The relationship between technological changes and computer anxiety among employees in banking sectors / Maimunah Mohd Shah

The growing role of computers and technology in the workplace has changed the office landscape dramatically and necessitated employees to be competent and knowledgeable in order to manage computers effectively. Nevertheless, this adaptation to technology creates anxiety prompting much research in the area particularly focusing on schools, universities and younger or elderly adults. Research into computer anxiety experienced in commercial organisations has been much neglected. This study fills this gap by examining and determining the level of computer anxiety, attitude towards computers and technology acceptance among employees in commercial banks. Survey data gathered from 377 employees in various commercial banks in Kuala Lumpur was used to compare relationships between the stated variables and to assess if demographic characteristics like gender and job category played a moderating role in such relationships

Relationship study of transformational leadership and psychological empowerment on employees job satisfaction / Norashikin Hussein, Maimunah Mohd Shah and Nasuha Bhasah.

This study aims to determine the relationship between transformational leadership (TL) and psychological empowerment (PE) towards job satisfaction (JS) among employees in an electric company. Both TL and PE are important factors in determining job satisfaction. TL is a stimulating and engaging relationship between leaders and followers. It is adapted to enhance employees’ job satisfaction. While, PE is related to employees’ performances, attitudes and various work behaviors. Data were collected using questionnaires and were analyzed using SPSS. Random sampling technique was applied in the distribution of the questionnaire. 125 cases were analyzed and findings were interpreted accordingly. The results reveal that only one dimension of transformational leadership (i.e., intellectual stimulation) and one psychological empowerment dimension (ie.,meaning) are significantly related to job satisfaction. Further discussion on the results are shared in this paper

The ambivalence of an Anglophile subject in Kam Raslan’s confessions of an old boy: The Dato’ Hamid Adventures

This paper focuses on ambivalence, a prominent concept in postcolonial studies and a recurrent theme in an anglophile subject in Kam Raslan’s novel, Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato’ Hamid Adventures(2007). As a result of ambivalence, the anglophile subject feels alien in his perception of himself and also towards others. The subject is also ambivalent towards his own culture. Using this framework, this article focuses on Kam Raslan’s protagonist, Dato’ Hamid, as an ambivalent anglophile subject. The findings reveal that reverence for the English culture, coupled with a British colonial education is what gives rise to such characters. It is the British education that has indoctrinated English values into the native’s life. The admiration of the anglophile towards the “English” culture can be seen in many aspects, such as language, dress code, behaviour, relationships, lifestyle, etc. All these elements become traits and characteristics of the anglophile. The study reveals the adoption, adaptation and assimilation of English traits and characteristics by the anglophile subject which has caused a sense of ambivalence in his perception of himself and towards the “other.

Work-Life Balance: The effect on Absenteeism among Employees in a Malaysian Utility Company

Employees spend at least one-third of their day at their work place. Since most of the time is spent at the work place, excess in working hours can cause the employees to feel burned out at the end of the week. These high emotional exhaustion and less personal time will cause the employees to adjust their own time in order to achieve preference hours of work. The utility company involves in this study practices 5.5 working days. Feeling overemployed, this will lead the employees to adjust their behaviour into choosing to be absent from work. Thus, this study focus on to examine: (i) whether working 5.5 days in a week currently implemented by the company has stimulated the employees to be absent from work as one of their effort to achieve a balance in their work-life style (ii) the relationship of Work-Life Balance and absenteeism in a utility company in Malaysia. A survey was conducted among the employees to explore their response towards absenteeism and work-life balance. The findings of this study highlighted the understanding of the work-life balance and absenteeism concept from the employees' perspective. Based on the findings of this research, working excessive hours stimulated the employees to be absent on the last working day of the week. The findings of this study also offer new perspectives which the company may need to consider in order to have employees who are more efficient. Keywords: Work-life balance, Absenteeism, Malaysia, Utility Industry, Burned out. JEL Classifications: M10, M50, M5

Supervisor Feedback, Ergonomics and Job Performance: A Study at One of Malaysia's Frontline Government Agency

A well-managed organization usually sees an average worker as the root source of quality and productivity gains. Such organizations do not look to capital investment, but to employees, as the fundamental source of improvement. Therefore, in order to increase employee performance, many factors such as supervisor feedback and ergonomics are very important especially for organization that involves frontline staffs who has to entertain customers all the time. Hence, this study focuses on effect of supervisor feedback and ergonomics towards job performance among employees at one of Malaysia's frontline government agency. The study was quantitatively conducted using standardized questionnaires that was participated by 82 respondents. The results showed that supervisor feedback and ergonomic were significantly and positively impacted job performance. Thus, this study provides references to academics and practitioners on the effectiveness of giving quality feedback and good ergonomically working conditions towards improving performance of frontline staffs. Keywords: Supervisor Feedback; Ergonomics; Job Performance JEL Classifications: M54; M1

A Review on the Assessment of the Efficacy of Common Treatments in Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome on Prevention of Diabetes Mellitus

Objective: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a common condition amongst women of reproductive age that can result in increased mortality and morbidity in women due to increased risk of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this systematic review was to assess the effectiveness of common treatments of PCOS on the predictors of diabetes in non-diabetic PCOS women. Materials and methods: An extensive search was performed on the publications in three medical databases including pubmed, scopus and google scholar from 1995 till 2017. The articles were screened based on their quality and included in this systematic review. A total of 25 articles including cohort, randomised controlled trial, review and meta-analysis were included in the review. Results: This systematic review revealed that the effect of lifestyle modification might be low in PCOS subjects due to high drop-out rate while the benefits of this intervention including weight and fat reduction may not be achieved by medical interventions. Metformin treatment may result in improvements in insulin sensitivity while its weight reduction effect is still not documented in PCOS subjects. Thiazolidendiones might be tolerated by the PCOS subjects and may result in similar effects as metformin but this effect should be documented by further studies. Conclusion: Combination of lifestyle modification with metformin or thiazolidinedions might improve the outcome of the prevention strategies. On the other hand this study revealed a different response to treatments in non-obese compared with obese PCOS subjects

Rapid and nondestructive techniques for internal and external quality evaluation of watermelons: A review

Watermelon has emerged to the forefront in research advances due to its attractive high nutrient value. Quality attribute of watermelon is a critical aspect of postharvest storage, consumer preference, and commercial acceptability of the fruit. The promising technologies of quality evaluation using nondestructive techniques as part of postharvest handling have gained much attention in recent years. The current trends seek nondestructive techniques that are rapid, low cost, and provide objective measurements. This review highlights some recent applications of nondestructive techniques in the quality evaluation of watermelon by replacing conventional methods which are time-consuming, laborious, and tedious. Quality assessment of watermelons, especially during harvesting and sorting/grading processes, is discussed in this paper, focusing specifically on the feasibility of its application and performance by providing a real-time, rapid and efficient approach. The advantages and drawbacks of nondestructive techniques are emphasized for evaluating quality attributes of the fruit. The future prospects of using nondestructive techniques for quality evaluation have proven to be successful in the development of an automated sorting machine and an on-line detection system