Tahap kemahiran insaniah dalam kalangan pelajar kejuruteraan tahun akhir di Politeknik KPM

Dalam dunia yang semakin berkembang dengan pesat, majikan tidak hanya mementingkan kemahiran teknikal sahaja tetapi juga kepada kemahiran insaniah agar pelajar mereka dapat menyesuaikan dan melengkapkan diri dengan semua jenis pekerjaan dan dalam masa yang sama memiliki pelbagai kemahiran. Sehubungan dengan ini, kajian ini dilaksanakan adalah mengenal pasti tahap kemahiran insaniah dari segi komunikasi, menyelesaikan masalah secara kritis dan kerja berpasukan dalam kalangan pelajar kejuruteraan tahun akhir di Politeknik Premier Malaysia. Sampel kajian terdiri daripada 350 orang pelajar diploma tahun akhir sesi 2013/2014 dari bidang kejuruteraan yang ada ditawarkan di Politeknik Ungku Omar, Politeknik Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah dan Politeknik Ibrahim Sultan. Kajian yang dijalankan adalah kajian kuantitatif berbentuk tinjauan dimana untuk menjawab setiap persoalan kajian. Instrumen kajian yan digunakan adalah satu set soal selidik yang mengandungi maklumat diri dan item elemen kemahiran insaniah. Data yang diperolehi dianalisis secara diskriptif dan inferensi. Hasil dapatan kajian mendapati tahap kemahiran insaniah pelajar Politeknik Premier Malaysia berada pada tahap tinggi dengan nilai min keseluruhan adalah 4.16, dimana aspek kemahiran komunikasi adalah 4.17, kemahiran menyelesaikan masalah secara kritis adalah 4.15 dan kemahiran kerja berpasukan adalah 4.16. Untuk melihat perbezaan tahap kemahiran insaniah berdasarkan jantina, Ujian-t tidak bersandar digunakan dan hasil dapatan menunjukkan bahawa tidak terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan tahap kemahiran insaniah bagi pelajar lelaki dan pelajar perempuan. Secara keseluruhannya, tahap kemahiran insaniah pelajar kejuruteraan tahun akhir di Politeknik Premier adalah tinggi berdasarkan persepsi dan ini telah membuktikan setiap pelajar menitikberat kemahiran insaniah agar mereka dapat bersaing di pasaran

Patient-centric trials for therapeutic development in precision oncology

An enhanced understanding of the molecular pathology of disease gained from genomic studies is facilitating the development of treatments that target discrete molecular subclasses of tumours. Considerable associated challenges include how to advance and implement targeted drug-development strategies. Precision medicine centres on delivering the most appropriate therapy to a patient on the basis of clinical and molecular features of their disease. The development of therapeutic agents that target molecular mechanisms is driving innovation in clinical-trial strategies. Although progress has been made, modifications to existing core paradigms in oncology drug development will be required to realize fully the promise of precision medicine

The recruitment and selection of pension trustees:an integrative approach

The role of a pension trustee is significant, which makes the recruitment and selection of labour trustees an important issue. In this article, we examine and combine aspects of two approaches to recruitment and selection: the political nomination model and the more professional HRM approach. We argue that an integrative approach would acknowledge the political, regulatory and organisational context while incorporating valid selection criteria such as domain-specific skills and performance on the job. Such an integrated process can help trade unions in filling labour trustee positions with talented individuals who are more likely to be effective in achieving labour's goals in pension governance

Knowledge acquisition for the internationalization of the smaller firm: content and sources

Internationalization process research emphasizes accumulated experience and networks as sources of knowledge for internationalization. Our understanding, however, as to what this knowledge is in practice for smaller firms, the challenges they face in acquiring it, and how they address those challenges is limited. Integrating organizational learning concepts with our theoretical understanding of the small firm internationalization process, we develop a new framework for understanding knowledge acquisition processes, which are examined with a case study of 10 Scottish internationalizing firms. We find smaller firms may not have relevant experience or useful networks, and rely on sources rarely recognised before. Firms used recruitment, government advisors and consultants to acquire indirect experience. Recruitment is a source of market and technological knowledge and government advisors and consultants a source of internationalization knowledge. Accessing internal information is important for firms that have internationalized. Our integrated theoretical framework identifies knowledge content and sources that are critical for internationalization, but that may be absent

Balancing employee needs, project requirements and organisational priorities in team deployment

The 'people and performance' model asserts that performance is a sum of employee ability, motivation and opportunity (AMO). Despite extensive evidence of this people-performance link within manufacturing and many service sectors, studies within the construction industry are limited. Thus, a recent research project set out to explore the team deployment strategies of a large construction company with the view of establishing how a balance could be achieved between organisational strategic priorities, operational project requirements and individual employee needs and preferences. The findings suggested that project priorities often took precedence over the delivery of the strategic intentions of the organisation in meeting employees' individual needs. This approach is not sustainable in the long term because of the negative implications that such a policy had in relation to employee stress and staff turnover. It is suggested that a resourcing structure that takes into account the multiple facets of AMO may provide a more effective approach for balancing organisational strategic priorities, operational project requirements and individual employee needs and preferences more appropriately in the future

Reflecting on E-Recruiting Research Using Grounded Theory

This paper presents a systematic review of the e-Recruiting literature through a grounded theory lens. The large number of publications and the increasing diversity of publications on e-Recruiting research, as the most studied area within e-HRM (Electronic Human Resource Management), calls for a synthesis of e-Recruiting research. We show interconnections between achievements, research gaps and future research directions in order to advance both e-Recruiting research and practice. Moreover, we provide a definition of e-Recruiting. The use of grounded theory enabled us to reach across sub-disciplines, methods used, perspectives studied, themes discussed and stakeholders involved. We demonstrate that the Grounded Theory Approach led to a better understanding of the interconnections that lay buried in the disparate e-Recruiting literature

MPA network design based on graph network theory and emergent properties of larval dispersal

Despite the recognised effectiveness of networks of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as a biodiversity conservation instrument, nowadays MPA network design frequently disregards the importance of connectivity patterns. In the case of sedentary marine populations, connectivity stems not only from the stochastic nature of the physical environment that affects early-life stages dispersal, but also from the spawning stock attributes that affect the reproductive output (e.g., passive eggs and larvae) and its survivorship. Early-life stages are virtually impossible to track in the ocean. Therefore, numerical ocean current simulations coupled to egg and larval Lagrangian transport models remain the most common approach for the assessment of marine larval connectivity. Inferred larval connectivity may be different depending on the type of connectivity considered; consequently, the prioritisation of sites for marine populations' conservation might also differ. Here, we introduce a framework for evaluating and designing MPA networks based on the identification of connectivity hotspots using graph theoretic analysis. We use as a case of study a network of open-access areas and MPAs, off Mallorca Island (Spain), and test its effectiveness for the protection of the painted comber Serranus scriba. Outputs from network analysis are used to: (1) identify critical areas for improving overall larval connectivity; (2) assess the impact of species' biological parameters in network connectivity; and (3) explore alternative MPA configurations to improve average network connectivity. Results demonstrate the potential of graph theory to identify non-trivial egg/larval dispersal patterns and emerging collective properties of the MPA network which are relevant for increasing protection efficiency.Comment: 8 figures, 3 tables, 1 Supplementary material (including 4 table; 3 figures and supplementary methods

Current barriers and possible solutions to effective project team formation and deployment within a large construction organisation

The characteristics of the construction industry present an extremely challenging context for effective human resource management (HRM). The dynamic project-based nature of the industry results in extreme fluctuations in organisations’ workloads and requires teams to form, develop and disband relatively quickly. Thus, the importance of efficient management of employee resourcing activities cannot be understated. This paper reports on the findings of research which explored employee resourcing practices within large UK construction firms. The results suggest that managers currently attempt to carry out some strategic planning with regards to employee resourcing, but that this does not necessarily translate into effective operational practice which simultaneously takes account of organisational, project and individual employee needs. A new approach for more effective employee resourcing decision-making, based on encouraging the involvement of the employees in the deployment process, is put forward as a management tool which informs effective team formation and deployment. However, this will require the acceptance of both decision-support technology and of employee input into what is currently a tacit, management-oriented decision process