Search results for: employee resilience

Authors: Babar Rasheed, Saad Ghafoor

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Introduction: Idea campaigns are commonly held across organizations for generating employee engagement. The contribution is specifically designed to identify and solve prevalent issues. It is argued that numerous organizations fail to achieve their desired goals despite arranging for such campaigns and investing heavily in them. There are however practices that organizations use to achieve higher degree of effectiveness, and these practices may be up for exploration by research to make them usable for the other organizations. Purpose: The aim of this research is to surface the idea management practices of a leading electric company with global operations. The study involves a large sized, multi site organization that is attributed to have added challenges in terms of managing ideas from employees, in comparison to smaller organizations. The study aims to highlight the factors that are looked at as the idea management team strategies for the campaign, sets terms and rewards for it, makes follow up with the employees and lastly, evaluate and award ideas. Methodology: The study is conducted in a leading electric appliance corporation that has a large number of employees and is based in numerous regions of the world. A total of 7 interviews are carried out involving the chief innovation officer, innovation manager and members of idea management and evaluation teams. The interviews are carried out either on Skype or in-person based on the availability of the interviewee. Findings: While this being a working paper and while the study is under way, it is anticipated that valuable information is being achieved about specific details on how idea management systems are governed and how idea campaigns are carried out. The findings may be particularly useful for innovation consultants as resources they can use to promote idea campaigning. The usefulness of the best practices highlighted as a result is, in any case, the most valuable output of this study.

Keywords: employee engagement, motivation, idea campaigns, large organizations, best practices, employees input, organizational output

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Authors: Mara Gabrielli, Jordi Pamies Rovira

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From a theoretical and interdisciplinary approach to visual ethnography and visual anthropology, this small scale, in-depth study explores the potential of photography as a participatory ethnographic method for a deep-understanding of the socio-educational integration of young refugees and asylum-seekers in the host society as regards their daily experiences, their needs, desires, expectations, and future goals. Qualitative data is collected by the author by observing 12 young participants in the age group 12-24 years per week for 12 months. The data consists of field notes, participatory observation, in-depth interviews with professionals, and the use of visual participatory ethnographic methods. Therefore, the young participants build their stories through the implementation of two participatory photographic methods - the 'photo-diary' and the 'photo-elicitation' - that permit them to analyse and narrate their social and educational experiences from their perspectives, thus collaborating in the construction of knowledge during the different stages of the research. Preliminary findings show the high resilience and social adaptability of young refugees and asylum-seekers to achieve their goals and overcome structural and socio-cultural barriers. However, the uncertainty of their administrative situation during the asylum submission and the lack of specific resources might impact negatively on their educational pathways and the transition to the labour market. Finally, this study also highlights the benefits of participatory photographic methods in ethnographic research, which impacts positively the well-being of these young people, helps them to develop critical thinking, and it also allows them to access information more respectfully when narrating painful experiences.

Keywords: photo-diary, photo-elicitation, resilience, strategies, visual methodologies, young refugees and asylum seekers

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Authors: Anjula Negi, D. T. V. Raghu Ramaswamy, Rajneesh Sareen

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Road infrastructure is emphatically one of the top most critical infrastructure to the Indian economy. Road network in the country of around 3.3 million km is the second largest in the world. Nationwide statistics released by Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways reveal that every minute an accident happens and one death every 3.7 minutes. This reported scale in terms of safety is a matter of grave concern, and economically represents a national loss of 3% to the GDP. Union Budget 2016-17 has allocated USD 12 billion annually for development and strengthening of roads, an increase of 56% from last year. Thus, highlighting the importance of roads as critical infrastructure. National highway alone represent only 1.7% of the total road linkages, however, carry over 40% of traffic. Further, trends analysed from 2002 -2011 on national highways, indicate that in less than a decade, a 22 % increase in accidents have been reported, but, 68% increase in death fatalities. Paramount inference is that accident severity has increased with time. Over these years many measures to increase road safety, lessening damage to physical assets, reducing vulnerabilities leading to a build-up for resilient road infrastructure have been taken. In the context of national highway development program, policy makers proposed implementation of around 20 % of such road length on PPP mode. These roads were taken up on high-density traffic considerations and for qualitative implementation. In order to understand resilience impacts and safety parameters, enshrined in various PPP concession agreements executed with the private sector partners, such highway specific projects would be appraised. This research paper would attempt to assess such safety measures taken and the possible reasons behind an increase in accident severity through these PPP case study projects. Delving further on safety features to understand policy measures adopted in these cases and an introspection on reasons of severity, whether an outcome of increased speeds, faulty road design and geometrics, driver negligence, or due to lack of discipline in following lane traffic with increased speed. Assessment exercise would study these aspects hitherto to PPP and post PPP project structures, based on literature review and opinion surveys with sectoral experts. On the way forward, it is understood that the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highway’s estimate for strengthening the national highway network is USD 77 billion within next five years. The outcome of this paper would provide an understanding of resilience measures adopted, possible options for accessible and safe road network and its expansion to policy makers for possible policy initiatives and funding allocation in securing critical infrastructure.

Keywords: national highways, policy, PPP, safety

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Authors: Jirapan Khruesarn, Wimwipa Boonklin

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Background: Currently, Thailand has an aging population. In 2017, the elderly population was over 11.14 million. There will be an increase in the number of elderly people, 8.39 million, some people grumble to themselves and have conflicts with their offspring or those close to them. It is a source of stress. Mental health promotion should be given to the elderly in order to cope with these changes. Due to the family characteristics of Thai society, these family members will act as caregivers for the elderly. Therefore, a group-counseling program based on Personnel-Centered Theory for Elderly Caregivers in Mental Health Promotion for Older People in Na Kaeo Municipality, Kau Ka District, Lampang Province, has been developed to compare the elderly care behavior before and after the participation. Methods: This research was study for 20 elderly' caregiver: Those aimed to compare the before and after use of group program for caregiver to promoting for the elderly by the following methods: Step 1 Establish a framework for evaluating elderly care behaviors and develop a group counseling program for promote mental health for elderly on: 1) Body 2) Willpower 3) Social and community management and 4) Organizing learning process. Step 2 Assessing an Elderly Care Behaviors by using "The behavior assessment on caring for the elderly" and assessing the mental health power level of the elderly and follow the counseling program 9 times and compare of the elderly care behaviors before and after joined a group program, and compare of mental health level of caregiver attends a group program. Results: This study is developing a group counseling program to promoting for the resilience quotient in elderly people that the results of the study could be summarized as follows: 1) Before the elderly's caregivers join a group counseling program: Mental health promotion behaviors of the elderly were at the high level of (3.32), and after: were at the high level of (3.44). 2) Before the elderly's caregiver attends a group counseling program: the mental health level of the elderly the mean score was (47.85 percent), and the standard deviation was (0.21 percent) and after. The elderly had a higher score of (51.45 percent) In summary, after the elderly caregivers joined the group, the elderly are higher in all aspects promote mental health for elderly and the statistically significance at the 0.05, It shows that programs are fit for personal and community condition in promoting the mental health of the elderly because this theory has the idea that: Humans have the ability to use their intelligence to solve problems or make decisions effectively, And member of group counseling program have ventured and express grievances that the counselor is a facilitator who focuses on personal development by building relationships among people. In other words, the factors contributing to higher levels of elderly care behaviors is group counseling, that isn't a hypothetical process but focus on building relationships that are based on mutual trust and Unconditional acceptance.

Keywords: group counseling base on person-centered theory, elderly person, resilience quotient: RQ, caregiver

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Authors: Anderson S. Fonseca, Italo F. S. Da Silva, Robert D. A. Santos, Mayara G. Da Silva, Pedro H. C. Vieira, Antonio M. S. Sobrinho, Victor H. B. Lemos, Petterson S. Diniz, Anselmo C. Paiva, Eliana M. G. Monteiro

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In Brazil, the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) establishes that electrical energy companies are responsible for measuring and billing their customers. Among these regulations, it’s defined that a company must bill your customers within 27-33 days. If a relocation or a change of period is required, the consumer must be notified in writing, in advance of a billing period. To make it easier to organize a workday’s measurements, these companies create a reading plan. These plans consist of grouping customers into reading groups, which are visited by an employee responsible for measuring consumption and billing. The creation process of a plan efficiently and optimally is a capacitated clustering problem with constraints related to homogeneity and compactness, that is, the employee’s working load and the geographical position of the consuming unit. This process is a work done manually by several experts who have experience in the geographic formation of the region, which takes a large number of days to complete the final planning, and because it’s human activity, there is no guarantee of finding the best optimization for planning. In this paper, the GBKMeans method presents a technique based on K-Means and genetic algorithms for creating a capacitated cluster that respects the constraints established in an efficient and balanced manner, that minimizes the cost of relocating consumer units and the time required for final planning creation. The results obtained by the presented method are compared with the current planning of a real city, showing an improvement of 54.71% in the standard deviation of working load and 11.97% in the compactness of the groups.

Keywords: capacitated clustering, k-means, genetic algorithm, districting problems

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Authors: Aemro Tazeze Terefe, Mengistu K. Aredo, Abule M. Workagegnehu, Wondimagegn M. Tesfaye

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Climate-induced shocks have been shown to reduce agricultural production and cause fluctuation in output in developing countries. When livelihoods depend on rain-fed agriculture, climate-induced shocks translate into consumption shocks. Despite the substantial improvements in household consumption, climate-induced shocks, and other factors adversely affect consumption dynamics at the household level in Ethiopia. Therefore, household consumption dynamics in the context of climate-induced shocks help to guide resilience capacity and establish appropriate interventions and programs. The research employed three-round panel data based on the Ethiopian Socioeconomic Survey with spatial rainfall data to define unique measures of rainfall variability. The linear dynamic panel model results show that the lagged value of consumption, market shocks, and rainfall variability positively affected consumption dynamics. In contrast, production shocks, temperature, and amount of rainfall had a negative relationship. Coping strategies mitigate adverse climate-induced shocks on consumption aftershocks that smooth consumption over time. Support to increase the resilience capacity of households can involve efforts to make existing livelihoods and forms of production or reductions in the vulnerability of households. Therefore, government interventions are mandatory for asset accumulation agendas that support household coping strategies and respond to shocks. In addition, the dynamic linkage between consumption and significant socioeconomic and institutional factors should be taken into account to minimize the effect of climate-induced shocks on consumption dynamics.

Keywords: climate shock, Ethiopia, fixed-effect model, food security

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Authors: Briante Barretto, Haley Carreon, Anesha-Maelene Ignacio

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This research paper explores the dynamic process of cultural resilience within the context of the modern tourism of two traditional island communities (Bali, Indonesia and Guam, Micronesia). It asks the question: How do indigenous people hold on to their foundational values that define their culture while moving forward in the modern world? Both Bali and Guam serve as famous destinations for tourists from all over the world, with millions of visitors on an annual basis. Both are continually being shaped in profound ways by the forces of modernity through globalization. And both are demonstrating cultural resilience while striving to find creative ways to sustain, preserve and strengthen their values and traditions within the context of a thriving modern tourist economy. This research paper, drawing on ethnographic methodologies, and in particular participant observation and in-depth interviews, explores the many challenges both communities face and the strategies and approaches they are learning to employ that help promote sustainable tourism while contributing to cultural preservation. Drawing on the insights gained from field work in both island communities, as well as the growing literature in this field study, the paper posits important lessons that can guide and inform indigenous communities that are being drawn into the global tourism market. One powerful idea emerges in the research and one that seems to guide and shape tourism policy both indigenous communities - that this current generation should be thought of as the ancestors of future generations, and thus they have a weighty responsibility to continue to learn and strive to sustain and preserve their cultures and traditions, their natural environments, and spiritual foundations for the future.

Keywords: bali, culture, environment, guam, tourism, values

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Authors: Gezahegn Gizaw

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The FDRE Tourism Training Institute organizes forums for debates, best practices exchange and focus group discussions to forge a sustainable and growing tourism sector while minimizing negative impacts on the environment, communities, and cultures. This study aimed at applying empirical research method to identify and quantify relative importance of success factors and individual engagement indicators that were identified in these forums. Response to the 12-question survey was collected from a total of 437 respondents in academic training institutes (212), business executive and employee (204) and non-academic government offices (21). Overall, capacity building was perceived as the most important driver of success for stakeholder engagement. Business executive and employee category rated capacity building as the most important driver of success (53%), followed by decision-making process (27%) and community participation (20%). Among educators and students, both capacity building and decision-making process were perceived as the most important factors (40% of respondents), whereas community participation was perceived as the most important success factor only by 20% of respondents. Individual engagement score in capacity building, decision-making process and community participation showed highest variability by educational level of participants (variance of 3.4% - 5.2%, p<0.001). Individual engagement score in capacity building was highly correlated to perceived benefit of training on improved efficiency, job security, higher customer satisfaction and self-esteem. On the other hand, individual engagement score in decision making process was highly correlated to its perceived benefit on lowering business costs, improving ability to meet the needs of a target market, job security, self-esteem and more teamwork. The study provides a set of recommendations that help educators, business executives and policy makers to maximize the individual and synergetic effect of training, decision making process on sustainability and growth of the tourism sector in Ethiopia.

Keywords: engagement score, driver of success, capacity building, tourism

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Authors: Arbolino Roberta, Boffardi Raffaele

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Achieving the highest effectiveness for the National Plans for Recovery and Resilience (NPRR) while strengthening the objectives of cohesion and reduction of intra-EU unbalances is only possible by means of strategic, coordinated, and coherent policy planning. Therefore, the present research aims at assessing and quantifying the potential impact of NPRRs across the twenty-seven European Member States in terms of economic convergence, considering disaggregated data on industrial, construction, and service sectors. The first step of the research involves a performance analysis of the main macroeconomic indicators describing the trends of twenty-seven EU economies before the pandemic outbreak. Subsequently, in order to define the potential effect of the resources allocated, we perform an impact analysis of previous similar EU investment policies, estimating national-level sectoral elasticity associated with the expenditure of the 2007-2013 and 2014-2020 Cohesion programmes funds. These coefficients are then exploited to construct adjustment scenarios. Finally, convergence analysis is performed on the data used for constructing scenarios in order to understand whether the expenditure of funds might be useful to foster economic convergence besides driving recovery. The results of our analysis show that the allocation of resources largely mirrors the aims of the policy framework underlying the NPRR, thus reporting the largest investments in both those sectors most affected by the economic shock (services) and those considered fundamental for the digital and green transition. Notwithstanding an overall positive effect, large differences exist among European countries, while no convergence process seems to be activated or fostered by these interventions.

Keywords: NPRR, policy evaluation, cohesion policy, scenario Nalsysi

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Authors: Phillip F. Blaauw, Anna M. Pretorius

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South Africa re-entered the international economy in the early 1990s, after Apartheid, at a time when globalisation was gathering momentum. Globalisation led to a more open economy, increased export volumes and a changed export mix. Manufacturing goods gained ground relative to mining products. After 21 years of democracy, South African researchers and policymakers need to evaluate the impact of international trade on the level of employment and compensation of employees in the South African manufacturing industry. This is important given the consistent and high levels of unemployment in South Africa. This paper has this evaluation as its aim. Two complimenting approaches are utilised. The 27 sub divisions of the South African manufacturing industry are classified according to capital/labour ratios. Possible trends in employment levels and employee compensation for these categories are then identified when comparing levels in 1995 to those in 2014. The supplementing empirical approach is cross-sectional and panel data regressions for the same period. The aim of the regression analysis is to explain the observed changes in employment and employee compensation levels between 1995 and 2014. The first part of the empirical approach revealed that over the 20-year period the intermediate capital intensive, labour intensive an ultra-labour intensive manufacturing industries all showed massive declines in overall employment. Only three of the 19 industries for these classifications showed marginal overall employment gains. The only meaningful gains were recorded in three of the eight capital intensive manufacturing industries. The overall performance of the South African manufacturing industry is therefore dismal at best. This scenario plays itself out for the skilled section of the intermediate capital intensive, labour intensive an ultra-labour intensive manufacturing industries as well. 18 out of the 19 industries displayed declines even for the skilled section of the labour force. The formal regression analysis supplements the above results. Real production growth is a statistically significant (95 per cent confidence level) explanatory variable of the overall employment level for the period under consideration, albeit with a small positive coefficient. The variables with the most significant negative relationship with changes in overall employment were the dummy variables for intermediate capital intensive and labour intensive manufacturing goods. Disaggregating overall changes in employment further in terms of skill levels revealed that skilled employment in particular responded negatively to increases in the ratio between imported and local inputs for manufacturing. The dummy variable for the labour intensive sectors remained negative and statistically significant, indicating that the labour intensive sectors of South African manufacturing remain vulnerable to the loss of employment opportunities. Whereas the first period (1995 to 2001) after the opening of the South African economy brought positive changes for skilled employment, continued increases in imported inputs displaced some of the skilled labour as well, putting further pressure on the South African economy with already high and persistent unemployment levels. Given the negative for the world commodity cycle and a stagnant local manufacturing sector, the challenge for policymakers is getting even more pronounced after South Africa’s political coming of age.

Keywords: capital/labour ratios, employment, employee compensation, manufacturing

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Authors: Susana Sousa Machado

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The debate on the use of religious symbols has been highlighted in modern societies, especially in the field of labour relationships. As litigiousness appears to be growing, the matter requires a careful study from a legal perspective. In this context, a description and critical analysis of the most recent case law is conducted regarding the use of symbols by the employee in the workplace, delivered both by the European Court of Human Rights and by the Court of Justice of the European Union. From this comparative analysis we highlight the most relevant aspects in order to seek a common core regarding the juridical-argumentative approach of case law.

Keywords: religion, religious symbols, workplace, discrimination

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Authors: Charita B. Lasala, Lakambini G. Reluya

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The human factor composing the organization is an asset that needs to be managed conscientiously and to be in tuned with the organization’s need. Thus, the human resources add value to the organization by using their talents, skills and knowledge in transforming the other resources of the organization to either produce or to deliver products and services that generate profits or other valued forms for return. Keeping these kinds of employees has always been the main goal of each Human Resources Department in every company worldwide; regardless of the work being done. They are the most important resource a company can have and treating them well will make them priceless assets that can help make a business a success. Larmen de Guia Memorial College (LGMC) and Royal Oaks International School (ROIS) is one of the many organizations that seek ways to keep the human factor and are in the process of formalization and that people management is on the top of the list thus, this study was made since there was a need for the creation of the Human Resources Department due to its absence in the organization and to help the organization in keeping these valued employees. The study was anchored on the concept that human resources consist of people who perform its activities and that all decisions that affect the workforce concern the organization’s human resources functions. In conducting this study, it made use of the mixed method using both the qualitative and quantitative approaches with focus group discussions. The design has three stages namely: problem conceptualization, case analysis, and output. The output from the survey and interviews tells the abstracted ideas on the proposed HR program for the said institution. Based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that the personnel in the institution is not in the correct perspective, much more that the personnel has no specific job descriptions. The hiring procedure is not extensive, nor the personnel was given the chance to be exposed to training that would aid them in job development and enhancement of their skills and talents. The compensation package offered by the institution does not commensurate to their services rendered. Lastly, it is concluded that in the opinion/decision rendered by the grievance committee is not fair and that the institution failed to give good motivation/initiative for the employees to be more productive.

Keywords: employee benefits, employee relations, human resources and management, people management, recruitment, trainings

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Authors: Anishya Obhrai Madan

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In an increasingly connected world, where speed of communication attempts to match the speed of thought and thus intentions; conflict gets actioned faster using media like the internet and telecommunication technology. This has led to a new form of aggression: “cyber bullying”. The present paper attempts to integrate existing theory on bullying, and the dark triad personality traits in a work environment and extrapolate it to the cyber context.

Keywords: conflict at work, cyber bullying, dark triad of personality, toxic employee

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Authors: Marlon P. Perez

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The study entitled “The Effect of Leader Motivating Language on Work Performance and Job Satisfaction as Perceived by the Employees of SoroSoro Ibaba Development Cooperative (SIDC)” primarily aims to evaluate the effect of leader’s use of motivating language in terms of the three types of speech acts namely, direction-giving language, empathetic language and meaning-making language with regard to the work performance and job satisfaction of the employees. The study made use of the descriptive method of this research that it followed certain processes in gathering the necessary and accurate information. Furthermore, survey questionnaires were used in order to congregate the respondents’ outlooks, opinions, and insight in the study. These survey questionnaires were distributed to one hundred fifty (150) employees from the five (5) outlets of SoroSoro Ibaba Development Cooperative (SIDC) in Batangas City who were chosen as the respondents of the study. However, only hundred twenty (120) out of one hundred fifty (150) or eighty (80) percent of the questionnaires were retrieved. Moreover, to accomplish the objectives of the study, different statistical treatments were used for the interpretation and analysis of the gathered data. These were the relative frequency, weighted mean, one-way analysis of variance and Pearson r. Based on those statistical treatments, researchers came up with the following results: first, most of the respondents were below 35 years old, males, college graduates and in regular status; second, direction-giving language, empathetic language, and meaning-making language affect the work performance and job satisfaction of the employees to a great extent; third, there was a non-significant difference with regards to the effect of leader motivating language on the work performance and job satisfaction of the employee; and, last, there was a significant relationship on the assessment of the effect of leader motivating language on work performance and job satisfaction when grouped according to respondents’ profile. Based on these results, various recommendations were conceptualized such as the designing of proposed activities like communication workshop and team-building to augment the communication between the leader and an employee. These activities could help for the development and attainment of an excellent communication within the different organizations and companies that are very important to any business success.

Keywords: leader motivating language, work performance, job satisfaction, employees

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Authors: Ruth Hegarty, Noel Connaughton

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Sustainability reporting has become a priority for many global multinational companies. This is associated with ever-increasing expectations from key stakeholders for companies to be transparent about their strategies, activities and management with regard to sustainability issues. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) encourages reporters to only provide information on the issues that are really critical in order to achieve the organisation’s goals for sustainability and manage its impact on environment and society. A key challenge for most reporting organisations is how to identify relevant issues for sustainability reporting and prioritise those material issues in accordance with company and stakeholder needs. A recent study indicates that most of the largest companies listed on the world’s stock exchanges are failing to provide data on key sustainability indicators such as employee turnover, energy, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), injury rate, pay equity, waste and water. This paper takes an indepth look at the approaches used by a select number of international sustainability leader corporates to identify key sustainability issues. The research methodology involves performing a detailed analysis of the sustainability report content of up to 50 companies listed on the 2014 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI). The most recent sustainability report content found on the GRI Sustainability Disclosure Database is then compared with 91 GRI Specific Standard Disclosures and a small number of GRI Standard Disclosures. Preliminary research indicates significant gaps in the information disclosed in corporate sustainability reports versus the indicator content specified in the GRI Content Index. The following outlines some of the key findings to date: Most companies made a partial disclosure with regard to the Economic indicators of climate change risks and infrastructure investments, but did not focus on the associated negative impacts. The top Environmental indicators disclosed were energy consumption and reductions, GHG emissions, water withdrawals, waste and compliance. The lowest rates of indicator disclosure included biodiversity, water discharge, mitigation of environmental impacts of products and services, transport, environmental investments, screening of new suppliers and supply chain impacts. The top Social indicators disclosed were new employee hires, rates of injury, freedom of association in operations, child labour and forced labour. Lesser disclosure rates were reported for employee training, composition of governance bodies and employees, political contributions, corruption and fines for non-compliance. The reporting on most other Social indicators was found to be poor. In addition, most companies give only a brief explanation on how material issues are defined, identified and ranked. Data on the identification of key stakeholders and the degree and nature of engagement for determining issues and their weightings is also lacking. Generally, little to no data is provided on the algorithms used to score an issue. Research indicates that most companies lack a rigorous and thorough methodology to systematically determine the material issues of sustainability reporting in accordance with company and stakeholder needs.

Keywords: identification of key stakeholders, material issues, sustainability reporting, transparency

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Authors: Theoni Soublis

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The COVID-19 pandemic created a severe interruption in teaching and learning in K-12 schools. It is essential that educational researchers, teachers, and administrators understand the long term effects that COVID-19 had on a variety of stakeholders in education. This investigation aims to analyze the research since the beginning of the pandemic that focuses specifically on teacher retention, resilience, and training. The results of this investigation will help to inform future research in order to better understand how the institution of education can continue to be prepared and to better prepare for future significant shifts in the modalities of instruction. The results of this analysis will directly impact the field of education as it will broaden the scope of understanding regarding how COVID- 19 impacted teaching and learning. The themes that will emerge from the data analysis will directly inform policy makers, administrators, and researchers about how to best implement training and curriculum design in order to support teacher effectiveness this in the classroom. Educational researchers have written about how teacher morale plummeted and how many teachers reported early burnout and higher stress levels. Teachers’ stress and anxiety soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, but so has their resilience and dedication to the field of education. This research aims to understand how public-school teachers overcame teaching obstacles presented to them during COVID-19. Research has been conducted to identify a variety of information regarding the impact the pandemic has had on K-12 teachers, students, and families. This research aims to understand how teachers continued to pursue their teaching objectives without significant training of effective online instruction methods. Not many educators even heard of the video conferencing platform Zoom before the spring of 2020. Researchers are interested in understanding how teachers used their expertise, prior knowledge, and training to institute immediate and effective online learning environments, what types of relationships did teachers build with students while teaching 100% remotely, and how did relationships change with students while teaching remotely? Furthermore, did the teacher-student relationship propel teacher resolve to be successful while teaching during a pandemic. Recent world events have significantly impacted the field of public-school teaching. The pandemic forced teachers to shift their paradigm about how to maintain high academic expectations, meet state curriculum standards, and assess students learning gains to make data-informed decisions while simultaneously adapting modes of instruction through multiple outlets with little to no training on remote, synchronous, asynchronous, virtual, and hybrid teaching. While it would be very interesting to study how teaching positively impacted students learning during the pandemic, I am more interested in understanding how teaches stayed the course and maintained their mental health while dealing with the stress and pressure of teaching during COVID-19.

Keywords: teacher retention, COVID-19, teacher education, teacher moral

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Authors: J. A. López, J. E. Olguín, C. W. Camargo, G. A. Quijano, R. Martínez

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This paper presents an anthropometric study conducted to 300 employees in a maquiladora industry that belongs to the cluster of medical products as part of a research project to pretend simulate workplace conditions under which operators conduct their activities. This project is relevant because traditionally performed a study to design ergonomic workspaces according to anthropometric profile of users, however, this paper demonstrates the importance of making decisions when the infrastructure cannot be adapted for economic whichever put emphasis on user activity.

Keywords: anthropometry, biomechanics, design, ergonomics, productivity

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Authors: Oladipo Jimoh Ayanda, Fashagba Mathew Olasehinde

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Pension is a post retirement benefit paid to employees after retirement to cushion the effects of severance from monthly emoluments. It serves the dual purpose of providing financial succour to retired employees as well as motivating employees currently in service to greater performance on duty. However, the scheme, as operated in Nigeria, is prone to some pitfalls such as delayed and irregular payments, inadequate budgetary provisions, employee sufferings and deaths arising from the rigors of verification exercises, among others. This necessitated the replacement of the old scheme with the contributory pension scheme through an enabling law in 2004. The implementation of the new scheme has its own challenges especially in connection with administration. These challenges pose a fundamental problem of establishing a nexus between pension benefits and work performance which represent the focus of the study. The study objectives were to: determine the effect of contributory pension scheme on employees’ performance. The study population consisted of National Universities Commission recognized public and private universities in the South West Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling method involving stratified sampling and systematic sampling was used in selecting 359 respondents while data were collected through questionnaire administration. The procedure for analyzing the data included descriptive statistic, normal distribution test and cross-tabulation (gamma coefficient). The findings of the study showed that the existence of the scheme positively enhances employees’ performance as indicated by normal distribution test with Z-score (10.169) which is greater than the table value (1.96) at 0.05 level. The study concluded that the scope for enhancing employee current job performance can be quite elastic if future retirement benefits are guaranteed through proper and efficient administration and management of the contributory pension scheme. The study recommended that certain factors such as employers’ commitment which account for different levels of confidence between public and private universities should be looked into in order to improve confidence across board while the provisions of the scheme as they affect the PFAs should be properly monitored to ensure compliance.

Keywords: pension, retirement, performance, employees, benefit

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Authors: Aizzat Md. Nasurdin, Noor Hazlina Ahmad, Cheng Ling Tan

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This study aims to examine the role of career advancement and job security as predictors of employee commitment to their organization. Data was collected from 580 frontline employees attached to two departments of 29 luxury hotels in Peninsular Malaysia. Statistical results using Partial Least Squares technique provided support for the proposed hypotheses. In view of the findings, theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords: organizational commitment, career advancement, job security, frontline employees, luxury hotels, Malaysia

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Authors: Shilpi Bora, Abhirup Chatterjee, Debkumar Chakrabarti

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Organizations of all the sectors around the world are increasingly revisiting their workplace strategies with due concern for women working therein. Limited office space and rigid work arrangements contribute to lesser job satisfaction and greater work impoundments for any organization. Flexible workspace strategies are indispensable to accommodate the progressive rise of modular workstations and involvement of women. Today’s generation of employees deserves malleable office environments with employee-friendly job conditions and strategies. The workplace nowadays stands on rapid organizational changes in progressive and flexible work culture. Occupational well-being practices need to keep pace with the rapid changes in office-based work. Working at the office (workspace) with awkward postures or for long periods can cause pain, discomfort, and injury. The world is stirring towards the era of globalization and progress. The 4000 women police personnel constitute less than one per cent of the total police strength of India. Lots of innovative fields are growing fast, and it is important that we should accommodate women in those arenas. The timeworn trends should be set apart to set out for fresh opportunities and possibilities of development and success through more involvement of women in the workplace. The notion of women policing is gaining position throughout the world, and various countries are putting solemn efforts to mainstream women in policing. As the role of women policing in a society is budding, and thus it is also notable that the accessibility of women at general police stations should be considered. Accordingly, the impact of workspace at police station on the employee productivity has been widely deliberated as a crucial contributor to employee satisfaction leading to better functional motivation. Thus the present research aimed to look into the office workstation design of police station with reference to womanhood specific issues to uplift occupational wellbeing of the policewomen. Personal interview and individual responses collected through administering to a subjective assessment questionnaire on thirty women police as well as to have their views on these issues by purposive non-probability sampling of women police personnel of different ranks posted in Guwahati, Assam, India. Scrutiny of the collected data revealed that office design has a substantial impact on the policewomen job satisfaction in the police station. In this study, the workspace was designed in such a way that the set of factors would impact on the individual to ensure increased productivity. Office design such as furniture, noise, temperature, lighting and spatial arrangement were considered. The primary feature which affected the productivity of policewomen was the furniture used in the workspace, which was found to disturb the everyday and overall productivity of policewomen. Therefore, it was recommended to have proper and adequate ergonomics design intervention to improve the office design for better performance. This type of study is today’s need-of-the-hour to empower women and facilitate their inner talent to come up in service of the nation. The office workspace design also finds critical importance at several other occupations also – where office workstation needs further improvement.

Keywords: office workspace design, policewomen, womanhood concerns at workspace, occupational wellbeing

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Authors: Natividad Natalia Angeles Manuel

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In the Dominican Republic, American-Dominican veterans face unique challenges due to their dual identities and wartime experiences. This case study examines an 85-year-old veteran with memory impairments and emotional distress linked to military service. A neuropsychological assessment using standardized tools evaluated cognitive domains and functional abilities. Significant deficits in memory, orientation, semantic memory, and executive functions, alongside symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression, were identified. A six-month cognitive stimulation program included tailored interventions to enhance memory, attention, and executive skills through weekly sessions and group activities. Medical and physical therapy support aimed to improve overall cognitive, functional, and emotional outcomes. Follow-up evaluations showed improvements in memory retention, attention, task proficiency, and reduced depressive symptoms, highlighting the program's effectiveness in promoting emotional well-being and quality of life. Despite ongoing memory challenges and military-related nightmares, the veteran responded positively to interventions, demonstrating resilience and motivation. This study emphasizes the importance of personalized neuropsychological interventions for American-Dominican veterans in the Dominican Republic. Through assessment tools and focused cognitive stimulation strategies, healthcare providers can successfully alleviate cognitive and emotional challenges stemming from traumatic experiences in elderly veterans. Overall, integrated neuropsychological assessment and stimulation programs are shown to enhance cognitive resilience and emotional well-being, thus contributing to an enhanced quality of life for aging American-Dominican veterans.

Keywords: neuropsychology, cognitive stimulation, American-Dominican veterans, Dominican Republic, PTSD, memory deficits

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Authors: Fruzsina Pataki-Bittó, Edit Németh

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On the one hand, new technologies and communication tools improve employee productivity and accelerate information and knowledge transfer, while on the other hand, information overload and continuous interruptions make it even harder to concentrate at work. It is a great challenge for companies to find the right balance, while there is also an ongoing demand to recruit and retain the talented employees who are able to adopt the modern work style and effectively use modern communication tools. For this reason, this research does not focus on the objective measures of office interruptions, but aims to find those disruption factors which influence the comfort and job satisfaction of employees, and the way how they feel generally at work. The focus of this research is on how employees feel about the different types of interruptions, which are those they themselves identify as hindering factors, and those they feel as stress factors. By identifying and then reducing these destructive factors, job satisfaction can reach a higher level and employee turnover can be reduced. During the research, we collected information from depth interviews and questionnaires asking about work environment, communication channels used in the workplace, individual communication preferences, factors considered as disruptions, and individual steps taken to avoid interruptions. The questionnaire was completed by 141 office workers from several types of workplaces based in Hungary. Even though 66 respondents are working at Hungarian offices of multinational companies, the research is about the characteristics of the Hungarian labor force. The most important result of the research shows that while more than one third of the respondents consider office noise as a disturbing factor, personal inquiries are welcome and considered useful, even if in such cases the work environment will not be convenient to solve tasks requiring concentration. Analyzing the sizes of the offices, in an open-space environment, the rate of those who consider office noise as a disturbing factor is surprisingly lower than in smaller office rooms. Opinions are more diverse regarding information communication technologies. In addition to the interruption factors affecting the employees' job satisfaction, the research also focuses on the role of the offices in the 21^st century.

Keywords: information overload, interruption, job satisfaction, office environment, work efficiency

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Authors: Teerada Apibunyopas, Nithinant Thammakoranonta

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Many organizations bring e-Learning to use as a tool in their training and human development department. It is getting more popular because it is easy to access to get knowledge all the time and also it provides a rich content, which can develop the employees skill efficiently. This study focused on the factors that affect using e-Learning efficiently, so it will make job satisfaction increased. The questionnaires were sent to employees in large commercial banks, which use e-Learning located in Bangkok, the results from multiple linear regression analysis showed that employee’s characteristics, characteristics of e-Learning, learning and growth have influence on job satisfaction.

Keywords: e-Learning, job satisfaction, learning and growth, Bangkok

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Authors: Megan Weisbart

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Background/Significance: The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) environment contributes to nurse burnout. Burnout costs include decreased employee compassion, missed workdays, worse patient outcomes, diminished job performance, high turnover, and higher organizational cost. Meaningful recognition, nurturing of interpersonal connections, and mindfulness-based interventions are associated with decreased burnout. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to decrease Neonatal ICU (NICU) nurse burnout using a Wellness Bundle that fosters meaningful recognition, interpersonal connections and includes mindfulness-based interventions. Methods: The Professional Quality of Life Scale Version 5 (ProQOL5) was used to measure burnout before Wellness Bundle implementation, after six months, and will be given yearly for three years. Meaningful recognition bundle items include Online submission and posting of staff shoutouts, recognition events, Nurses Week and Unit Practice Council member gifts, and an employee recognition program. Fostering of interpersonal connections bundle items include: Monthly staff games with prizes, social events, raffle fundraisers, unit blog, unit wellness basket, and a wellness resource sheet. Quick coherence techniques were implemented at staff meetings and huddles as a mindfulness-based intervention. Findings: The mean baseline burnout score of 14 NICU nurses was 20.71 (low burnout). The baseline range was 13-28, with 11 nurses experiencing low burnout, three nurses experiencing moderate burnout, and zero nurses experiencing high burnout. After six months of the Wellness Bundle Implementation, the mean burnout score of 39 NICU nurses was 22.28 (low burnout). The range was 14-31, with 22 nurses experiencing low burnout, 17 nurses experiencing moderate burnout, and zero nurses experiencing high burnout. Conclusion: A NICU Wellness Bundle that incorporated meaningful recognition, fostering of interpersonal connections, and mindfulness-based activities was implemented to improve work environments and decrease nurse burnout. Participation bias and low baseline response rate may have affected the reliability of the data and necessitate another comparative measure of burnout in one year.

Keywords: burnout, NICU, nurse, wellness

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Authors: Muqarrab Akbar

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Pakistan is considered as a state confronting different internal and external challenges. Extremism is one of the most vital internal challenges faced by Pakistani society. The state’s contradictory policies, political instability, socio-economic injustice, absence of the rule of law are the major reasons behind the proliferation of violence and extremism in society. The fall of the Shah of Iran, the Iranian revolution, the 1979 Afghan war of 1979, the emergence of Al-Qaeda, Talibanisation, war against terrorism, and involvement of Saudia and Iran have further aggravated the culture of violence and extremism in Pakistan. The absence of a narrative of peaceful coexistence and harmony has created a vacuum for youth in Pakistani society. In the contemporary era, civil society and the government of Pakistan has initiated different steps to introduce a narrative to counter violent extremism. These narratives have helped a lot in creating community resilience to promote peace and harmony among Pakistani society in general and to bridge the gap between the Sunni Shia divide in particular. This paper will highlight those factors in detail that threw the society into extremism and violence, particularly with reference to Sunni Shia divide in Pakistan. This paper explores the impact of sectarian violence in Pakistan and highlights the different initiatives and their impacts on Pakistani society at large. A quantitative method has been adopted to explore the results. Empirical study used in the paper was based on the survey conducted by distributing questionnaires among 300 people from both community Sunni and Shia in Pakistan. Some interviews of the religious scholars of both communities are also conducted for this research. The recent developments on the government level and society levels have created community resilience. The results of the survey show that Pakistani society in the contemporary era is more peaceful and tolerant as compared to the past. The research concludes that the counter-narrative approach is positively affecting the peaceful environment in Pakistan.

Keywords: extremism, Pakistan, Shia, Sunni, violence

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Authors: Mengistu Tulu Balcha, Endale Gadisa Motuma

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The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of leadership styles on employees’ organizational commitments in Ambo Woreda public organizations. The study was guided by a Descriptive survey and correlation research design of the quantitative method. By using simple random sampling techniques, 80 participants of employees and by purposive sampling technique, 32 leaders were involved in research from five purposely selected Woreda public organizations without a non-response rate. Two separate instruments adopted from previous studies, namely the multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ), which has 36 items and the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ), which has 12 items, were used as a data instrument tool. These items were rated by using a five-point Likert-scale. The survey data was processed by using an SPSS (version 27). Descriptive statistics to calculate mean and standard deviations of leaders’ and employees’ responses to leadership styles dominantly practiced in order to determine their perceptions, MLQ of leaders’ and employees’ responses (independent sample), and multiple linear regressions were used to calculate the effect of leadership styles on organizational commitment. The findings of the study show that the leadership style dominantly practiced in Ambo Woreda public organizations was more transactional than transformational and followed by laissez-faire. The level of EOC was ranked as continuance commitment and had the highest mean score, followed by normative commitment and then affective commitment. There is a strong, positive and significant relationship between leadership style dimensions and employees’ organizational commitment. Leadership styles were found statistically significant to predict employee commitment and there was a significant linear relationship between independent variables and dependent variables. Out of the three leadership variables, the transactional leadership style has the highest contribution, followed by the transformational leadership style, whereas the laissez-faire leadership style has the least contribution in predicting employees’ organizational commitment. Finally, the researcher forwarded possible recommendations for Ambo Woreda public organizational leaders and employees to work on improving leadership styles and employees’ commitment collaboratively.

Keywords: organizations, employee, relations, commitments, style

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Authors: Kristyna Hrabova, Sabina Hüblova, Tomas Vymazal

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Structural design of concrete structure has the result in qualities of structural safety and serviceability, together with durability, robustness, sustainability and resilience. A sustainable approach is at the heart of the research agenda around the world, and the Fibrillation Commission is also working on a new model code 2020. Now it is clear that the effects of mechanical, environmental load and even social coherence need to be reflected and included in the designing and evaluating structures. This study aimed to present the methodology for the sustainability assessment of various concrete mixtures.

Keywords: concrete, cement, sustainability, Model Code 2020

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Authors: Mark Linden, Rachel Leonard, Trisha Forbes, Michael Brown, Lynne Marsh, Stuart Todd, Nathan Hughes, Maria Truesdale

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Background: Current interventions which aim to improve the mental health of family carers are often face to face, which can create barriers to full participation. Online interventions can offer flexibility in delivery compared to face to face approaches. The primary objective of this study is to determine the feasibility of delivering the Carers-ID online intervention, while the secondary outcome is to improve the mental health of family carers of people with intellectual disabilities. Methods: Family carers (n = 120) will be randomised to receive the intervention (n=60) or assigned to a wait-list control (n=60) group. The intervention (www.Carers-ID.com) consists of fourteen modules which cover topics including promoting resilience, providing peer support, reducing anxiety, managing stress, accessing local supports, managing family conflict and information for siblings who are carers. Primary outcomes for this study include acceptability and feasibility of the outcome measures, recruitment, participation and retention rates and effect sizes. Secondary outcomes will be completed at three time points (baseline, following intervention completion and three months after completion). Secondary outcomes include, depression, anxiety, stress, well-being , resilience and social connectedness. Participants (n=12) who have taken part in the intervention arm of the research will be invited to participate in semi-structured interviews as part of the process evaluation. Discussion: To determine whether a full-scale randomised controlled effectiveness trial is warranted, feasibility testing of the intervention and trial procedures is a necessary first step. The Carers-ID intervention provides an accessible resource for family carers to support their mental health and well-being.

Keywords: intellectual disability, family carer, feasibility trial, online intervention

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Authors: Peter Ekene Egwu

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Waste management is of critical importance in Africa for reasons related to public health, human dignity, climate resilience and environmental preservation. However, delivering waste management services requires adequate funding, which has generally been lacking in a context where the generation of waste is outpacing the development of waste management infrastructure in most cities. The sector represents a growing percentage of cities’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and some of the African cities profiled in this study are now designing waste management strategies with emission reduction in mind.

Keywords: management waste material, Africa, uses of new technology to manage waste, waste management

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Authors: Noa Nelson, Orit Appel, Rachel Ben-ari

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Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) is voluntary employee behavior that contributes to the organization beyond formal job requirements. It can take different forms, such as helping teammates (OCB toward individuals; hence, OCB-I), or staying after hours to attend a task force (OCB toward the organization; hence, OCB-O). Generally, OCB contributes substantially to organizational climate, goals, productivity, and resilience, so organizations need to understand what encourages it. This is particularly challenging in security organizations. Security work is characterized by high levels of stress and burnout, which is detrimental to OCB, and security organizational design emphasizes formal rules and clear hierarchies, leaving employees with less freedom for voluntary behavior. The current research explored the role of Perceived Procedural Justice (PPJ) in enhancing OCB in a security organization. PPJ refers to how fair decision-making processes are perceived to be. It involves the sense that decision makers are objective, attentive to everyone's interests, respectful in their communications and participatory - allowing individuals a voice in decision processes. Justice perceptions affect motivation, and it was specifically suggested that PPJ creates an attachment to one's organization and personal interest in its success. Accordingly, PPJ had been associated with OCB, but hardly any research tested their association with security organizations. The current research was conducted among prison guards in the Israel Prison Service, to test a correlational and a causal association between PPJ and OCB. It differentiated between perceptions of direct commander procedural justice (CPJ), and perceptions of organization procedural justice (OPJ), hypothesizing that CPJ would relate to OCB-I, while OPJ would relate to OCB-O. In the first study, 336 prison guards (305 male) from 10 different prisons responded to questionnaires measuring their own CPJ, OPJ, OCB-I, and OCB-O. Hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated the significance of commander procedural justice (CPJ): It associated with OCB-I and also associated with OPJ, which, in turn, associated with OCB-O. The second study tested CPJ's causal effects on prison guards' OCB-I and OCB-O; 311 prison guards (275 male) from 14 different prisons read scenarios that described either high or low CPJ, and then evaluated the likelihood of that commander's prison guards performing OCB-I and OCB-O. In this study, CPJ enhanced OCB-O directly. It also contributed to OCB-I, indirectly: CPJ enhanced the motivation for collaboration with the commander, which respondents also evaluated after reading scenarios. Collaboration, in turn, associated with OCB-I. The studies demonstrate that procedural justice, especially commander's PJ, promotes OCB in security work environments. This is important because extraordinary teamwork and motivation are needed to deal with emergency situations and with delicate security challenges. Following the studies, the Israel Prison Service implemented personal procedural justice training for commanders and unit level programs for procedurally just decision processes. From a theoretical perspective, the studies extend the knowledge on PPJ and OCB to security work environments and contribute evidence on PPJ's causal effects. They also call for further research, to understand the mechanisms through which different types of PPJ affect different types of OCB.

Keywords: organizational citizenship behavior, perceived procedural justice, prison guards, security organizations

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