Linking Work-Family Conflict (WFC) and Talent Management: Insights from a Developing Country

Considering the profound societal change taking place in several developing countries, the objective of this paper is to reflect on work-family conflict (WFC) both as a concept and a social phenomenon. Given that WFC is a concept rooted in academic debate focusing on developments in Western, largely individualistic, societies, this paper reconsiders WFC’s value added as applied in a context of a collectivist society in a developing country. The objective of this paper is thus threefold, i.e., (i) to assess WFC’s applicability in a context of a collectivist society in a developing country, where the position and role of women gradually changes; (ii) to develop a culturally adjusted/sensitive scale to measure the scope of WFC in Pakistan, whereby the latter is treated here as a case study; and (iii) to reflect on the possibility of devising a set of good practices that would allow a smooth inclusion of women in the formal workforce, while at the same time mitigating the scope and scale of WFC. The value added of this paper stems from these three objectives

Measuring the Scale and Scope of Social Anxiety among Students in Pakistani Higher Education Institutions: An Alternative Social Anxiety Scale

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is neither just shyness, nor for most victims does it merely involve an inability to speak in public. For most sufferers of this disorder, it could be a pervasive, disabling condition that steals away opportunities for a richer, fuller life. Having an early onset and combining high prevalence rates with serious negative effects on functioning and quality of life, SAD is a public health problem of considerable magnitude. Hence, its assessment using a standardized measure and timely intervention can completely preempt or at least lessen the severity of this psychiatric illness. So far SAD among students in higher education institutions is a less investigated area of study in Pakistan. Students generally avoid reporting difficulties they experience while making interactions with people and quietly try to combat with their fears in social settings. Proper and timely diagnosis and treatment of SAD are required, and for this purpose, the need of the hour is to create a culturally oriented measuring instrument for proper surveillance of the student population in Pakistan. This paper, drawing from a study conducted at Higher Education Institutions (HEI) across Pakistan, addresses this issue by devising an indigenous, comprehensive, well-founded and valid scale of social anxiety in the Urdu language. The use of this scale, both in general and patient care settings, would effectively screen individuals who could be at risk of being victimized by this disorder. This alternative Social Anxiety Scale (SAS) carefully evaluates social behaviors and attitudes while also ensuring that cultural perspectives are considered, which would also encourage clinicians to evaluate SAD in Pakistani population

Silent Secretory Otitis Media in Cases with Adenoid Hypertrophy

Objective: to determine the cases brought to the Otolaryngology Department with adenoidal hyperplasia. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: ENT Department, Combined Military Hospital, Multan Pakistan from Jan to May 2022. Methodology: The study was conducted on children of age more than 2.5 years having adenoid hypertrophy that was confirmed by an X-Ray lateral view of the nasopharynx for adenoids. Their tympanogram was obtained. Results: The study showed that 2(2%) cases had a Type-B curve in a single ear, and 14(14.3%) had a Type-B curve in both ears.PTA was normal in 32(32.7%) cases. Up to 25 decibels (dB) of hearing loss was seen in 6(6.1%) cases. In 8(8.2%) cases, hearing loss, was more than 25Db. Conclusion: The tympanometry test is an objective test which is very easy to carry out and can very easily detect patients having glued ears which can be managed, and possible complications of the disease can be avoided

Measuring the Scale and Scope of Workplace Bullying: An Alternative Workplace Bullying Scale

The toll of workplace bullying is immense, yet, similarly as with an iceberg, its scope, scale and implications tend to remain underestimated. Several ways of assessing the prevalence of workplace bullying have been proposed in the literature. The most frequently discussed are the ‘subjective method’ assessing individuals’ perceptions of being a victim and the questionnaire, i.e., criterion-based, methods, including Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ) and Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror (LIPT). Since in both cases culture plays a profound role as a mediating factor in the process of identifying, collecting, and processing data, the applicability of these methods across cultures and countries has several limitations. At this stage, it is impossible to determine the impact of the implicit cultural-bias that these methods entail on the research outcomes. This would be possible if an alternative workplace bullying scale (WBS) was at hand and, consequently, a comparative analysis was conducted. This paper, drawing from a study conducted at higher education institutions (HEI) across Pakistan, addresses this issue by devising an alternative WBS. The value added of this paper is three-fold, i.e., it elaborates on the study and the specific methods employed to prove the validity and relevance of the alternative WBS. Moreover, by so doing, it addresses some of the limitations that other methods measuring the prevalence of workplace bullying display. As a result, it adds to the researchers’ and administrators’ toolkit as regards research and policies aimed at mitigating the scope and scale of bullying at HEIs across cultures and countries

Mediating Bullying and Strain in Higher Education Institutions: The Case of Pakistan

Although workplace bullying is a well-researched phenomenon, the specific way it unfolds in higher education institutions (HEI) remains largely underdiscussed. Based on the outcomes of a survey conducted across HEI in Pakistan, by reference to structural equation modeling, using Amos-20, this paper not only adds to our understanding of the scope and features of bullying in HEI, but also suggests strategies employers and victims could employ to cope with the adverse implications of bullying. The key findings of this research are: (i) a positive correlation exists between the degree of workplace bullying and strain levels; (ii) more frequently than not, female employees, younger employees, and employees in junior positions are victims of bullying; (iii) bullying and strain can be fully mediated only when both emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies are employed in synergy. In brief, although research findings elaborated in this paper draw from the specific case of HEI in Pakistan, this paper makes a case for more research, vigilance and action to understand the scale of the phenomenon in academia and to undertake concerted action to mitigate its adverse impact on specific individuals and HEI themselves

A Hybrid Tool for Visual Pollution Assessment in Urban Environments

With increasing focus on more nuanced aspects of quality of life, the phenomenon of urban visual pollution has been progressively gaining attention from researchers and policy makers, especially in the developed world. However, the subjectivity and complexity of assessing visual pollution in urban settings remain a challenge, especially given the lack of robust and reliable methods for quantification of visual pollution. This paper presents a novel systematic approach for the development of a robust Visual Pollution Assessment (VPA) tool. A key feature of our methodology is explicit and systematic incorporation of expert and public opinion for listing and ranking Visual Pollution Objects (VPOs). Moreover, our methodology deploys established empirical complex decision-making techniques to address the challenge of subjectivity in weighting the impact of individual VPOs. The resultant VPA tool uses close-ended options to capture the presence and characteristics of various VPOs on a given node. Based on these inputs, it calculates a point based visual pollution scorecard for the observation point. The performance of the VPA tool has been extensively tested and verified at various locations in Pakistan. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such tool, both in terms of quantitative robustness and broad coverage of VPOs. Our VPA tool will help regulators in assessing and charting visual pollution in a consistent and objective manner. It will also help policy makers by providing an empirical basis for gathering evidence; hence facilitating evidence-based and evidence-driven policy strategies, which are likely to have significant impact, especially in the developing countries

Contemporary Temperature Fluctuation in Urban Areas of Pakistan

Annual temperature data from thirty meteorological stations in Pakistan’s major urban areas were selected to investigate trends in annual average and maximum temperature during 1970–2009. A combination of parametric and non-parametric tests including linear regression, the Mann-Kendall trend test and Sen’s slope estimator was used for the analysis. Annual average and maximum temperature series showed an overall increasing trend for 90% of the stations and a decreasing trend for 10% of the stations in the study area. The highest significant increment of annual average temperature was observed at Gilgit, Hyderabad, Quetta and Lasbela stations at the rate of 0.49 °C per decade. The highest increment of annual maximum temperature was obtained at Chitral, Gilgit, Nawabshah and Quetta at the rate of 0.31 °C per decade. According to simple linear regression and the Mann-Kendall test, the annual average temperature showed a significant increasing trend for 43% of the stations (at a 0.001 level of significance) and 23% of the stations (at the 0.05 level). Annual maximum temperature showed a significant increasing trend for 26% of the stations (at the 0.001 level of significance) and 23% of the stations (at the 0.05 level). In general, the results showed increasing trends for the considered parameters, although annual average temperature showed a higher increasing rate than annual maximum temperature during the study period

COVID-19: Effect on gastroenterology and hepatology service provision and training: Lessons learnt and planning for the future.

In late 2019, reports arose of a new respiratory disease in China, identified as a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The World Health Organisation named the disease caused by the virus 'coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)'. It was declared a pandemic in early 2020, after the disease rapidly spread across the world. COVID-19 has not only resulted in substantial morbidity and mortality but also significantly impacted healthcare service provision and training across all medical specialties with gastroenterology and Hepatology services being no exception. Internationally, most, if not all 'non-urgent' services have been placed on hold during surges of infections. As a result there have been delayed diagnoses, procedures, and surgeries which will undoubtedly result in increased morbidity and mortality. Outpatient services have been converted to remote consultations where possible in many countries. Trainees have been redeployed to help care for COVID-19 patients in other settings, resulting in disruption to their training - particularly endoscopy and outpatient clinics. This has led to significant anxiety amongst trainees, and risks prolongation of training. It is of the utmost importance to develop strategies that continue to support COVID-19-related service provision, whilst also supporting existing and future gastroenterology and Hepatology services and training. Changes to healthcare provision during the pandemic have generated new and improved frameworks of service and training delivery, which can be adopted in the post-COVID-19 world, leading to enhanced patient care