ABSTRACT
The efforts to improve administrative effectiveness in developing countries in general and African countries in particular have a long history. The intellectual sophistication of the models and theories, the classical administrative reform efforts registered woefully disappointing results. The failure and consequent criticisms of the classical reform efforts signaled a need to uncover more workable alternatives to dealing with the nagging problem of administrative ineptitude in Africa. Efforts to respond to this need resulted in the birth of the institution building (IB) initiatives in the mid-1960s. The term institutional development in contemporary development circles constitutes an extension of the concept of institution building. The concept of contingent or open systems has its roots in the physical and biological sciences, where it was developed as a conceptual apparatus to help scientists explore the interdependence and interconnectedness among living and nonliving organisms.
