Analysis of Different Levels of Organization Learning: A comparative study on Ghee and oil Industry in Pakistan

The aim of this study is to evaluate the different levels of organizational learning in Ghee and oil sector of Pakistan.  This study also examines the strengths and weaknesses of Ghee and oil firms. This comparative study is based on 10 different elements of organization learning which includes psychological safety, application of differences, openness of ideas, time for reflection, experimentation, information collection, analysis,  education and training, information transfer and leadership. To evaluate the level of learning in selected firms a survey developed by David A. Garvin is used. The data is collected through a questionnaire from 90 respondents of six Ghee and oil Mills. Reliability test and descriptive statistics are applied on data. The score obtained through questionnaire is compared with benchmark scores developed by David A. Garvin. The result is varied and no important dissimilarity is found in the scores obtained by firms when compared with benchmark score. Key words: Organizational learning, learning environment, Pakistan

Importance of clinical toxicology teaching and its impact in improving

Objective: To assess the impact of a one-day clinical toxicology workshop in improving knowledge.Methods: A one-day clinical toxicology workshop was conducted as a pre-conference workshop of the Annual Emergency Medicine Conference at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, in April 2012. The course was composed of poisoning-related common clinical scenarios. The pre-test and post-test understanding was used to assess the impact of the course in improving knowledge. The participants also evaluated the workshop as a whole thorough written evaluation forms. SPSS 19 was ued for statistical analysis of the data.Result: There were 22 participants in the course. The pre-test mean score was 31.6±15.1% (95% CI; 24-40; n=19) compared to the post-test the mean score of 56.0±10.8% (95% CI; 47- 61; n=17). The positive difference was also statistically significant (pConclusion: Short training in clinical toxicology improved knowledge of the participants

ECONOMIC VALUE ADDITION IMPLICATIONS: A STUDY OF THE PAKISTANI BANKING INDUSTRY

Human beings are mostly concerned about value additionin almost every aspect of life. Does this reality prove accurate insecondary markets investment? This empirical study deals with theEconomic Value Addition of major seventeen banks of Pakistanincluding national and public limited banks. In this research, ROE,ROCE, and OCF are taken as parameters of profitability whilemarketability parameters are PE and MB ratio. Two sample t-testsshow that a new banks value creation is more in comparison withold banks in the context of EVA. Private and Government bank arenot significantly different in EVA. Fixed effect modeling and Clusterestimation infer that Profitability parameters positively impact EVA.Marketability parameter MB positively impacts EVA while PE ratiois statistically insignificant. Correlation analysis shows thatinvestors of the banking sector in Pakistan do not pay specialattention to EVA in their investment decisions

Importance of clinical toxicology teaching and its impact in improving knowledge: sharing experience from a workshop

Objective: To assess the impact of a one-day clinical toxicology workshop in improving knowledge.Methods: A one-day clinical toxicology workshop was conducted as a pre-conference workshop of the Annual Emergency Medicine Conference at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, in April 2012. The course was composed of poisoning-related common clinical scenarios. The pre-test and post-test understanding was used to assess the impact of the course in improving knowledge. The participants also evaluated the workshop as a whole thorough written evaluation forms. SPSS 19 was ued for statistical analysis of the data.RESULT: There were 22 participants in the course. The pre-test mean score was 31.6 +/- 15.1% (95% CI; 24-40; n = 19) compared to the post-test the mean score of 56.0 +/- 10.8% (95% CI; 47- 61; n = 17). The positive difference was also statistically significant (p \u3c 0.001). The overall workshop was evaluated as excellent by 08 (47.46%) and very good by 10 (52.63%) participants.CONCLUSION: Short training in clinical toxicology improved knowledge of the participants

Impact of Socialization on Organizational Commitment of Employees: A Case Study of Private Degree Colleges in Nowshehra, District, KPK

Implementations of HR practices carry a significant weightage towards organization’s success. The study was focused to find out the impact of socialization process on organizational commitment of employees working in private degree colleges. 200 hundred questionnaires were distributed among the teaching staff of degree colleges using convenient sampling technique. 126 properly filled questionnaires forming a response rate of 63% were analyzed to get meaningful results. The results of the study showed that socialization process was found to have significant impact on organizational commitment of employees

The Impacts of Entrepreneurial Orientation on Organizational Performance: Study of Pakistani SMEs

Entrepreneurial orientation has been the area of interest by many researchers in the field of entrepreneurship and management. However, empirical evidences reveal that most of these studies have been conducted in developed countries and have reported mixed results. Analyses on the subject in developing countries are lacking. This study investigates the role of entrepreneurial orientation on firm performance. This study used survey data from a random sample of 213 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) located in Sialkot region, Province of Punjab Pakistan. The findings support the hypothesis that entrepreneurial orientation associates with firm performance. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by taking EO as five dimensional construct (innovativeness, risk taking, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness, autonomy) rather three dimensional construct. and organizational performance comprising of non financial indicators such as customer satisfaction, employees satisfaction, service quality, innovation and growth. The study offers suggestions to policy makers and future directions

Assessing the impact of mindfulness and life stress on maternal well-being

Dispositional mindfulness has been shown to protect against affective symptoms in the general population. However, very little is known about whether and how these benefits may extend to a particularly high-risk period for affective distress—the postpartum. In this study, we tested within-person and between-person associations between maternal mindfulness and symptoms of anxiety and depression across the first 18 months postpartum. We further investigated whether mindfulness moderated the effect of life stress on mothers’ symptoms. Participants were 89 mothers from a larger longitudinal study on mother-infant stress regulation. Mothers completed self-report measures of dispositional mindfulness, life stress, anxiety, and depression at 3, 6, 12, and 18-months postpartum. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to assess the impact of mindfulness and life stress on both symptom trajectories and deviations from those trajectories over time. Absolute levels of maternal mindfulness predicted lower maternal depression symptoms at 18 months, and relative increases in mindfulness predicted concurrent decreases in both anxiety and depression symptoms over time. There was no evidence for moderated effects; rather, life stress related independently to anxiety and depression. Implications for understanding mindfulness as a dynamic construct and potential applications to improving postpartum mental health are discussed

Long-term outcomes of a randomized clinical trial of supervised exercise, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty or combined treatment for patients with intermittent claudication due to femoropopliteal disease

Background: To compare the long-term outcomes of angioplasty (PTA), supervised exercise (SEP) and combined treatment (PTA+SEP) in patients with intermittent claudication (IC) due to femoropopliteal disease. Methods: Patients recruited to PTA, SEP and PTA+SEP arms of RCT were invited for long-term follow-up from 2010 to 2011.Indicators of limb ischaemia were recorded (ankle-brachial pressure indices, treadmill walking distances (ICD, MWD, PRWD). Duplex ultrasound was also performed. Patients completed SF36 and Vascuqol quality of life(QOL) questionnaires. Results: Of the 178 patients recruited in the trial, 139 were alive at the time of follow-up (PTA=46, SEP=47, PTA+SEP=46). Assessments were completed for 111 patients. Median time to follow-up was 5.2years (IQR 3.8-7.4years). Median age of patients at follow up was 75years. 62.2%(N=69) of patients were symptomatic.16.2%(N= 18) had experienced major cardiovascular event since their last follow-up visit. Intra-group analysis: Improvement was observed in ankle brachial pressure index (ABPI) in all groups. QOL outcomes were inconsistent across individual groups. Inter-group analysis: PTA and PTA+SEP groups demonstrated a significantly higher ABPI as compared to SEP group. No significant difference was observed in walking distances, QOL outcomes, restenosis rates, and new ipsilateral and contralateral lesions on duplex scan. Patients required re-interventions in all group (PTA=14, SEP=10, PTA+SEP=6). Number of re-interventions was higher in PTA group(N=29) as compared to SEP(N=17) and PTA+SEP(N=9) but failed to reach statistical significance. Conclusion: PTA, SEP and combined treatment are equally effective long-term treatment options for patients with femoropopliteal claudication. Addition of SEP to PTA can reduce the symptomatic restenosis and re-intervention rates

Microcredit, personal empowerment and quality of life of women borrowers – a theoretical framework

The issue of marginalization of women in development, particularly in South Asia, has been highlighted in the development literature. Women in this region are found to be generally poor, lack of education, and have a low quality of life, due to various economic and cultural reasons. Thus, unlocking the potentials of these women appears to be a plausible move as this could improve not only their income, but also their quality of life.One such initiative to unlock the potential of these women is micro credit program, where small loan is given to these women to enable them to embark on economic activities, which consequently improve their household income and quality of life.Indeed, there have been many studies that examine the relationship between micro credit and quality of life, and found that there is a positive relationship between micro credit and quality of life of the borrowers (women). However, most of these studies implicitly assume that the impact of micro credit on quality of life is direct, and hence, did not consider the role of other factors in evaluating the impact of micro credit on quality of life. Here, we argue that, the impact of micro credit on quality of life is not direct, but rather indirect.We believe personal empowerment does play an important role in influencing the impact of micro credit on quality of life.The mere availability of micro credit, in our view, did not guarantee a positive impact on quality of life. Rather, the availability of credit to borrowers affects their personal confidence, which consequently affects their level of quality of life.This paper discusses the theoretical framework by which these variables – microcredit, personal empowerment and quality of life – are inter-related

Credit Risk Oracle: The Bifocal Approach

This study aims to examine the macroeconomic and bank specific predictors of Credit Risk (NPL) and their relevant degree of impact on banks in Pakistan. For bank variables a sample of big 10 banks has been taken from 2009 to 2018. For macro-economic variables sample of 2009 to 2018 has been taken from the world bank. As financial institutions play their role to support industries and alleviate poverty in a country, this study checks the effect of banking variables as well as the economic variables on the credit risk of banks by taking industrial sector growth as a moderator. The study found that NPLs are negatively associated with Lending interest rate, Bank investment, Capital adequacy ratio, Domestic credit to private sector, Financial depth and GDP growth while positively associated with Lending capability, Return on equity, Interest spread and Liquidity Ratio. The moderation effect of Industrial sector growth on the relationship of Lending Capability and NPLs is found to be strengthening the relationship