5%Cement+23.5%GGBS was selected as the optimised and most viable mix design in this study followed by mix design 2%Lime+2.5%Cement+11.75%GGBS+11.75%BDW due to their ability to achieve acceptable results for the set objectives including reduced Life Cycle Cost (LCC).Furthermore, a 55% reduction in LCC (£268,433,336) was observed for a kilometre (km) of road subgrade treated using 23.5%GGBS; whilst a high LCC of £488,754,774 was recorded for a km of road subgrade removed and replaced with foreign materials. Sustainably treated subgrade using 23.5%GGBS recorded 21% lower embodied carbon (0.0018 Co₂e/kg); whilst subgrade treated using 20%Cement+8%Lime recorded high embodied carbon of 0.0084 Co₂e/kg. Based on these findings, the study concluded that the engineering properties of expansive subgrade can be enhanced with reduced pavement thickness/construction depth, defects, carbon emission and overall LCC using sustainable waste as additives in subgrade stabilisation. However, the findings are based entirely on laboratory generated data and not field data. Therefore, as a next step, and before widespread uptake is considered, it is important that the findings are tested and verified in real-life field setting

DISCOURSE ON NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES INTERVENTIONS IN GHANA (1990-2018)

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes are reported to have caused significant deaths for more than a decade. Consequently, NCDs have posed as a threat to the socio-economic well-being of individuals and families, contributed to a rise in healthcare costs and largely undermined the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) especially in developing countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the prevalence of NCDs have compounded the problem of already ill equipped healthcare systems in these countries as they are faced with constraints to deal with the burden of both infectious and non-communicable diseases. Informed largely by the rapid increase in NCDs and their subsequent threat to public health, we aimed to ascertain the various healthcare interventions that Ghana has fashioned out in her bid to prevent and control the incidence of NCDs, how these interventions were rolled out and examined past and present barriers to their implementation since 1990. We culled the data gathered for this paper from both primary and secondary sources to construct a coherent synthesis and to facilitate discussions on Ghana’s NCDs interventions from 1990 to 2018. A systematic analysis of the data gathered, revealed that Ghana’s healthcare system has by far tackled the NCDs burden in two folds; the clinical care aspect and the health promotion aspect. While certain healthcare interventions were purposively directed toward addressing NCDs, others were directed at promoting healthy lifestyles but had a bearing on the prevention and control of NCDs. Present challenges concerning shortfalls in interventions are a reflection of unresolved challenges in the past. We argue that despite the significant strides made for more than two decades, the interventions have addressed the burden of NCDs with limited success given the trends in NCDs mortality and morbidity

Mechanical properties and microstructure of fibre-reinforced clay blended with by-product cementitious materials

Clayey soils endure adverse changes in strength and volume due to seasonal changes in moisture content and temperature. It has been well recognised that high cement content has been successfully employed in improving the mechanical properties of clayey soils for geotechnical infrastructural purposes. However, the environmental setbacks regarding the use of high cement content in soil reinforcement have necessitated the need for a greener soil reinforcement technique by incorporating industrial by-product materials and synthetic fibres with a reduced amount of cement content in soil-cement mixtures. Therefore, this study presents an experimental study to investigate the mechanical performance of polypropylene and glass fibre-reinforced cement-clay mixtures blended with ground granulated blast slag (GGBS), lime and micro silica for different mix compositions and curing conditions. The unconfined compressive strength, linear expansion and microstructural analysis of the reinforced soils have been studied. The results show that an increase in polypropylene and glass fibre contents caused an increase in unconfined compressive strength but brought on the reduction of linear expansion of the investigated clay from 7.92% to 0.2% at fibre content up to 0.8% for cement-clay mixture reinforced with 5% Portland cement (PC). The use of 0.4–0.8% polypropylene and glass fibre contents in reinforcing cement-clay mixture at 5% cement content causes an increase in unconfined compressive strength (UCS) values above the minimum UCS target value according to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) 4609 after 7 and 14 days curing at 20◦ C to 50◦ C temperature. Therefore, this new clean production of fibre-reinforced cement-clay mixture blended with industrial by-product materials has great potential for a wide range of applications in subgrade reinforcement

Necessity of Translating the Ghana National Anthem into Indigenous Languages

National anthems are an integral part of every country's identity and heritage. The national anthem represents a country's culture, history, and traditions. However, in many countries, the official anthem is only available in one language, usually the dominant language spoken by most of the population. This exclusionary approach denies linguistic diversity and undermines the cultural rights of minority groups, particularly indigenous communities who are illiterates. In this research paper, we argue that it is necessary to translate the Ghana national anthem into indigenous languages to promote linguistic and cultural diversity, preserve cultural heritage, and promote social inclusion as well as give fundamental human right to language to those Ghanaians who are not able to read and write in the English language. The paper examines case studies of countries that have already taken steps in this direction and evaluate the impact of translating the official anthem into indigenous languages

An evolutionary study of production of electricity in Ghana (1900–1960s)

The literature on the history of electricity production have studied the evolution of electricity in both developed and developing countries and its impact on their economies. Some have laid foundations upon which other works are carried out. A close examination of historiography and multidisciplinary research on electricity production in Ghana shows that more efforts are required to improve the electric power landscape in Ghana. From the colonial era, the increasing demand for electricity has been the biggest challenge plaguing the energy sector. Respective governments have made significant strides in ensuring reliable and universal access to electricity throughout Ghana, yet such efforts have been accompanied by different levels of challenges. The study uses a qualitative and exploratory research approach to trace the activities that helped, in many other ways to the creation of a sustainable electric power provision to household and industry in Ghana, particularly in two of Ghana’s cities; Accra and Kumasi, within the period 1900 to the1960s. The work focused mainly on archival sources in its quest to arrive at how indigenous Ghanaians provided power for industrial activities and for household purposes. Results from the study show that local and cottage industries relied predominantly on wood, fuel, and biomass for their operations even before the introduction of the more sophisticated means of power generation. Also, the study revealed that in finding solutions to the challenges of electricity production, policymakers have focused more on current issues with little or no effort to trace the historical foundation of electricity production. This notwithstanding, the little efforts that have been made examined the history of energy production, with a limited focus on the immediate post-independence era

Road pavement thickness and construction depth optimization using treated and untreated artificially-synthesized expansive road subgrade materials with varying plasticity index

Road pavement thickness and their depth of construction take a chunk of the overall cost of road construction. This has called for a need for reduced road pavement thickness by improving the engineering properties of subgrade such as the California bearing ratio (CBR). The CBR of road subgrade has been a major determining factor for road pavement thickness, and expansive subgrades generally have a low CBR, resulting in major road defects. In this study, road pavement thickness and construction depth optimization were conducted using the CBR values achieved in this study. Additives proportions of 8% lime and 20% cement were used in expansive subgrade to improve their engineering properties, making them suitable for use in road construction. The study investigated the characteristics, mineral structure, Atterberg limit, compaction, CBR, swell and microstructural properties of expansive subgrade. The results show a reduction in road pavement thickness and a construction depth with an increase in CBR value. All CBR values for treated samples were above 2%, making them usable in road construction. A reduction in swell potential up to 0.04% was observed for treated expansive subgrade. The study concluded that pavement thickness and construction depth can be reduced by enhancing subgrade materials and using cement and lime as binders

Nuclear Energy in Ghana? History, Science and Policy

This paper discusses the issue of nuclear energy in Ghana, although the country is not operating a nuclear plant, the study focuses on the energy crisis that persistently hit the country and government’s plans to opt for nuclear energy as part of Ghana’s energy’s mix to cater for the shortfalls in Ghana’s electricity generation. Ghana after independence decided to add nuclear energy into its energy mix to promote industrialization and make Ghana an industrial hub and investment destination as well as make it a net exporter of power in Africa. In spite of this plan for a nuclear plant resurfacing within contemporary discourse, there has been a strong opposition against the country going nuclear, citing some safety and security issues which are sometimes fueled by lack of an in depth knowledge of what nuclear energy really entails. Qualitative research approach was employed to investigate Ghana’s drive for attaining its initial plans for a nuclear plant. Data has been retrieved from both primary and secondary sources. The analysis of the data collected revealed that Ghana’s inability to operate a nuclear plant is as a result of fear of a nuclear disaster like it happened at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, USA, Chernobyl in Ukraine and Fukishima Daichi in Japan, as well as the safety of the nuclear plants and the radioactive wastes emitted into the environment. The study revealed that this fear of people regarding nuclear energy is over-emphasized and again the major nuclear disasters that have rocked the world were caused by human error; in most cases security warnings were ignored. The study established that the delay in executing the plans are due to monetary challenges since building a nuclear plant involves a lot of money. This notwithstanding, Ghana has enough skilled nuclear scientists to manage the country’s nuclear plants should any be built.&nbsp