Student profile : application on trend and academic performance by region

The recognition of the student profile provides strategic information in two fold : able to identify the enrolment trend among learners and also can extrapolate their academic performance by region. The significant of this study is to identify natural segmentation of our OUM learners by region for the Faculty of Business and Management by mean of cross-sectional data for the year 2011. Student data will be limited to social economic background, location, work place, position held and latest qualification. Several researches indicate that, family background and occupation were among important elements of success in college (Brown, 1999). Family attitudes about education and acquiring college degree influence success in college (Leppel, Karen, Williams, and Waldauer, 2001). There was a strong correlation between CGPA and career maturity among university students (Zanariah, Ishak and Nazihah, 2012). Implications from this study should be able to unfold several issues; success factors among OUM learners, concentration of learners by region and influence of location and occupation on academic performance. (Abstract by authors

Partial Discharge Monitoring System on High Voltage Equipments using Electroacoustic Technique

Partial discharge (PD) monitoring system is considered as one of the most promising solutions for monitoring and detecting possible faults. PD is able to diagnose faults within the system in the most fundamental and simplest way. PD monitoring and measurement of high voltage equipment substations panel and power transformers have not gained the same attention in the electrical community as compared to those of rotating machines. PD tests are conducted on-site to verify the insulation of bushings, termination box and windings. The cost of an unexpected outage may be considerably more significant for a high voltage substation panel and power transformers system than just for a single motor failure. In this research, the electroacoustic PD monitoring technique is used, which is a combination of internal PD detection and ultrasound or surface PD detection was used. The testing equipment which will be used in this research is UltraTEV Plus+ equipment from EA Technology. Result shows the transient earth voltage (TEV) PD magnitude fluctuates with time. Significant high value of PD magnitude (> 19 dB) was detected and recorded at several switchgear panel and transformer. However, for the ultrasound or surface PD, from the monitoring and measurement record, no detection of PD signal was recorded at the UltraTEV Plus+ testing equipmen

What contributes to work performance in Malaysia? Government agriculture agencies employee case

Agriculture is a well-developed sector in Malaysia. During the Eight Malaysia Plan period, the overall performance of the agriculture sector had improved and this can be seen through the increasing production, value added and exports, driven by the utilization of new technologies, shift to large-scale commercial production, a wider adoption of the group farming system, easier market accessibility and better commodity prices. In The Ninth Malaysian Plan, this sector has been planned to be the third income generator for the country while recently, in the Malaysian 2010 budget almost USD 2 billion has been allocated for agriculture sector.Besides the great effort invested by the government to intensify this sector, do the implementers which are the government agriculture agency employees ready to handle the responsibility given to them? Are they having adequate work performance to strive for the perfection of the tasks given to them? If they have enough, what are the factors that contribute to this? Thus, this study tries to discover it.A total of 180 respondents were involved in this study.All of the selected respondents were employees from ten government agriculture agencies in Malaysia (AAE).The data collection process for this study was completed in two months period where drop and pick method was used.The developed questionnaire was used and pre-tested earlier.The pre test process was done on 30 respondents from Universiti Putra Malaysia. For the purpose of analysis, descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were employed to describe the socio-demographic data of this study while inferential analyses such as ANOVA and Independent-t test were utilized for determining any difference between selected factors and work performance. Independent t-test run indicates that there are significant difference in work performance for factors of age and type of residential while ANOVA employed, proves that there are significant difference for factors of working experience and salary.It can be concluded that younger workers should be trained more through courses to enhance their work performance. It is suggested that procedures to buy a house especially for those from lower income group can be eased.Salary is indeed an important determinant for work performance. To reduce the gap, it is suggested that support staff are allocated more overtime work so that they can seek extra income

Instrument for measuring quality of life of employees in the Malaysian public sector

Quality of life has been defined in a multitude of ways and there is little agreement on elements that should be measured. The main intent of this paper is to describe the process of developing a valid and reliable instrument for measuring quality of life (QOL) of employees in Malaysian public sector. There are several steps in developing this instrument. Initially literature search was carried out. Nine dimensions of QOL were identified based on the literature reviewed and then an early version of the instrument was drafted. Subsequently, two focus group discussions (FGDs) were organized to review the construct and content validity of the instrument. Ten representatives from selected public sectors agencies participated in the first FGD to review the content validity of the draft instrument. The second FGD focused on the construct as well as the clarity of the language used with the help of 21 representatives from various government agencies. Improvements were made on the final instrument based on the feedbacks received from the experts invited. This final instrument incorporated the following nine dimensions: remunerations and benefits (9 items), job characteristics (8 items), interpersonal relationships (7 items), work environment (9 items), organizational support and facilities (8 items), organization policies and management styles (9 items), safety and security assurance provisions (5 items), individual and family (6 items), and personal health and well-being (9 items). The instrument was tested on 30 employees who were randomly selected from two government agencies. Analysis of the reliability of the instrument shows that the range of Cronbach's Alpha values obtained was from.80 to.98 suggesting excellent reliability

Factors Explaining The Variation of Quality of Life Among Employees In The Malaysian Public Sector

Abstract: There is a general concern over the quality of life (QOL) decline among employees in the public sector which may adversely affect their performance. In view of this concern, there is a greater need to gain an improved understanding of what factor influence QOL with the view of finding a more integrative model for explaining the variation of QOL. Thus, a dependence model with four factors was proposed. The four factors examined were physical & financial, human, social, and natural capitals. Enter regression method was used to determine to what extent the research data fit the proposed model. The findings revealed that all the four factors considered were significance in explaining quality of life of the employees suggesting that the proposed model was fully supported by the research data. Among the four factors studied, physical and financial capitals make the strongest contribution in explaining variation of QOL, followed by natural capital and social capitals. Human capital was the smallest indicating that it made a smaller contribution compared to the other capitals

Prospects and Challenges of Workplace Diversity in Modern Day Organizations: A Critical Review

Workplace diversity (WPD) is a holistic concept that denotes the differences that exist between people working within an organisation. It describes the complex physical, sociological or psychological attributes such as gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs that define an individual or group. Therefore, WPD transcends the recruitment, representation or preferential treatment of people within an organisation. The complexity of WPD has become one of the most challenging issues currently of critical importance in business and organisational management. Therefore, the paper presents the critical issues currently impacting on WPD in modern day organisations. It identified and highlighted the various prospects and challenges of WPD. The results revealed that diversity in the workplace enhances the critical thinking, problem-solving, and employee professional skills. Furthermore, it enables organisations to attract talent, improve corporate attractiveness, productivity. However, it is currently hampered by the hostility, disrespect and discrimination people with diverse background encounter in the workplace. Such behavioural attitudes as ascribed to prejudices and biases towards people with varied lifestyle choices, ethnic and cultural differences, disabilities, and generational gaps. These factors can stifle morale, teamwork, profitability and the attractiveness of the organisation. Consequently, modern day organisations need to address the causes of these issues to exploit the benefits of WPD. These can be addressed strategies that foster an empowerment culture, build communication and team spirit with organisations. These efforts will promote acceptance, productivity, and profits in future organisations