Search results for: employees engagement

Authors: Iva Nedelcheva

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This study is part of a doctoral thesis on the topic of Hyperfiction: Past, Present and Future of Storytelling through Hypertext. It explores in depth the impact of transmedia storytelling and the role of hypertext in the realm of the currently popular social media phenomenon Pokémon GO. Storytelling is a powerful method to engage and unite people. Moreover, the technology progress adds a whole new angle to the method, with hypertext and cross-platform sharing that enhance the traditional storytelling so much that transmedia storytelling gives unlimited opportunities to affect the everyday life of people across the globe. This research aims at examining the transmedia storytelling approach in Pokémon GO, and explaining how that contributed to its establishment as a massive worldwide hit in less than a week. The social engagement is investigated in all major media platforms, including traditional and online media channels. Observation and content analyses are reported in this paper to form the conclusion that transmedia storytelling with the input of hypertext has a promising future as a method of establishing a productive and rewarding communication strategy.

Keywords: communication, hypertext, Pokemon Go, storytelling, transmedia

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Authors: Shawndra Bowers, Allie Brandriet, Betsy Gilbertson

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This paper will highlight how Auburn Online’s instructional designers leveraged student and faculty data to update and improve online course design and instructional materials. When designing and revising online courses, it can be difficult for faculty to know what strategies are most likely to engage learners and improve educational outcomes in a specific discipline. It can also be difficult to identify which metrics are most useful for understanding and improving teaching, learning, and course design. At Auburn Online, the instructional designers use a suite of data based student’s performance, participation, satisfaction, and engagement, as well as faculty perceptions, to inform sound learning and design principles that guide growth-mindset consultations with faculty. The consultations allow the instructional designer, along with the faculty member, to co-create an actionable course improvement plan. Auburn Online gathers learning analytics from a variety of sources that any instructor or instructional design team may have access to at their own institutions. Participation and performance data, such as page: views, assignment submissions, and aggregate grade distributions, are collected from the learning management system. Engagement data is pulled from the video hosting platform, which includes unique viewers, views and downloads, the minutes delivered, and the average duration each video is viewed. Student satisfaction is also obtained through a short survey that is embedded at the end of each instructional module. This survey is included in each course every time it is taught. The survey data is then analyzed by an instructional designer for trends and pain points in order to identify areas that can be modified, such as course content and instructional strategies, to better support student learning. This analysis, along with the instructional designer’s recommendations, is presented in a comprehensive report to instructors in an hour-long consultation where instructional designers collaborate with the faculty member on how and when to implement improvements. Auburn Online has developed a triage strategy of priority 1 or 2 level changes that will be implemented in future course iterations. This data-informed decision-making process helps instructors focus on what will best work in their teaching environment while addressing which areas need additional attention. As a student-centered process, it has created improved learning environments for students and has been well received by faculty. It has also shown to be effective in addressing the need for improvement while removing the feeling the faculty’s teaching is being personally attacked. The process that Auburn Online uses is laid out, along with the three-tier maintenance and revision guide that will be used over a three-year implementation plan. This information can help others determine what components of the maintenance and revision plan they want to utilize, as well as guide them on how to create a similar approach. The data will be used to analyze, revise, and improve courses by providing recommendations and models of good practices through determining and disseminating best practices that demonstrate an impact on student success.

Keywords: data-driven, improvement, online courses, faculty development, analytics, course design

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Authors: Orestis Kasinopoulos, Maria Karekla, Vasilis Vasiliou, Evangelos Karademas

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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an empirically supported intervention for treating Chronic Pain Patients, yet its effectiveness for some chronic conditions or when adapted to other languages, has not been explored. An ACT group intervention was designed to explore the effectiveness of treating a Greek speaking heterogeneous sample of Chronic Pain patients with the aim of increasing quality of life, acceptance of pain and functionality. Sixty-nine patients were assessed and randomly assigned to an ACT or control group (relaxation techniques) for eight, 90-minute, sessions. Results are currently being analysed and follow-ups (6 and 12 month) are being completed. Low adherence rates and high attrition rates observed in the study, however point to the direction of future modified interventions. Such modifications may include web-based and smartphone interventions and their benefits in being implemented in chronic pain patients.

Keywords: chronic pain, ACT, internet-delivered, digitalised intervention, adherence, attrition

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Authors: Andrew Anis Fakhrey Mosaad

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Introduction: Children with cerebral palsy (CP) can be rehabilitated using a variety of methods and strategies, from traditional and conservative methods to more intricate motor learning-based theories such as sensory-motor integration and neurodevelopmental treatment. Method: Since sensory, cognitive, communication, perceptual, and/or behavioral abnormalities are often present alongside motor impairments in children with cerebral palsy, therapy approaches are tailored to each child's specific needs. Using evidence-based practices guarantees that kids make the most progress possible. Task-specific exercises and active engagement are the cornerstones of effective physical therapy regimens, which enhance motor recovery by potentially plasticizing the central nervous system (CNS). Conclusion: The goal of CP rehabilitation for kids is to improve their functional ability, gait, balance, and motor development. Presenting various methods frequently employed in the rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy was the aim of this review.

Keywords: children, cerebral palsy, rehabilitation, physical therapy

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Authors: Rafia Rafique, Arifa Khadim

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This research investigates the moderating role of job satisfaction between organizational learning and work performance among nurses. Correlation research design was used. Non-probability purposive sampling technique was utilized to recruit a sample of 110 nurses from public hospitals situated in the city of Lahore. The construct of organizational learning was measured using subscale of Integrated Scale for Measuring Organizational Learning. Job satisfaction was measured with the help of Job Satisfaction Survey. Performance of employees (task performance, contextual performance and counterproductive work behavior) was assessed by Individual Work Performance Questionnaire. Job satisfaction negatively moderates the relationship between organizational learning and counterproductive work behavior. Education has a significant positive relationship with organizational learning. Age, current hospital experience, marital satisfaction and salary of the nurses have positive relationship while number of children has significant negative relationship with counterproductive work behavior. These outcomes can be insightful in understanding the dynamics involved in work performance. Based on the result of this study relevant solutions can be proposed to improve the work performance of nurses.

Keywords: counterproductive work behavior, nurses, organizational learning, work performance

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Authors: Nebojša Janićijević

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The paper presents the results of a study on work-related values of Generation Z, comprised of young people born between the late 1990s and 2010. Following Millennials, Generation Z is the first generation of digital natives. This is the reason, along with some other circumstances that accompanied them during their growing up, why Generation Z has somewhat different work-related values than previous generations. Since they are just beginning to enter the labor market and will be the majority of the workforce in the next decade or two, it is very important and useful for their employers to understand what Generation Z values when it comes to work. The study was conducted by surveying the students of the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade, Serbia, during 2022 and 2023. The research results show that Generation Z values safety, achievement, and status the most in the workplace. From the individual perspective, future employees consider it most important that their job provides good working conditions, recognition for the work performed, and the possibility of achievement. It is noticeable that Generation Z students, to a significant extent, expect to be protected and safe at work in the future, both in terms of the job itself and in terms of social relations. According to the research findings, Generation Z is relatively homogeneous, and no significant differences in work-related values were found among them, except by gender.

Keywords: generation Z, work related values, students, Serbia

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Authors: Irfan Zafar

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Over the years the Telecom Industry in the country has shown a lot of progress in terms of infrastructure development coupled with the availability of telecom services. This has however led to the cut throat completion among various operators thus leading to reduced tariffs to the customers. The profit margins have seen a reduction thus leading the operators to think of other avenues by adopting new models while keeping the quality of service intact. The outsourcing of the network and the resources is one such model which has shown promising benefits which includes lower costs, less risk, higher levels of customer support and engagement, predictable expenses, access to the emerging technologies, benefiting from a highly skilled workforce, adaptability, focus on the core business while reducing capital costs. A lot of research has been done on outsourcing in terms of reasons of outsourcing and its benefits. However this study is an attempt to analyze the effects of the outsourcing on an organizations performance (Telecommunication Sector) considering the variables (1) Cost Reduction (2) Organizational Performance (3) Flexibility (4) Employee Performance (5) Access to Specialized Skills & Technology and the (6) Outsourcing Risks.

Keywords: outsourcing, ICT, telecommunication, IT, networking

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Authors: Vasanthi Muniasamy, Intisar Magboul Ejalani, M.Anandhavalli, K. Gauthaman

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Social Media (SM) are websites increasingly popular and built to allow people to express themselves and to interact socially with others. Most SMT are dominated by youth particularly college students. The proliferation of popular social media tools, which can accessed from any communication devices has become pervasive in the lives of today’s student life. Connecting traditional education to social media tools are a relatively new era and any collaborative tool could be used for learning activities. This study focuses (i) how the social media tools are useful for the learning activities of the students of faculty of medicine in King Khalid University (ii) whether the social media affects the collaborative learning with interaction among students, among course instructor, their engagement, perceived ease of use and perceived ease of usefulness (TAM) (iii) overall, the students satisfy with this collaborative learning through Social media.

Keywords: social media, Web 2.0, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, collaborative Learning

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Authors: M. E. Marwan, A. R. Madar, N. Fuad

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Mobile learning (m-learning) is a new method in teaching and learning process which combines technology of mobile device with learning materials. It can enhance student's engagement in learning activities and facilitate them to access the learning materials at anytime and anywhere. In Kolej Poly-Tech Mara (KPTM), this method is seen as an important effort in teaching practice and to improve student learning performance. The aim of this paper is to discuss the development of m-learning application called Mobile EEF Learning System (MEEFLS) to be implemented for Electric and Electronic Fundamentals course using Flash, XML (Extensible Markup Language) and J2ME (Java 2 micro edition). System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) was used as an application development approach. It has three modules in this application such as notes or course material, exercises and video. MEELFS development is seen as a tool or a pilot test for m-learning in KPTM.

Keywords: flash, mobile device, mobile learning, teaching and learning, SDLC, XML

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Authors: Yawen Xia, Rubi Yang, Jing Zhao

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By using the Reputation Risk Index (RRI) to measure company environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities, this research studies firms’ ESG comovement with their industry and local peers. This comovement is attenuated during the Covid-19 pandemic. Further analysis shows that corporate governance plays an important role in comovement decrease. We classify companies by region (city, state, region) and industry and calculate the average RRI of companies of the same type. We run separate regressions to test 1) industry comovement; 2) local comovement; 3) Covid-19 pandemic and reputation risk comovement; 4) corporate governance and reputation risk comovement. Our findings are consistent with previous literature that companies follow their industry and local counterparts in engaging in irresponsible activities and reducing ESG engagement. We speculate Covid shock led to a reduction in social activities and information sharing among enterprise managers, and comovement between enterprises, as a result, decreased during the pandemic.

Keywords: ESG, Covid, peer pressure, local comovement, corporate governance

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Authors: Malki Fatima Zahra Nadia, Kellal Cheiimaa, Brahimi Houria

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Total Quality Management (TQM) is one of the most important modern management systems in marketing, that help organizations to survive and remain competitive in the dynamic market with frequent changes. It assists them in gaining a competitive advantage, growth, and excellence compared to their competitors. To understand the impact of TQM on competitive advantage in economic companies, a study was conducted in Ooredoo Telecommunications Company. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to OOredoo' 75 employees in each of the departments of leadership, quality assurance, quality control, research and development, production, customer service, Similarly, resulting in the retrieval of 72 questionnaires. To analyze the descriptive results of the study, the SPSS software version 25 was used. Additionally, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with the help of Smart Pls4 software was utilized to test the study's hypotheses. The study concluded that there is an impact between total quality management and competitive advantage in Ooredoo company to different degrees. On this basis, the study recommended the need to implement the total quality management system at the level of all organizations and in various fields.

Keywords: total quality management, ISO system, competitive advantage, competitive strategies

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Authors: Malmi Amadoru, Chandana Gamage

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Sri Lanka is emerging as a global IT-BPO hub topping up among the 20 global outsourcing destinations. When setting up a new venture in Sri Lanka, talent sourcing plays one of the key functions due to the rapid growth of workforce. Getting competent people with right skills for right positions leads organizations achieving its vision, mission and objectives. It also drives in earning competitive advantage over industry competitors. Thus it is crucial to scan and recruit the best employees to an organization. However there is no published information available on recruitment methods utilized in Sri Lankan software industry, as a study of this nature had not being conducted previously in Sri Lanka. The main objective of this study was to explore various talent sourcing practices exploited in Sri Lankan software industry. Also this study analyses the extent which Sri Lanka has adopted different recruitment strategies utilized in worldwide and its deviations. The research outcome is beneficial for HR professionals to identify the current trends in recruitment practices. Moreover investors who are interested in IT-BPO engagements can gain a thorough knowledge about talent sourcing techniques in Sri Lankan software industry. Finally, this research clues trending areas which can be further investigated in future.

Keywords: IT-BPO, recruitment, Sri Lanka, software industry, talent

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Authors: Wilaiwan Jongwilaikasaem, Phatteera Sarakornborrirak

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While Thai television producers feel anxious about digital disruption, Love Destiny, Thai television period drama became smash hit in Thailand in 2018. Audience throughout the country not only watched the drama both offline and online but also spread the content of the drama on social media and followed cultural trends from the protagonist. Thus, the main purpose of this article is to examine the secret behind the success of Love Destiny. Data were collected from content analysis and in-depth interview. The result shows that the key success of the drama is from earned media phenomenon from the audience and marketers’ engagement. As Love Destiny has full-flavored content with traditional challenged plot, delicate production, and presentation of Thainess in a positive and tangible way; audience and marketers are enthusiastic about building up the popular trend of Love Destiny on social media and also coming back home to watch televisions when the drama was on the air.

Keywords: Thai drama, earned media, Love Destiny, television

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Authors: Melissa C. Monney

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Psychological testing has been of interest to researchers for many years as useful tools in assessing and diagnosing various disorders as well as to assist in understanding human behavior. However, for over 20 years now, researchers and laypersons alike have been interested in using them for other purposes, such as determining factors in employee selection, promotion, and even termination. In recent years, psychological assessments have been useful in facilitating workplace decision processing, regarding employee circulation within organizations. This literature review explores four of the most commonly used psychological tests in workplace environments, namely cognitive ability, emotional intelligence, integrity, and personality tests, as organizations have used these tests to assess different factors of human behavior as predictive measures of future employee behaviors. The findings suggest that while there is much controversy and debate regarding the validity and reliability of these tests in workplace settings as they were not originally designed for these purposes, the use of such assessments in the workplace has been useful in decreasing costs and employee turnover as well as increase job satisfaction by ensuring the right employees are selected for their roles.

Keywords: cognitive ability, personality testing, predictive validity, workplace behavior

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Authors: Henry Okechukwu Onyeiwu

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The role of media in the transformation of contemporary Nigeria's democracies is multifaceted and profoundly impactful. As Nigeria navigates its complex socio-political landscape, media serves as both a catalyst for democratic engagement and a platform for public discourse. This paper explores the various dimensions through which media influences democracy in Nigeria, including its role in informing citizens, shaping public opinion, and providing a forum for diverse voices. The increasing penetration of social media has revolutionized the political sphere, empowering citizens to participate in governance and hold leaders accountable. However, challenges such as misinformation, censorship, and media bias continue to pose significant threats to democratic integrity. This study critically analyzes the interplay between traditional and new media, highlighting their contributions to electoral processes, civic education, and advocacy for human rights. Ultimately, the findings illustrate that while media is a crucial agent for democratic transformation, its potential can only be realized through a commitment to journalistic integrity and the promotion of media literacy among the Nigerian populace. The media plays a critical role in shaping public democracies in Nigeria, yet it faces a myriad of challenges that hinder its effectiveness. This paper examines the various obstacles confronting media broadcasting in Nigeria, which range from political interference and censorship to issues of professionalism and the proliferation of fake news. Political interference is particularly pronounced, as government entities and political actors often attempt to control narratives, compromising the independence of media outlets. This control often manifests in the form of censorship, where journalists face threats and harassment for reporting on sensitive topics related to governance, corruption, and human rights abuses. Moreover, the rapid rise of social media has introduced a dual challenge; while it offers a platform for citizen engagement and diverse viewpoints, it also facilitates the spread of misinformation and propaganda. The lack of media literacy among the populace exacerbates this issue, as citizens often struggle to discern credible information from false narratives. Additionally, economic constraints deeply affect the sustainability and independence of many broadcasting organizations. Advertisers may unduly influence content, leading to sensationalism over substantive reporting. This paper argues that for media to effectively contribute to Nigerian public democracies, there needs to be a concerted effort to address these challenges. Strengthening journalistic ethics, enhancing regulatory frameworks, and promoting media literacy among citizens are essential steps in fostering a more vibrant and accountable media landscape. Ultimately, this research underscores the necessity of a resilient media ecosystem that can truly support democratic processes, empower citizens, and hold power to account in contemporary Nigeria.

Keywords: media, democracy, socio-political, governance

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Authors: Anastasis D. Petrou

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Innovation and strategy discussions do highlight open innovation as a new paradigm in business. Yet, a number of stumbling blocks in the form of closed innovation principles weaved into the fabric of a traditional business model stand in the way of the new paradigm’s momentum to increase value in various business contexts. The paper argues that businesses considering an engagement with the open innovation paradigm would need to take steps to improve their multiplicative, absorptive and relational capabilities, respectively. The needed improvements would amount to a business model evolutionary transformation and eventually bring about a paradigm overhaul in business. The transformation is worth staging over time to ensure that open innovation is developed across interconnected and partnered areas of strategic importance. This article develops an open innovation strategy (OIS) capabilities model, and employs examples from different industries to briefly discuss OIS’s potential to augment business value in a number of suggested areas for future research.

Keywords: close innovation, open innovation paradigm, open innovation strategy (OIS) paradigm, OIS capabilities model, multiplicative capability, absorptive capability, relational capability

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Authors: Minh Thi Hai Vo

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This article draws on in-depth interviews with state employees at public hospitals and universities in its institutional analysis of the autonomy practices of public service delivery units in Vietnam. Unlike many empirical and theoretical studies that view formal and informal institutions as complements or substitutes, this article finds no evidence of complementary or substitutive relationships. Instead, the article finds that formal institutions accommodate informal ones and that informal institutions tend to compete and interfere, with the existing and ineffective formal institutions. The result of such conflicting relationship is that the actual autonomy of public service delivery units is, in most cases, perceived to be greater than the formal autonomy they are given. In the condition of poor regulation, the informal autonomy may result in unethical practices including rent-seeking and corruption. The implication of the study finding is policy-makers need to redesign and reorganize the autonomisation of public service delivery units to make informal institutions support and reinforce formal ones in a complementary manner.

Keywords: autonomy, formal institutions, informal institutions, public service delivery units, Vietnam

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Authors: Ahmad Badawi Saluy, Novawiguna Kemalasari

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This study aims to examine and analyze the influence of organizational culture, organizational commitment, and transformational leadership style on employee performance. This study used descriptive survey method with quantitative approach, and questionnaires as a tool used for basic data collection. The sampling technique used is proportionate stratified random sampling technique; all respondents in this study were 70 respondents. The analytical method used in this research is multiple linear regressions. The result of determination coefficient of 52.3% indicates that organizational culture, organizational commitment, and transformational leadership style simultaneously have a significant influence on the performance of employees, while the remaining 47.7% is explained by other factors outside the research variables. Partially, organization culture has strong and positive influence on employee performance, organizational commitment has a moderate and positive effect on employee performance, while the transformational leadership style has a strong and positive influence on employee performance and this is also the variable that has the most impact on employee performance.

Keywords: organizational culture, organizational commitment, transformational leadership style, employee performance

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Authors: H. Ashrafi, S. Ebrahimi, H. Kamalzadeh

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With the development of business competition, it is important for healthcare providers to improve their service qualities. In order to improve service quality of a clinic, four important dimensions are defined: tangibles, responsiveness, empathy, and reliability. Moreover, there are several service stages in hospitals such as financial screening and examination. One of the most challenging limitations for improving service quality is budget which impressively affects the service quality. In this paper, we present an approach to address budget uncertainty and provide guidelines for service resource allocation. In this paper, a service quality improvement approach is proposed which can be adopted to multistage service processes to improve service quality, while controlling the costs. A multi-objective function based on the importance of each area and dimension is defined to link operational variables to service quality dimensions. The results demonstrate that our approach is not ultra-conservative and it shows the actual condition very well. Moreover, it is shown that different strategies can affect the number of employees in different stages.

Keywords: allocation, budget uncertainty, healthcare resource, service quality assessment, robust optimization

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Authors: Nareerut Rodwring

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The purposes of this research were to study the current problems of the management of welfare fund at the department of labor protection and welfare, to study important factors affecting the management of welfare fund at the department of labor protection and welfare, to study major influences of the management of welfare fund at the department of labor protection and welfare, and finally to propose the proper guidelines for the management of welfare fund at the department of labor protection and welfare. This research study utilized the information from document, laws, rules, and regulations of the government, handbook for welfare, and government policy in the past. Moreover, the qualitative research was conducted by retrieving insight information from key informants, 15 persons for the committee of welfare employees, and 10 persons from a high level of management in the welfare area, academics, and experts. In terms of quantitative method, the study covers all 76 provinces and 10 areas of Bangkok. Independent variables included strategy, structure, shared value, system, whereas the dependent variables included the management factors such as speed, punctuation, and quality of work.

Keywords: strategy, welfare, labor protection, management

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Authors: Jukka Surakka, Risto Tuominen, Jukka Piippo

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The aim of this work was to study the development of sick leaves and presenteeism during a work ability program. Productivity losses were determined for 70 employees from four organizations and for 42 controls. Numbers of sick leave days (SLD) were collected from employers’ records for three months before the program started and each subsequent three months for one year after the initiation. Presenteeism was determined for four weeks before and after one year of the program implementation. In the first three months of implementation SLD reduced among project members by 55% and increased by 27% among controls (p<0.001). However, during the last two measurement periods, the project subjects had more SLD than they had before the program started (p<0.001), and also more than the controls (p<0.001). Overall, during the one year implementation the program subjects had on average 23% increase in SLD, whereas the controls had 35% decrease in their SLD (p<0.001). Program participants experienced per month 3.6 hours more presenteeism after the one-year implementation and among the controls presenteeism increased by 2.5 hours. Work ability program produced short-term productivity benefits, but with longer program duration the benefits disappeared.

Keywords: work ability, absenteeism, presenteeism, productivity, sick leave

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Authors: Yllka Hysaj, Ylberina Hysaj Arifi

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Recently, with BREXIT taking place, organizations and employees have been affected in the way of job and employment security. Career-oriented human resources management (HRM) practices are likely to facilitate self-initiated expatriates’ adjustment to the host country. This was related to the career security (job security and employment security), which were missing in their home country and seemed to be important elements to adjust to the host country. The aim of this study is to assess whether the perception of career security by Frances self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) have changed in the wake of the referendum result. Quantitative research method will be used, and the data will be collected through electronic questionnaires. Data will be analyzed through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The study variables will include an adjustment to the host country, HRM practices, employability, and job security. Predicted results consist that career-oriented HRM practices are positively related to the adjustment to the host country, employability, and job security. However, with Brexit, there might be a negative relationship between career-oriented HRM practices and job security.

Keywords: migration, self-initiated expatriates, Brexit, job security

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Authors: Nana Weng

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Firstly, based on two diamond models and Value-Rarity-Inimitability-Organization framework, this paper analyzes the Country Specific factors of and firm specific factors which influence subsidiaries’ sustainable competitive advantage. Then, according to the main content of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) research that HRM strategy should fit into corporate strategy, we explained what the SHRM practices should be in the context of localization strategies within Multinational Enterprise (MNE) companies. Then we choose two Japanese MNE subsidiaries in the same industry and tested the hypothesis that localization SHRM practices positively impact on subsidiary’s sustainable competitive advantage, further positively affect firm integrated performance (both financial performance and organizational and organizational performance) lever through High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs) of local employees.

Keywords: localization SHRM, firm integrated performance, Japanese MNE subsidiaries, Vietnam

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Authors: Guilherme Gorgulho, Carlos Roberto Camello Lima

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Over the past five years between 2011 and 2015, the license plate of cars, light commercial vehicles, trucks and buses have suffered retraction. This sector's decline can be explained by economic and national policy in the Brazilian industry operates. In parallel to the reduction of sales and license plate of vehicles, their suppliers are also affected influencing its results, among these vendors, there is the auto parts sector. The existence of international companies, and featured strongly in Asia and Mexico due to low production costs, encourage companies to constantly seek continuous improvement and operational efficiency. Under this argument, the decision making based on lean manufacturing tools it is essential for the management of operations. The purpose of this article is to analyze between lean practices in Brazilian auto parts industries, through the application of a questionnaire with employees who practice lean thinking in organizations. The purpose is to confront the extracted data in the questionnaires, and debate on which of lean tools help organizations as a competitive advantage.

Keywords: autoparts, brazilian industry, lean practices, survey

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Authors: Frank Frimpong Opuni, Michael Mba Allan, Kwame Adu-Gyamfi, Michael Sarkodie Baffoe

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This paper assesses the effect of relationship marketing on service quality and customer satisfaction from the perspective of the moderating role of emotional intelligence in the insurance industry in Ghana. A descriptive quantitative research technique was employed. A random sample of 384 each of customers and service providers in 3 insurance firms in Accra were used as the source of data. According to findings, emotional intelligence makes a strong positive effect on relationship marketing at 5% significance level, r (283) = .817, p = .000. Though relationship marketing makes a strong positive effect on service quality (r = .767, p < .05) and customer satisfaction (r = .647, p < .05), this effect becomes insignificant (p > .05) when the effect of emotional intelligence on relationship marketing is controlled for. It is therefore recommended that insurance firms give priority to equipping their relationship employees with emotional intelligence to maximise service quality and customer satisfaction.

Keywords: relationship marketing, service quality, customer satisfaction, emotional intelligence

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Authors: Murat Çolak, Elifnaz Tanyıldızı

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Today, human mobility with globalization has increased the interaction between countries significantly; although this contact has advanced societies in terms of civilization, it has also increased the likelihood of pandemics. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which caused the most loss of life among them, turned into a global epidemic by covering the whole world in a short time. While there was an explosion in demand in some businesses around the world, some businesses temporarily stopped or had to stop their activities. The businesses affected by the crisis had to adapt to the new legal regulations but had to make changes in matters such as their working styles, human resources practices, and policies. One of the measures taken into account is the reduction of the workforce. The current COVID-19 crisis has posed serious challenges for many organizations and has generated an unprecedented wave of termination notices. This study examined examples of companies affected by the pandemic process and changed their working policies after the pandemic. This study aims to reveal the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on human resources policies and employees and how these situations will affect businesses in the future.

Keywords: human resource management, crisis management, COVID-19, business function

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Authors: Z. M. T. Lim, W. Q. Yow

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Diversity in individual problem-solving approaches, culture and nationality have been shown to have positive effects on collaborative creative processes in organizational and scholastic settings. For example, diverse graduate and organizational teams consisting of members with both structured and unstructured problem-solving styles were found to have more creative ideas on a collaborative idea generation task than teams that comprised solely of members with either structured or unstructured problem-solving styles. However, being different may not always provide benefits to the collaborative creative process. In particular, speaking different languages may hinder mutual engagement through impaired communication and thus collaboration. Instead, sharing similar languages may have facilitative effects on mutual engagement in collaborative tasks. However, no studies have explored the relations between language diversity and adults’ collaborative creative problem solving. Sixty-four Singaporean English-speaking bilingual undergraduates were paired up into similar or dissimilar language pairs based on the second language they spoke (e.g., for similar language pairs, both participants spoke English-Mandarin; for dissimilar language pairs, one participant spoke English-Mandarin and the other spoke English-Korean). Each participant completed the Ravens Progressive Matrices Task individually. Next, they worked in pairs to complete a collaborative divergent thinking task where they used mind-mapping techniques to brainstorm ideas on a given problem together (e.g., how to keep insects out of the house). Lastly, the pairs worked on a collaborative insight problem-solving task (Triangle of Coins puzzle) where they needed to flip a triangle of ten coins around by moving only three coins. Pairs who had prior knowledge of the Triangle of Coins puzzle were asked to complete an equivalent Matchstick task instead, where they needed to make seven squares by moving only two matchsticks based on a given array of matchsticks. Results showed that, after controlling for intelligence, similar language pairs completed the collaborative insight problem-solving task faster than dissimilar language pairs. Intelligence also moderated these relations. Among adults of lower intelligence, similar language pairs solved the insight problem-solving task faster than dissimilar language pairs. These differences in speed were not found in adults with higher intelligence. No differences were found in the number of ideas generated in the collaborative divergent thinking task between similar language and dissimilar language pairs. In conclusion, sharing similar languages seem to enrich collaborative creative processes. These effects were especially pertinent to pairs with lower intelligence. This provides guidelines for the formation of groups based on shared languages in collaborative creative processes. However, the positive effects of shared languages appear to be limited to the insight problem-solving task and not the divergent thinking task. This could be due to the facilitative effects of other factors of diversity as found in previous literature. Background diversity, for example, may have a larger facilitative effect on the divergent thinking task as compared to the insight problem-solving task due to the varied experiences individuals bring to the task. In conclusion, this study contributes to the understanding of the effects of language diversity in collaborative creative processes and challenges the general positive effects that diversity has on these processes.

Keywords: bilingualism, diversity, creativity, collaboration

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Authors: Bruno Henrique Rocha Fernandes, Amir Rezaee, Jucelia Appio

Abstract:

The relation between Human Resource Management (HRM) practices and organizational performance remains the subject of substantial literature. Though many studies demonstrated positive relationship, still major influencing variables are not yet clear. This study considers the Person-Environment Fit (PE Fit) and its components, Person-Supervisor (PS), Person-Group (PG), Person-Organization (PO) and Person-Job (PJ) Fit, as possible explanatory variables. We analyzed PE Fit as a moderator between HRM practices and financial performance in the “best companies to work” in Brazil. Data from HRM practices were classified through the High Performance Working Systems (HPWS) construct and data on PE-Fit were obtained through surveys among employees. Financial data, consisting of return on invested capital (ROIC) and price earnings ratio (PER) were collected for publicly traded best companies to work. Findings show that PO Fit and PJ Fit play a significant moderator role for PER but not for ROIC.

Keywords: financial performance, human resource management, high performance working systems, person-environment fit

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Authors: Elaine Crable, Amit Sen

Abstract:

Short-term study abroad programs have become a mainstay of MBA programs. The benefits of international business experiences, along with its exposure to global cultures, are well documented. However, developing a rewarding study, abroad program at the graduate level can be challenging for Faculty, especially when devising such a program for a group of part-time MBA students who come with a wide range of experiences and demographic characteristics. Each student has individual expectations for the study abroad experience. This study provides suggestions and considerations for Faculty that are planning to design a short-term study abroad program, especially for part-time MBA students. Insights are based on a recent experience leading a group of twenty-one students on a ten-day program to Morocco. The trip was designed and facilitated by two faculty members and a local Moroccan facilitator. This experience led to a number of insights and recommendations. First, the choice of location is critical. The choice of Morocco was very deliberate, owing to its multi-faceted cultural landscape and international business interest. It is an Islamic State with close ties to Europe both culturally and geographically and Morocco is a multi-lingual country with some combination of three languages spoken by most – English, Arabic, and French. Second, collaboration with a local ‘academic’ partner allowed the level of instruction to be both rigorous and significantly more engaging. Third, allowing students to participate in the planning of the trip enabled the trip participants to collaborate, negotiate, and share their own experiences and strengths. The pre-trip engagement was structured by creating four sub-groups, each responsible for an assigned city. Each student sub-group had to provide a historical background of the assigned city, plan the itinerary including sites to visit, cuisine to experience, industries to explore, markets to visit, plus provide a budget for that city’s expenses. The pre-planning segment of the course was critical for the success of the program as students were able to contribute to the design of the program through collaboration and negotiation with their peers. Fourth, each student sub-group was assigned industry to study within Morocco. The student sub-group prepared a presentation and a group paper with their analysis of the chosen industries. The pre-planning activities created strong bonds among the trip participants, which was evident when faced with on-ground challenges, especially when it was necessary to quickly evacuate due to a surprise USA COVID evacuation notice. The entire group supported each other when quickly making their way back to the United States. Unfortunately, the trip was cut short by two days due to this emergency exit, but the feedback regarding the program was very positive all around. While the program design put pressure on the Faculty leads regarding planning and coordination upfront, the outcome in terms of student engagement, student learning, collaboration and negotiation were all favorable and worth the effort. Finally, an added value, the cost of the program for the student was significantly lower compared to running a program with a professional provider.

Keywords: business education, experiential learning, international education, study abroad

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Authors: Mohd Fitri Mansor, Noor Hidayah Abu, Hussen Nasir

Abstract:

Human capital is one of valuable assets to the organization in order to sustain organization performance and to achieve both employees and employer objectives. The aim of the study is to examine the powerful of both Human Resource practices (i.e. Training & Development and Compensation & Rewards) towards sustaining SME’s performance. The objectives of the current study are to examine the relationship between training and development as well as compensation and rewards in sustaining Malaysian SME’s performance. Finally, is to identify the strongest variable contribute to the sustainability of SMEs performance. The result from 80 Malaysian SME’s owners found that both variables training & development and compensation & rewards significantly contributes to the sustainability of SME,s performance. Meanwhile, the strongest variable contributes to the sustainability of SMEs performance was training and development. The study contributes to the knowledge and awareness to the SME’s owners an important or the powerful of human resource practices in sustaining their organization performance.

Keywords: training and development, compensation and rewards, sustainability, SME’s performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 482