Search results for: work accommodation management

Authors: V. Emery David Jr., J. Wenchao, D. Mmereki, Y. John, F. Heriniaina

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Healthcare waste management continues to present an array of challenges for developing countries, and Liberia is of no exception. There is insufficient information available regarding the generation, handling, and disposal of health care waste. This face serves as an impediment to healthcare management schemes. The specific objective of this study is to present an evaluation of the current health care management practices in Liberia. It also presented procedures, techniques used, methods of handling, transportation, and disposal methods of wastes as well as the quantity and composition of health care waste. This study was conducted as an investigative case study, covering three different health care facilities; a hospital, a health center, and a clinic in Monrovia, Montserrado County. The average waste generation was found to be 0-7kg per day at the clinic and health center and 8-15kg per/day at the hospital. The composition of the waste includes hazardous and non-hazardous waste i.e. plastic, papers, sharps, and pathological elements etc. Nevertheless, the investigation showed that the healthcare waste generated by the surveyed healthcare facilities were not properly handled because of insufficient guidelines for separate collection, and classification, and adequate methods for storage and proper disposal of generated wastes. This therefore indicates that there is a need for improvement within the healthcare waste management system to improve the existing situation.

Keywords: disposal, healthcare waste, management, Montserrado County, Monrovia

Procedia PDF Downloads 324

Authors: Mehmood Faisal

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In this globalization era, the supply chain management has acquired strategic importance in diverse business environments. In the current highly competitive business environment, the success of any business considerably depends on the efficiency of the supply chain. The importance of petroleum industry cannot be avoided in the global market; however, supply chain management in the petroleum industry is facing various challenges, particularly in the logistics area. These logistical challenges have a main influence on the cost of crude oil; therefore, the opportunities to save cost in logistics still do exist. The large oil producing companies are undertaking future contracts through 'swaps or options' practice that saves their millions of dollars. The objective of this paper is to throw light on the supply chain challenges and opportunities in the oil industry and on swap practices which are widely employed by large oil producing companies around the world, such as Chevron Corporation, Saudi Arabian Oil Company, BP and Exxon Mobil.

Keywords: logistics, oil industry, swap practice, supply chain management

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Authors: Josie West

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This paper focuses on the conflicts and utility of Marxist Feminist frames for sex work research, drawing on findings uncovered through in-depth interviews with online sex workers, alongside critical discourse analysis of media and political commentary. It brings the critical perspective of women into digital workerism and gig economy dialogue who, despite their significant presence within online work, have been overlooked. The autonomist Marxist concept of class composition is adopted to unpack the social, technical and political composition of this often-invisible segment of the service sector. Autonomism makes visible the perspective of workers engaged in processes of mobilization and demobilizaiton. This allows researchers to find everyday forms of resistance which occur within and outside trade unions. On the other hand, Marxist feminist arguments about invisibility politics can generate unhelpful allegories about sex work as domestic labour within the reproductive sphere. Nick Srnicek’s development of Marx’s notion of infrastructure rents helps theorize experiences of unpaid labour within online sex work. Moreover, debates about anti-work politics can cause conflict among sex workers fighting for the labour movement and those rejecting the capitalist work ethic. This illuminates’ tensions caused by white privilege and differing experiences of sex work. The monopolistic and competitive nature of sex work platforms within platform capitalism, and the vulnerable position of marginalised workers within stigmatized/criminalised markets, complicates anti-work politics further. This paper is situated within the feminist sex wars and the intensely divisive question of whether sex workers are victims of the patriarchy or symbols of feminist resistance. Camgirls are shown to engage in radical tactics of resistance against their technical composition on popular sex work platforms. They also engage in creative acts of resistance through performance art, in an attempt to draw attention to stigma and anti-criminalization politics. This sector offers a fascinating window onto grassroots class-action, alongside education about ‘whorephobia.’ A case study of resistance against Only Fans, and a small workers co-operative which emerged during the pandemic, showcases how workers engage in socialist and political acts without the aid of unions. Workers are victims of neoliberalism and simultaneous adopters of neoliberal strategies of survival. The complex dynamics within unions are explored, including tensions with grass-roots resistance, financial pressures and intersecting complications of class, gender and race.

Keywords: autonomist marxism, digital labor, feminism, neoliberalism, sex work, platform capitalism

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Authors: Jang-Hwan Jo

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Implementing sustainable island forest management policies requires categorizing islands into groups based on key indicators and establishing a consistent management system. Building on the results of previous studies, a typology of forested islands was established: Type 1 – connected islands with high natural vegetation cover; Type 2 – connected islands with moderate natural vegetation cover; Type 3 – connected islands with low natural vegetation cover; Type 4 – unconnected islands with high natural vegetation cover; Type 5 – unconnected islands with moderate natural vegetation cover; and Type 6 – unconnected islands with low natural vegetation cover. An AHP analysis was conducted with island forest experts to identify priority ecosystem services (ESs) for the sustainable management of each island type. In connected islands, provisioning services (natural resources, natural medicines, etc.) assumed greater importance than regulating (erosion control) and supporting services (genetic diversity). In unconnected islands, particularly those with a small proportion of natural vegetation, regulating services (erosion control) requires greater emphasis in management. Considering that Type 3 islands require urgent management as connectivity to the mainland makes natural vegetation-sparse island forest ecosystems vulnerable to anthropogenic activities, the land-use scoring method was carried out on Jin-do, a Type 3 forested island. Comparisons between AHP-derived expert demand for key island ESs and the spatial distribution of ES supply potential revealed mismatches between the supply and demand of erosion control, freshwater supply, and habitat provision. The framework developed in this study can help guide decisions and indicate where interventions should be focused to achieve sustainable island management.

Keywords: ecosystem service, sustainable management, forested islands, Analytic hierarchy process

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Authors: David Lynch, Jake Madden

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There exists a body of literature that reports on the many benefits of partnerships between universities and schools, especially in terms of teaching improvement and school reform. This is because such partnerships can build significant teaching capital, by deepening and expanding the skillsets and mindsets needed to create the connections that support ongoing and embedded teacher professional development and career goals. At the same time, this literature is critical of such initiatives when the partnership outcomes are short- term or one-sided, misaligned to fundamental problems, and not expressly focused on building the desired teaching capabilities. In response to this situation, research conducted by Professor David Lynch and his TeachLab research team, has begun to shed light on the strengths and limitations of school/university partnerships, via the identification of key conceptual elements that appear to act as critical partnership success factors. These elements are theorised as an inter-play between professional knowledge acquisition, readiness, talent management and organisational structure. However, knowledge of how these elements are established, and how they manifest within the school and its teaching workforce as an overall system, remains incomplete. Therefore, research designed to more clearly delineate these elements in relation to their impact on school/university partnerships is thus required. It is within this context that this paper reports on the development and testing of a Professional Learning (PL) model for schools and their teachers that incorporates school-university research partnering within a systematic, whole-of-school PL strategy that is underpinned and structured by a micro-credentialing (MC) regime. MC involves learning a narrow-focused certificate (a micro-credential) in a specific topic area (e.g., 'How to Differentiate Instruction for English as a second language Students') and embedded in the teacher’s day-to-day teaching work. The use of MC is viewed as important to the efficacy and sustainability of teacher PL because it (1) provides an evidence-based framework for teacher learning, (2) has the ability to promote teacher social capital and (3) engender lifelong learning in keeping professional skills current in an embedded and seamless to work manner. The associated research is centred on a primary school in Australia (P-6) that acted as an arena to co-develop, test/investigate and report on outcomes for teacher PL that uses MC to support a whole-of-school partnership with a university.

Keywords: teaching improvement, teacher professional learning, talent management, education partnerships, school-university research

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Authors: Preecha Pongpeng

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This research aims to study the education quality management to solve the problem of teachers shortage by the communities participation. This research is action research by using the tools is questionnaire to collect the data whit, students and community representatives and final will interview to ask the opinions of people in the community to help and support instruction in problems in teaching. Results found that people in the community are aware and working together to solve the lack the of teachers by collaboration between school personnel and community members by finding people who are knowledgeable, organized into local wisdom in the community, compound money to donate and hire someone in the community to teaching between classroom with people in the community. In addition, researcher discovered this research project contributes to cooperation between the school and community and there was a problem including administrative expenses and the school's academic quality management.

Keywords: education quality management, local wisdom, northern part of Thailand, participation of the community

Procedia PDF Downloads 276

Authors: Vuyayo Tsheleza, Simbarashe Ndhleve, Christopher Mpundu Musampa

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Mismanagement of waste is continuously emerging as a rising malpractice in most developing countries, especially in fast growing cities. Household solid waste in Mthatha has been reported to be one of the problems facing the city and is overwhelming local authorities, as it is beyond the environment and management capacity of the existing waste management system. This study estimates per capita waste generation, quantity of different waste types generated by inhabitants of formal and informal settlements in Mthatha as well as waste management practices in the aforementioned socio-economic stratums. A total of 206 households were systematically selected for the study using stratified random sampling categorized into formal and informal settlements. Data on household waste generation rate, composition, awareness, and household waste management behaviour and practices was gathered through mixed methods. Sampled households from both formal and informal settlements with a total of 684 people generated 1949kg per week. This translates to 2.84kg per capita per week. On average, the rate of solid waste generation per capita was 0.40 kg per day for a person living in informal settlement and 0.56 kg per day person living in formal settlement. When recorded in descending order, the proportion food waste accounted for the most generated waste at approximately 23.7%, followed by disposable nappies at 15%, papers and cardboards 13.34%, glass 13.03%, metals at 11.99%, plastics at 11.58%, residue at 5.17, textiles 3.93%, with leather and rubber at 2.28% as the least generated waste type. Different waste management practices were reported in both formal and informal settlements with formal settlements proving to be more concerned about environmental management as compared to their counterparts, informal settlement. Understanding attitudes and perceptions on waste management, waste types and per capita solid waste generation rate can help evolve appropriate waste management strategies based on the principle of reduce, re-use, recycle, environmental sound disposal and also assist in projecting future waste generation rate. These results can be utilized as input when designing growing cities’ waste management plans.

Keywords: awareness, characterisation, per capita, quantification

Procedia PDF Downloads 277

Authors: Nor Azlina A. Rahman, Jamaliah Said, Salwana Hassan

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Prompt changes in global business environment, such as passionate competition, managerial/operational, changing governmental regulation and innovation in technology have significant impacts on the organizations. At present, global business environment demands for more proactive institutions on microfinance to provide an opportunity for the business success. Microfinance providers in Malaysia still accelerate its activities of funding by cash and cheque. These institutions are at high risk as the paper-based system is deemed to be slow and prone to human error, as well as requiring a major annual reconciliation process. The global transformation of financial services, growing involvement of technology, innovation and new business activities had progressively made risk management profile to be more subjective and diversified. The persistent, complex and dynamic nature of risk management activities in the institutions arise due to highly automated advancements of technology. This may thus manifest in a variety of ways throughout the financial services sector. This study seeks out to examine current operational risks management being experienced by microfinance providers in Malaysia; investigate the process of current practices on facilitator control factor mechanisms, and explore how the adoption of technology, innovation and use of management accounting practices would affect the risk management process of operation system in microfinance providers in Malaysia. A case study method was employed in this study. The case study also need to find that the vital past role of management accounting will be used for mitigation of risk management activities towards accountability as an information or guideline to microfinance provider. An empirical element obtainable with qualitative method is needed in this study, where multipart and in-depth information are essential to understand the issues of these institution phenomena. This study is expected to propose a theoretical model for implementation of technology, innovation and management accounting practices into the system of operation to improve internal control and subsequently lead to mitigation of risk management activities among microfinance providers to be more successful.

Keywords: microfinance, accountability, operational risks, management accounting practices

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Authors: Tales H. J. Moreira, Thiago M. R. Dias, Gray F. Moita

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The adviser-advised relationship, in addition to the evident propagation of knowledge, can provide an increase in the scientific production of the advisors. Specifically, in post-graduate programs, in which the advised submit diverse papers in different means of publication, these end up boosting the production of their advisor, since in general the advisors appear as co-authors, responsible for instructing and assisting in the development of the work. Therefore, to visualize the orientation process and the scientific production resulting from this relation is another important way of analyzing the scientific collaboration in the different areas of knowledge. In this work, are used the data of orientations and postgraduate supervisions from the Lattes curricula, from the main advisors who work in the Engineering area, to obtain an overview of the process of orientation of this group, and even, to produce Academic genealogical trees, where it is possible to verify how knowledge has spread in the diverse areas of engineering.

Keywords: academic genealogy, advice, engineering, lattes platform

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Authors: Alexandra Leukauf, Alexander Schirrer, Emir Talic

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Numerical computation of wave propagation in a large domain usually requires significant computational effort. Hence, the considered domain must be truncated to a smaller domain of interest. In addition, special boundary conditions, which absorb the outward travelling waves, need to be implemented in order to describe the system domains correctly. In this work, the linear one dimensional wave equation is approximated by utilizing the Fourier Galerkin approach. Furthermore, the artificial boundaries are realized with absorbing boundary conditions. Within this work, a systematic work flow for setting up the wave problem, including the absorbing boundary conditions, is proposed. As a result, a convenient modal system description with an effective absorbing boundary formulation is established. Moreover, the truncated model shows high accuracy compared to the global domain.

Keywords: absorbing boundary conditions, boundary control, Fourier Galerkin approach, modal approach, wave equation

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Authors: Feyi Olorunshola

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Over the last few years, the senior travel market has been noted for its potential in the wider tourism industry. The tourism sector includes the hotel and hospitality, travel, transportation, and several other subdivisions to make it economically viable. In particular, the hotel attracts a substantial part of the expenditure in tourism activities as when people plan to travel, suitable accommodation for relaxation, dining, entertainment and so on is paramount to their decision-making. The global retail value of the hotel as of 2018 was significant for tourism. But, despite indications of the hotel to the tourism industry at large, very few empirical studies are available to establish how this sector can leverage on the senior demographic to achieve competitive advantage. Predominantly, studies on the mature market have focused on destination tourism, with a limited investigation on the hotel which makes a significant contribution to tourism. Also, several scholarly studies have demonstrated the importance of the senior travel market to the hotel, yet there is very little empirical research in the field which has explored the driving factors that will become the accepted new normal for this niche segment post-pandemic. Giving that the hotel already operates in a highly saturated business environment, and on top of this pre-existing challenge, the ongoing global health outbreak has further put the sector in a vulnerable position. Therefore, the hotel especially the full-service luxury category must evolve rapidly for it to survive in the current business environment. The hotel can no longer rely on corporate travelers to generate higher revenue since the unprecedented wake of the pandemic in 2020 many organizations have invented a different approach of conducting their businesses online, therefore, the hotel needs to anticipate a significant drop in business travellers. However, the rooms and the rest of the facilities must be occupied to keep their business operating. The way forward for the hotel lies in the leisure sector, but the question now is to focus on the potential demographics of travelers, in this case, the seniors who have been repeatedly recognized as the lucrative market because of increase discretionary income, availability of time and the global population trends. To achieve the study objectives, a mixed-method approach will be utilized drawing on both qualitative (netnography) and quantitative (survey) methods, cognitive and decision-making theories (means-end chain) and competitive theories to identify the salient drivers explaining senior hotel choice and its influence on their decision-making. The target population are repeated seniors’ age 65 years and over who are UK resident, and from the top tourist market to the UK (USA, Germany, and France). Structural equation modelling will be employed to analyze the datasets. The theoretical implication is the development of new concepts using a robust research design, and as well as advancing existing framework to hotel study. Practically, it will provide the hotel management with the latest information to design a competitive marketing strategy and activities to target the mature market post-pandemic and over a long period.

Keywords: competitive advantage, covid-19, full-service hotel, five-star, luxury hotels

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Authors: Shalinawati Ramli, Khairani Omar, Nurul Azmawati Mohamed, Zarini Ismail, Nur Syahrina Rahim, Nurul Hayati Chamhuri

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Medical doctors’ work to prevent, diagnose, treat diseases, disorders, and injuries as well as prescribing medication. Many people are attracted to this profession because it gives them the opportunity to help others. Doctors’ improve quality of life by providing advice, healing physical ailments and performing complex surgeries. Medicine is a profession in which dedication to the wellbeing of others is of paramount importance. Balancing the requirements of work and personal life can be a struggle as the demand of work as a doctors’ is great. Perception and expectation of medical students regarding the lifestyle of doctors’ is important to ensure that they had made the right career choice. Thus, the aim of this study is to assess the perception of pre-clinical students regarding doctors’ lifestyle. This study is a cross-sectional study involving all third-year pre-clinical medical students at University Sains Islam Malaysia. A total of 81 students participated in this study. Participants were given a set of questionnaire consisting of demographic data, open-ended questions on their perception on doctors’ lifestyle of working environment, salary expectation and family life. Thematic analysis were used to analyse the data. The participants comprised 69% female and their age range was between 20-21 years old. Majority of them were from middle-income families. Majority of the students perceived that the doctors’ lifestyle would be busy (72%). Approximately 30% of them expected that the time schedule will be unpredictable, 21% mentioned that sacrifice is required and 16% perceived it as a tiring job. Other themes emerged were ‘requiring high commitment’ (6%), challenging (7%) and risky (4%). With regards to salary expectation, 48% expected reasonable salary, 33% high salary and 12% described it as 'not worth compared to the workload'. Majority of them perceived that their family life will be restricted (62%) and time management is important (33%). Only 15% mentioned that family members have to sacrifice and spousal understanding is important (7%). About 10% of them perceived that their family will not be affected by their profession. Majority of the medical students perceived a busy doctors’ lifestyle, reasonable salary and restricted family life. However, there was a significant proportion of them who required counselling for better preparation of their future lifestyle.

Keywords: doctors lifestyle, pre-clinical students, perception, understanding

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Authors: Nguyen Thi Thu Trang

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Climate change and sea level rise is one of the greatest challenges facing human beings in the 21st century. Because of sea level rise, several low-lying coastal areas around the globe are at risk of being completely submerged, disappearing under water. Particularly in Viet Nam, the rise in sea level is predicted to result in more frequent and even permanently inundated coastal plains. As a result, land reserving fund of coastal cities is going to be narrowed in near future, while construction ground is becoming increasingly limited due to a rapid growth in population. Faced with this reality, the solutions are being discussed not only in tradition view such as accommodation is raised or moved to higher areas, or “living with the water”, but also forwards to “living on the water”. Therefore, the concept of a sustainable floating community with floating houses based on the precious value of long term historical tradition of water dwellings in Viet Nam would be a sustainable solution for adaptation of climate change and sea level rise in the coastal areas. The sustainable floating community is comprised of sustainability in four components: architecture, environment, socio-economic and living quality. This research paper is focused on sustainability in architectural component of floating community. Through detailed architectural analysis of current floating houses and floating communities in Viet Nam, this research not only accumulates precious values of traditional architecture that need to be preserved and developed in the proposed concept, but also illustrates its weaknesses that need to address for optimal design of the future sustainable floating communities. Based on these studies the research would provide guidelines with appropriate architectural solutions for the concept of sustainable floating community with floating housing units that are adapted to climate change and sea level rise in Viet Nam.

Keywords: guidelines, sustainable floating community, floating houses, Vietnam

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Authors: Muhammad Younas, Sidra Sawati, M. Razzaq Athar

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Organizational development history reveals that it has ever been a challenge to identify and fathom the role of talent management, career development and compensation management towards employees’ retention and organizational performance. Organizations strive hard to measure the impact of all those factors which affect employee retention and organizational performance. Researchers have worked in great deal in order to know the relationship of independent variables i.e. Talent Management, Career Development and Compensation Management on dependent variables i.e. Employee Retention and Organizational Performance. Employees adorned with latest skills with long lasting loyalty play a significant role towards successful achievement of short term as well as long term goals of the organizations. Retention of valuable and resourceful employees for a longer time is equally essential for meeting the set goals. The organizations which spend reasonable chunk of their resources for taking such measures that help to retain their employees through talent management and satisfactory career development always enjoy a competitive edge over their competitors. Human resource is regarded as one of the most precious and difficult resource to management. It has its own needs and requirement. It becomes an easy prey to monotony when lacks career development. Wants and aspirations of this resource are seldom met completely but can be managed through career development and compensation management. In this era of competition, organizations have to take viable steps to management their resources especially human resource. Top management and Managers keep on working for an amenable solution in order to address the challenges relating career development and compensation management as their ultimate goal is to ensure the organizational performance on optimum level. The current study was conducted to examine the impact of Talent Management, Career Development and Compensation Management towards Employees Retention and Organizational Performance with mediating effect of Employees Motivation in Service Sector of Pakistan. The current study is based on Resource Based View (RBV) and Ability Motivation Opportunity (AMO) theories. It explains that by increasing internal resources we can manage employee talent, career development through compensation management and employee motivation more effectively. It will result in effective execution of HRM practices for employee retention enabling an organization to achieve and sustain competitive advantage through optimal performance. Data collection was made through a structured questionnaire which was based upon adopted instruments after testing reliability and validity. A total 300 employees of 30 firms in service sector of Pakistan were sampled through non-probability sampling technique. Regression analysis revealed that talent management, career development and compensation management have significant positive impact on employee retention and perceived organizational performance. The results further showed that employee motivation have a significant mediating effect on employee retention and organizational performance. The interpretation of the findings and limitations, theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.

Keywords: career development, compensation management, employee retention, organizational performance, talent management

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Authors: Hamid Reza Nikkhah, Abbas Toloei Eshlaghi, Hossein Ali Momeni

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One of the most important services of Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) is collaboration service which plays a decisive role in organization efficiency. Cloud computing as one of the latest IT technologies has brought a new paradigm in delivering services and communications. In this research, we evaluate the impact of cloud computing on the collaboration service of KMS and for doing so, four variables of cloud computing and three variables of the collaboration service were detected to be assessed.It was found that cloud computing has a far-fetching direct impact on the collaboration service.

Keywords: cloud computing, collaboration service, knowledge management systems, cloud computing

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Authors: Li Pan

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The recently prevalent government procurement of public services in China boasts a new form of government’s provision of public service through the purchasing of social work from social organizations, a new measure of the transformation in governmental functions as well as an unprecedented opportunity for the development of social organizations. For the past few years, the phenomenon of a surge in the number of social work organizations and social work staff emerged right with the initiatives of energetically carrying out the purchase of public services by the government. Such efforts have presented the strong determination of the Chinese government in building a small government by streamlining administration and delegating part of the governmental power to social organizations. This paper is based on the 2012-2014 performance appraisal project of the Guangzhou municipal government’s purchasing of public services and the project was carried out in the summer of 2015. During the process of the appraisal, several general problems hindering the sustainable development of government purchasing of public service have been observed. As Guangzhou is among the rank of pioneer cities in the conduct of the reform, it is representative and imperative to study the sustainability of government purchasing of public service. In 2012, Guangzhou local government started contracting out public service to the community social organizations to provide general family services and special services to community residents, since when integrated family service centers and special service centers were established as platforms to provide public social service in a city-wide range. Consequently, taking an example of the current rapid development of government purchase of the integrated family services and special services in Guangzhou, this paper puts up several proposals for the sustainable development of Guangzhou municipal government’s procurement of public services on the perspective of social work’s resource dependence.

Keywords: government procurement of public services, Guangzhou, integrated family service center, social work, sustainability.

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Authors: Jarrod Haar, David Brougham

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The present study explores the links between supporting employee well-being and the potential benefits to employee performance. We focus on employee innovative work behaviors (IWBs), which have three stages: (1) development, (2) adoption, and (3) implementation of new ideas and work methods. We explore the role of organizational support focusing on employee well-being via High-Performance Work Systems (HPWS). HPWS are HR practices that are designed to enhance employees’ skills, commitment, and ultimately, productivity. HPWS influence employee performance through building their skills, knowledge, and abilities and there is meta-analytic support for firm-level HPWS influencing firm performance, but less attention towards employee outcomes, especially innovation. We explore HPWS-wellbeing being offered (e.g., EAPs, well-being App, etc.) to capture organizational commitment to employee well-being. Under social exchange theory, workers should reciprocate their firm's offering of HPWS-wellbeing with greater efforts towards IWBs. Further, we explore playful work design as a mediator, which represents employees proactively creating work conditions that foster enjoyment/challenge but don’t require any design change to the job itself. We suggest HPWS-wellbeing can encourage employees to become more playful, and ultimately more innovative. Finally, beyond direct effects, we examine whether these relations are similar by gender and ultimately test a moderated mediation model. Using N=1135 New Zealand employees, we established measures with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and all measures had good psychometric properties (α>.80). We controlled for age, tenure, education, and hours worked and analyzed data using the PROCESS macro (version 4.2) specifically model 8 (moderated mediation). We analyzed overall IWB, and then again across the three stages. Overall, we find HPWS-wellbeing is significantly related to overall IWBs and the three stages (development, adoption, and implementation) individually. Similarly, HPWS-wellbeing shapes playful work design and playful work design predicts overall IWBs and the three stages individually. It only partially mediates the effects of HPWS-wellbeing, which retains a significant indirect effect. Moderation effects are supported, with males reporting a more significant effect from HPWS-wellbeing on playful work design but not IWB (or any of the three stages) than females. Females report higher playful work design when HPWS-wellbeing is low, but the effects are reversed when HPWS-wellbeing is high (males higher). Thus, males respond stronger under social exchange theory from HPWS-wellbeing, at least towards expressing playful work design. Finally, evidence of moderated mediation effects is found on overall IWBs and the three stages. Males report a significant indirect effect from HPWS-wellbeing on IWB (through playful work design), while female employees report no significant indirect effect. The benefits of playful work design fully account for their IWBs. The models account for small amounts of variance towards playful work design (12%) but larger for IWBs (26%). The study highlights a gap in the literature on HPWS-wellbeing and provides empirical evidence of their importance towards worker innovation. Further, gendered effects suggest these benefits might not be equal. The findings provide useful insights for organizations around how providing HR practices that support employee well-being are important, although how they work for different genders needs further exploration.

Keywords: human resource practices, wellbeing, innovation, playful work design

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Authors: Johnas Buhori, Meinrad Haule Lembuka

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Introduction: Social work expands its boundary to accommodate indigenous knowledge and practice for better competence and services. In Tanzania, Mama Mkubwa Mkubwa (MMM) (Mother’s elder sister) is an indigenous practice of alternative child care that represents other traditional practices across African societies known as Ubuntu practice. Ubuntu is African Humanism with values and approaches that are connected to the social work. MMM focuses on using the elder sister of a deceased mother or father, a trusted elder woman from the extended family or indigenous community to provide alternative care to an orphan or vulnerable child. In Ubuntu's perspective, it takes a whole village or community to raise a child, meaning that every person in the community is responsible for child care. Methodology: A desk review method guided by Ubuntu theory was applied to enrich the study. Findings: MMM resembles the Ubuntu ideal of traditional child protection of those in need as part of alternative child care throughout Tanzanian history. Social work practice, along with other formal alternative child care, was introduced in Tanzania during the colonial era in 1940s and socio-economic problems of 1980s affected the country’s formal social welfare system, and suddenly HIV/AIDS pandemic triggered the vulnerability of children and hampered the capacity of the formal sector to provide social welfare services, including alternative child care. For decades, AIDS has contributed to an influx of orphans and vulnerable children that facilitated the re-emerging of traditional alternative child care at the community level, including MMM. MMM strongly practiced in regions where the AIDS pandemic affected the community, like Njombe, Coastal region, Kagera, etc. Despite of existing challenges, MMM remained to be the remarkably alternative child care practiced in both rural and urban communities integrated with social welfare services. Tanzania envisions a traditional mechanism of family or community environment for alternative child care with the notion that sometimes institutionalization care fails to offer children all they need to become productive members of society, and later, it becomes difficult to reconnect in the society. Implications to Social Work: MMM is compatible with social work by using strengths perspectives; MMM reflects Ubuntu's perspective on the ground of humane social work, using humane methods to achieve human goals. MMM further demonstrates the connectedness of those who care and those cared for and the inextricable link between them as Ubuntu-inspired models of social work that view children from family, community, environmental, and spiritual perspectives. Conclusion: Social work and MMM are compatible at the micro and mezzo levels; thus, application of MMM can be applied in social work practice beyond Tanzania when properly designed and integrated into other systems. When MMM is applied in social work, alternative care has the potential to support not only children but also empower families and communities. Since MMM is a community-owned and voluntary base, it can relieve the government, social workers, and other formal sectors from the annual burden of cost in the provision of institutionalized alternative child care.

Keywords: ubuntu, indigenous social work, african social work, ubuntu social work, child protection, child alternative care

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Authors: Pooja Pandey

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The role of communication plays an integral part in the management of any disaster, whether natural or human-induced, both require effective and strategic delivery of information. The way any information is conveyed carries the most weight while dealing with the disaster. Hence, integrating communication strategies in disaster risk management (DRM) are extensively acknowledged however, these integration and planning are missing from the practical books. Researchers are continuously exploring integrated DRM and have established substantial vents between research and implementation of the strategies (gaps between science and policy). For this reason, this paper reviews the communication barriers that obstruct effective management of the disaster. Communication between first responders (government agencies, police, medical services) and the public (people directly affected by the disaster) is most critical and lacks proper delivery during a disaster. And these challenges can only be resolved if the foundation of the problem is properly dealt with, which is resolving the issues within the organizations. Through this study, it was found that it is necessary to build the communication gap between the organizations themselves as most of the hindrances occur during the mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery phase of the disaster. The study is concluded with the main aim to review the communication barriers within and at the organizational, technological, and social levels that impact effective DRM. In the end, some suggestions are made to strengthen the knowledge for future improvement in communication between the responders and their organizations.

Keywords: communication, organization, barriers, first responders, disaster risk management

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Authors: Somchai Buaroong

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This research aims to investigating strong points and challenges in application of an online learning management system to an English course. Data were collected from observation, learners’ oral and written reports, and the teacher’s journals. A questionnaire was utilized as a tool to collect data. Statistics utilized in this research included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis. The findings show that the system was an additional channel to enhance English language learning through written class assignments that were digitally accessible by any group members, and through communication between the teacher and learners and among learners themselves. Thus, the learning management system could be a promising tool for foreign language teachers. Also revealed in the study were difficulties in its use. The article ends with discussions of findings of the system for foreign language classes in association to pedagogy are also included and in the level of signification.

Keywords: english course, foreign language system, online learning management system, teacher’s journals

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Authors: Shreya Mishra, Manosi Chaudhuri, Ajoy K. Dey

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Workplace bullying is a social phenomenon which has proved to be hazardous not only for employees’ well-being but also organizations. Despite being prevalent across geographical boundaries, Indian organizations have failed to acknowledge its vices. This paper aims to understand targets’ perception on what makes bullying nurture in organizations. The paper suggests that person-led Indian work settings give birth to bullying behavior as it lacks professional acumen and systems. An analysis of 13 in-depth interviews of employees from the organized sector suggests that organizations, where decision making lies with single individual, may be a hub of hostile behavior due to the culture which promotes ‘yesmanship’, ‘authoritarianism’ and/or blind belief of leaders on certain set of employees. The study used constructivist grounded theory approach, and the data was analyzed using R Based Qualitative Data Analysis (RQDA) software. Respondents reported that bullying behavior is taken lightly by the management with 'just ignore it' attitude. According to the respondents, the behavior prolong as the perpetrator have a direct approach to the top authority. The study concludes that person-led organizations may create a family-like environment which is favored by employees; however, authoritative leaders are unable to gain the trust of employees. Also, employees who are close to the leader may either be a perpetrator or a target of bullying. It is recommended that leaders in such organizations need to acknowledge the presence of bullying which affects an employees’ commitment towards their job and/or organization. They need to have an assertive check on individuals who hide behind ‘yesman’ attitude. This may help employees feel safe in such work settings.

Keywords: constructivist grounded theory, person-led organization, RQDA, workplace bullying

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Authors: Kaycee Bills

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Action research is a method of inquiry useful in solving social problems in social work. This study seeks to address a significant problem: higher education’s use of traditional instructional methods in social work education. Ineffective techniques, such as lecturing, fail to account for students’ variable learning needs. In contrast to traditional pedagogy, universal design for learning (UDL) is a robust framework that '[improves] and [optimizes] teaching and learning for all people' (CAST, 2018), including students with disabilities. For this project, the research team interviewed the UDL and Accessibility Specialist at their institution for two reasons: (1) to learn how to implement UDL practices in their classrooms, and in turn, (2) to motivate other faculty members at their institution to consider enacting UDL principles. A thematic analysis of the interview’s transcript reveals themes relevant to practicing UDL. Implications for future practice, as well as the researcher’s reflections on the research process, are shared in the discussion section.

Keywords: disabilities, higher education, inclusive education, universal design for learning

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Authors: Obiamaka Nwobu, Samuel Faboyede, O. Oluseyi

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This study investigated the influence of gender on expectations and actual experiences from Industrial Work Experience, which is an aspect of the curriculum of undergraduate accounting students in selected Nigerian Universities. A survey research design was employed. Copies of a research questionnaire were made and administered to eighty (80) accounting students in selected Nigerian Universities who embarked on Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES). Their expectations were juxtaposed with their actual experiences gleaned from the Industrial Work Experience. The data for the purpose of this study was analyzed using independent sample t-test. A total of fifteen (15) male and forty four (44) female students responded to the survey. This resulted in a response rate of 73.8 per cent. The results of this study indicated that there was no significant difference in the expectation of male and female undergraduate accounting students that the internship experience will be able to prepare them for an accounting career in the future, impart relevant knowledge, relate theories to work environment, enhance knowledge in financial accounting, cost accounting, accounting software, and general practice of accounting; prepare financial statements, interpret financial statements, develop problem solving skills, communication skills, and interpersonal skills; improve personal confidence and self-esteem, increase exposure to latest technology in the workplace, build rapport and networks, provide earnings, job experience, provide information and experience to choose career path. Furthermore, findings from the survey showed that there were differences in the expectations of students and their actual experiences with respect to their ability to relate theories to work environment, enhance knowledge in financial accounting, cost accounting, accounting software and exposure to latest technology in the workplace. The study only examined the perceptions of students from two Universities in South-West Nigeria. The research instrument used in this study can be administered to undergraduate accounting students in other universities in Nigeria. The Industrial Work Experience Scheme for undergraduate accounting students should be highly encouraged by tertiary institutions in Nigeria. This will ultimately make the students well prepared for a career in accounting.

Keywords: gender, expectations, actual experiences, industrial work experience

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Authors: Jeong Hwa Ryong

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Numerous characters appear in the works of England’s most prominent play writer, William Shakespeare. Most of the time, his male protagonists possess various and complex characteristics throughout the storyline of his work, making it interesting for the readers to analyze their actions in many different aspects. However, some critics argue that unlike male characters, Shakespeare’s female characters are rather more flat and one-sided, pointing out that they are either the extreme version of good or evil. Especially, it is a significant topic to discuss in the modern days, considering the fact that gender stereotype is now a sensitive issue. Starting from such argument, it is important to address their purpose of being in the play and suggest their meaning to the modern readers of today. In this context, this paper analyzes several female characters of Shakespeare’s work by closely examining their actions and lines. The characters analyzed are Ophelia from Hamlet, Cordelia from King Lear, Katherine from The Taming of the Shrew, Goneril from King Lear and Lady Macbeth from Macbeth. Nevertheless, some female protagonists of Shakespeare’s work do not fall in to this category and exceed the limitations of others. Therefore this paper proposes alternative characters such as Juliet from Romeo and Juliet and Portia from The Merchant of Venice that are rather more complex and difficult to include in just one category. By doing so, this paper critically analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of many female characters in Shakespeare’s play.

Keywords: female characters, gender stereotype, William Shakespeare

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Authors: Simmi Chopra

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In the last few years, there has been a surge of Autoimmune diseases that have become more like an epidemic all over the world. The reasons vary from stress, insufficient sleep, smoking, genetics, environmental pollution, adulterated foods, and a diet full of “the deadly white,” which is white sugar and white flour. Most of the people diagnosed with these diseases are given steroids, opioids, supplements, or elimination diets to manage their lives, but most of them continue suffering to varying degrees. On the other hand, Ayurveda can help manage autoimmune problems effectively. Ayurveda is a 5000 years old holistic medical system from India that has an individualistic approach where health problems are looked at from the lens of balancing body and mind and by targeting the root cause of the problem. A combination of diet and lifestyle according to Ayurvedic principles, Ayurvedic herbal formulations and Ayurvedic therapies can help in the management of autoimmune and other chronic diseases. Panchkarma, which is an intense six weeks detox method, helps balance our body and mind, and has been very effective in managing autoimmune problems. The paper will introduce the basic concepts of Ayurveda and describe the terminologies- doshas, agni and ama. The paper will discuss the importance of diet and lifestyle according to the individual’s imbalance in the three functional parameters - doshas, which govern every aspect of our body and mind, our cells and tissues. The significance of agni, which can be correlated to digestive strength and ama, which can be correlated to toxins that are formed in our body leading to health problems, will be outlined. The Ayurvedic pathophysiology of autoimmune diseases will be discussed with emphasis on Rheumatoid arthritis, Multiple sclerosis and Psoriasis. Ayurvedic management will be discussed for these autoimmune conditions. As Ayurveda is an individualistic system, one protocol will not work for everyone. Therefore, case studies with Ayurvedic protocols for the above autoimmune disease will be presented. Conclusion: Ayurveda can help in managing as well as arresting the progression of autoimmune problems. Ayurveda is an ancient medical system, is much more needed today than ever. It is a tried and tested holistic system which has been practiced for the past many generations in India.

Keywords: ayurveda, autoimmune, diseases, nutrition

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Authors: Doug Specht

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This research project sought to explore the links between digital media, PGIS and social movement organisations in Tolima, Colombia. The primary aim of the research was to examine how knowledge is created and disseminated through digital media and GIS in the region, and whether there exists the infrastructure to allow for this. The second strand was to ascertain if this has had a significant impact on the way grassroots movements work and produce collective actions. The third element is a hypothesis about how digital media and PGIS could play a larger role in activist activities, particularly in reference to the extractive industries. Three theoretical strands have been brought together to provide a basis for this research, namely (a) the politics of knowledge, (b) spatial management and inclusion, and (c) digital media and political engagement. Quantitative data relating to digital media and mobile internet use was collated alongside qualitative data relating to the likelihood of using digital media in activist campaigns, with particular attention being given to grassroots movements working against extractive industries in the Tolima region of Colombia. Through interviews, surveys and GIS analysis it has been possible to build a picture of online activism and the role of PPGIS within protest movement in the region of Tolima, Colombia. Results show a gap between the desires of social movements to use digital media and the skills and finances required to implement programs that utilise it. Maps and GIS are generally reserved for legal cases rather than for informing the lay person. However, it became apparent that the combination of digital/social media and PPGIS could play a significant role in supporting the work of grassroots movements.

Keywords: PGIS, GIS, social media, digital media, mining, colombia, social movements, protest

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Authors: Zerarka Hizia, Akchiche Mustapha, Prunier Florent

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The landslide of Ain El Hammam (AEH) is characterized by a complex geology and a high hydrogeology hazard. AEH's perpetual reactivation compels us to look closely at its triggers and to better understand the mechanisms of its evolution in mass and in depth. This study builds a numerical model to simulate the influencing factors such as precipitation, non-saturation, and pore pressure fluctuations, using Plaxis software. For a finer analysis of instabilities, we use Hill's criterion, based on the sign of the second order work, which is the most appropriate material stability criterion for non-associated elastoplastic materials. The results of this type of calculation allow us, in theory, to predict the shape and position of the slip surface(s) which are liable to ground movements of the slope, before reaching the rupture given by the plastic limit of Mohr Coulomb. To validate the numerical model, an analysis of inclinometer measures is performed to confirm the direction of movement and kinematic of the sliding mechanism of AEH’s slope.

Keywords: landslide, second order work, precipitation, inclinometers

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Authors: Soodabeh Dehghan, Siavash Hamidzadeh, Naqshbandi Seyyed Salahedin, Ali Mohammad Safania

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The present research with the aim of the relationship between organizational silence and organizational voice with quality of work-life among employees of the sport and youth departments of Tehran Province was done. The statistical population of this research includes all employees of the sport and youth departments of Tehran province, and considering the not very large number of society, the sample and society were considered to be the same, and the sample was considered as the whole number. To measure each of these variables, a questionnaire was used. The research questionnaire was presented in four sections. The results showed that, since the extension of the process of organizational silence is usually done by managers, their attitude and attitudes toward this phenomenon are prioritized and also because silence reduces learning due to lack of knowledge sharing, makes it less effective and makes changes more difficult, it is necessary to take steps to break the silence and to further urge the staff (employees) to express their beliefs (organizational voices) and to share them in the organization's fate individuals, whose beliefs are respected and so called taken into account in the organization, would be dependent on the organization and feel obliged to remain with the organization during the hardships. This affects employees' quality of work life and their satisfaction too much.

Keywords: organizational silence, organizational voice, quality of work life, the sports and youth departments of Tehran province

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Authors: Michael J. Haslip

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Character strength application improves performance and well-being in adults across industries, but the potential impact of character strength training among early childhood educators is mostly unknown. To explore how character strengths are applied by early childhood educators at work, a qualitative study was completed alongside professional development provided to a group of in-service teachers of children ages 0-5 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Study participants (n=17) were all female. The majority of participants were non-white, in full-time lead or assistant teacher roles, had at least ten years of experience and a bachelor’s degree. Teachers were attending professional development weekly for 2 hours over a 10-week period on the topic of social and emotional learning and child guidance. Related to this training were modules and sessions on identifying a teacher’s character strength profile using the Values in Action classification of 24 strengths (e.g., humility, perseverance) that have a scientific basis. Teachers were then asked to apply their character strengths to help resolve current workplace challenges. This study identifies which character strengths the teachers reported using most frequently and the nature of the workplace challenges being resolved in this context. The study also reports how difficult these challenges were to the teachers and their success rate at resolving workplace challenges using a character strength application plan. The study also documents how teachers’ own use of character strengths relates to their modeling of these same traits (e.g., kindness, teamwork) for children, especially when the nature of the workplace challenge directly involves the children, such as when addressing issues of classroom management and behavior. Data were collected on action plans (reflective templates) which teachers wrote to explain the work challenge they were facing, the character strengths they used to address the challenge, their plan for applying strengths to the challenge, and subsequent results. Content analysis and thematic analysis were used to investigate the research questions using approaches that included classifying, connecting, describing, and interpreting data reported by educators. Findings reveal that teachers most frequently use kindness, leadership, fairness, hope, and love to address a range of workplace challenges, ranging from low to high difficulty, involving children, coworkers, parents, and for self-management. Teachers reported a 71% success rate at fully or mostly resolving workplace challenges using the action plan method introduced during professional development. Teachers matched character strengths to challenges in different ways, with certain strengths being used mostly when the challenge involved children (love, forgiveness), others mostly with adults (bravery, teamwork), and others universally (leadership, kindness). Furthermore, teacher’s application of character strengths at work involved directly modeling character for children in 31% of reported cases. The application of character strengths among early childhood educators may play a significant role in improving teacher well-being, reducing job stress, and improving efforts to model character for young children.

Keywords: character strengths, positive psychology, professional development, social-emotional learning

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Authors: Haneen Alrawashdeh, Naciye Kunt

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Intercultural communicative competence or (ICC), is an extension of communicative competence that takes into account the intercultural aspect of learning a foreign language. Accordingly, this study aimed at investigating the intercultural interaction impact on English as a foreign language learners' academic achievement of language as a scholastic subject and their motivation towards learning it. To achieve the aim of the study, a qualitative research approach was implemented by means of semi-structured interviews. Interview sessions were conducted with eight teachers of English as well as ten English language learners who work in the tourism industry in a variety of career paths, such as selling antiques and traditional costumes. An analysis of learners' grades of English subjects from 2014 to 2019 academic years was performed by using the Open Education Management Information System Database in Jordan to support the findings of the study. The results illustrated that due to the fact that they work in the tourism sector, students gain skills and knowledge that assist them in better academic achievement in the subject of English by practicing intercultural communication with different nationalities on a daily basis; intercultural communication enhances students speaking skills, lexicon, and fluency; however, despite that their grades showed increasing, from teachers perspectives, intercultural communicative competence reduces their linguistic accuracy and ability to perform English academic writing in academic contexts such as exams.

Keywords: intercultural communicative competence, Jordan, language learning motivation, language academic achievement

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