Work-life balance, family-friendly policies and quality of work life issues: studying employers' perspectives of working women in Oman

Family-Friendly Policies (FFPs) aim to help employees manage their family responsibilities, create flexible-work conditions and enable women to perform better on both domestic and work fronts. In comparison to other countries in the Gulf, women in Oman are joining the workforce in large numbers. This trend continues as educational and vocational institutions within the country consistently enroll a higher proportion of women. Currently, women comprise 55% of the total workforce in Oman and contribute significantly in education, health, media, banking and other business sectors. Challenges such as work-life balance (WLB) constrain their Quality of Work Life (QWL). Omani Labor Law (OLL) grants some privileges to working women; however, there is an overgrowing need to address specific issues that women encounter while managing their work and family life. By resorting to in-depth interviews of selected top-level managers from government, public, and private sector organizations, this study aims to secure managers' perception of WLB and QWL-related issues and also their opinion about offering certain FFP-related benefits to the working women in Oman. The research informs that despite some provisions in the OLL, Oman lacks a clear-cut policy on FFPs. Most of the concessions to women exist with a tacit understanding of 'give and take' or sympathy. Notwithstanding, all the employers confirm their adherence to the OLL and are enthusiastic over granting additional benefits, albeit with individual differences in perception. The research recommends some collective efforts on three major fronts. Governmental interventions are needed to direct organizations to classify some jobs as 'Family Friendly'. Organizations need to observe healthy workplace practices. Families and societies need to exhibit a supportive outlook towards working women in Oman

Woman Entrepreneurship in the Al-Batinah Region of Oman: An identification of the Barriers

Recognizing the presence of some self-motivated women entrepreneurs in Oman, this study identifies the barriers that they confront and highlights the challenges that are needed to boost entrepreneurship. This study aims to find the factors inhibiting women entrepreneurship in the Al-Batinah region of Oman, focusing on women entrepreneurs especially from the small and medium scale enterprises. This study illustrates and focuses on women entrepreneurship in Oman how it is developing; it observes and reports the hindrances; and it suggests some measures for improvement in the role of women entrepreneurs. Overall, it adds to the literature on entrepreneurship, especially in the context of socio-cultural aspects and the Islamic Arab world, where the literature is still scant

Governance & Corruption – Developments and Issues in Ethiopia

This paper reports the results of a survey of 400 respondents in Ethiopia about factors generating corruption and the potential of e-Governance to mitigate corruption. It is suggested that e-Governance can help not only in weeding out corruption but also in the establishment of sounder government citizen relationships in Ethiopia. While e-Governance cannot cure all the structural factors that breed corruption in the society, strategic implementation of e-Governance can help improve the critical variable in combating corruption—government citizen relationships. It isargued that while e-Governance initiatives can make important contributions to improving public services they can best do so by helping improve overall relationships between governments and citizens

Citizens’ Perceptions of Corruption and E - Governance in Jordan, Ethiopia, and Fiji — the Need for a Marketing Approach

The purpose of this research is to assess citizen’s perceptions of corruption and e-governance in Jordan, Ethiopia, and Fiji. The research is based on surveys using structured questionnaires and focus group interviews. Conclusions are derived from a mix of descriptive and inferential analysis. The survey covers a total of 1212 respondents using stratified sampling. Findings reveal that public sector corruption and demands for bribes are increasing in each country. Only a few people are aware of e-governance and feel that it can help in curbing corruption. The study proposes that in order to mitigate negative forces in the implementation of e-governance such as corruption, digital divide, and urban bias, developing countries need to apply a marketing approach to e-governance services

Genetic divergence evaluation of apple germplasm by D2 multivariate analysis

Genetic divergence was worked out in the new germplasm of apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) including 42 genotypes. Mahalanobis's D2 statistics was applied for identifying the potential parents to be involved in the hybridization programme for trait specific improvement or selecting better segregants. On the basis of performance for various traits, genotypes were grouped into three clusters and maximum numbers of genotypes i.e. 28 were accommodated in cluster I , while 10 and 4 genotypes were arranged in cluster II and III respectively. The average intra cluster distance was maximum in cluster II (2.214) and minimum in cluster III (1.212). Inter cluster distance was maximum between cluster II and III (5.077) indicating that hybridization between genotypes from cluster II and III can be utilized for getting the superior recombinants in segregating generations. On the basis of cluster means for various characters , cluster II was found superior for shoot thickness (0.34cm), inter - nodal length (2.38cm), number of lenticels (62.10) and leaf blade length (8.79cm) whereas cluster III was found superior for leaf blade width (5.10cm), petiole length (2.64cm) and leaf blade ratio (3.62). Hence, hybridization between parents from cluster II and cluster III for these characters can produce better recombinants in segregating generations

Public Transportation Services in Oman: A Study of Public Perceptions

Public transportation services are vital for civic life. Recently, many countries in the Middle East have turned their attention towards developing and improving their public transport systems, as problems such as traffic congestions in cities, low mobility, high individual costs of transport, and a rural-urban divide in services have arisen. This study is a public needs assessment and opinion survey of an area in one such Middle Eastern country, the Al-Batinah region of Oman. The study finds public transport services in Oman are minimal and do not match demand, and there is an excessive reliance on private cars. Marketing of public transport services is constrained by certain environmental issues, particularly the socio-cultural and physical environments. The study is innovative from both an approach and implementation perspective and will help policy makers in Oman think about long-term strategies towards establishing viable public transport solutions

Employers’ perception of women workers in Oman and the challenges they face

Purpose: The participation and productivity of women in Oman’s labor force are very low and heavily skewed toward the government sector. There are few women in the private sector and the reasons for this are not well-known. The challenges that women workers face specifically in the Arab World are worth understanding from a participation and policy perspective. The purpose of this paper is to explore employers’ perceptions of women workers and the major challenges they face in Oman in the context of government efforts to develop the female workforce in this Middle East region. Design/methodology/approach: Data collected by interviewing the top executives (employers) from 28 organizations in two major cities in Oman were analyzed qualitatively, grouped into emerging themes, triangulated, and discussed. Findings: The results indicated that employers, in general, are impressed by women workers in Oman. However, they identify a number of challenges women face. This study synthesized and grouped employers’ perceptions of these challenges in the following categories: women’s natural and physiological composition, their attitude at work, post-marital challenges, socio-cultural barriers, nature and place of work, organizational preparedness and governance, biases or prejudices of employers, and work-life balance (WLB) issues facing them. Practical implications: This study suggests that since female participation in the government sector in Oman is substantial, women can also be attracted to work in the private sector if policies are formulated to safeguard their interests. Originality/value: There is an absolute dearth of studies about female participation in the Omani workforce; this study is one of the pioneering efforts. Whereas the extant literature on WLB issues represents mostly the western perspective, this study highlights the major WLB issues in Oman and fills some important gaps between the West and the Middle East by focusing on women, WLB, and policies triangle

Using the graphic tablet projection technology: improving students' learning through action research

Students' comprehension and understanding in classes have always been a contentious issue, affected most of the time by the pedagogy, technology, and culture. This paper introduces and assesses a pedagogy that integrates graphic tablet and projective tools (GTPT) in classroom deliveries. A class of 123 undergraduate business students was given lectures and tutorials using graphic tablet. After the completion of the course, students were asked to reflect on their experience of GTPT. Students appreciated the contribution of GTPT in different courses. GTPT, to their belief, provided them with not only better understanding and learning but also an opportunity to collaborate with their peers. The findings illustrated the importance of activity theory and action research methodology for iterative improvement in teaching and learning. Based on the outcomes of this research, educators can plan, experience, experiment, and build appropriate and cost-effective in-class delivery mechanisms that are innovative and open to new ideas

The fisheries of Oman: A situation analysis

This research paper presents a situation analysis of artisanal fishermen on the Batinah coast of Oman, conducted within the scope of a project that had a broader mandate on training needs assessment (TNA). The collection of data followed a structured survey approach where the questionnaires were administered to 1934 fishermen and were analyzed by a mixed method approach. The findings were triangulated-from information gained from the observations of fishermen and the discussions held with other stakeholders. The research found that the majority of fishermen on the Batinah coast were not appropriately educated and trained. Most of them followed irregular routines, earned little money from fishing, had low savings, faced financial constraints, and lacked knowhow of modern fishing techniques and post-harvest dealings. The fishermen’s performance over several key variables revealed a need for a consolidated marine policy that takes into consideration a host of issues related to the governance of artisanal fisheries and its sustainability and contribution to the economic activities in Oman