The role of problem-based learning in developing communication conflict resolving skills among selected non-government organisations in Pakistan

Communication conflicts among employees of the developing organisations in Pakistan have been one of the major issues over the years. The causes are numerous but the efforts to reduce and resolve these conflicts effectively are found to be rare. The objectives of this case study were to examine the nature of communication conflicts predominant among employees at the workplace, explore the role of culture in communication conflicts, identify the perceptions of employees of in-house training using Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach and finally propose a PBL-based training module for developing conflict resolving skills among employees at the work place in Pakistan. This study adopted a Case Study approach. Using purposeful sampling, it involved forty Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) employees from different parts of Pakistan. The data emerged from three instruments involving semi-structured interviews, surveys and observations to examine the nature of communication conflicts among employees and see the impact of PBL training on the soft skills of respondents. Interview and observation data were transcribed and analysed through thematic analysis while the data from the survey was computed through descriptive statistics using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings from this study show the existence of different type of communication conflicts among employees in the developing organisations. The result shows the substantial role of PBL in developing conflict resolving skills and other essential soft skills among employees as a whole. The finding concludes that PBL plays an instrumental and effective role towards improving the various soft skills and traits including among employees of an NGO sector

Internal and External Influences on the University Teachers in Semester System

There are so many influences a faculty member has to undergo at the higher education level in universities in semester system. We wanted to comb the universities for the internal and external influences on the university teachers and their consequences in Balochistan. It was done to determine the loss we bear due to the influences on the university teachers in Balochistan, and to generate such influence-free-mechanism in the universities of Balochistan to strengthen the educational milieu in the province. Faculty members play pivotal role in imparting the education at the higher education level in any country. They happen to be the nucleus of the education system. Disturbing and disrupting them in any was is, in effect, disturbing and disrupting the education process. Influencing them, directly or indirectly, halts the true teaching process. It creates many obstacles ranging from class boycotts, hunger strikes to processions and demonstrations either inside the institute or outside the institute. To forge such a composite mechanism not only to control these both internal and external factors in order to streamline the learning and imparting education process but also to afford a healthy and sound teaching environment

Counterfeit versus original patronage: Do emotional brand attachment, brand involvement, and past experience matter?

To enhance brand performance and to protect original brands from the unprecedented upsurge of counterfeits, marketers are continuously looking for effective anti-counterfeiting methods. Developing and maintaining emotional brand attachment and brand involvement with consumers have become a strategic marketing endeavor of luxury brands. A significant question bearing both theoretical and practical implications, however, is whether emotional brand attachment or brand involvement is more apposite to warrant a luxury brand’s performance and to safeguard the original brand from counterfeits, which remains unanswered. To address this knowledge gap, a survey was conducted. On the basis of an empirical study, this paper reveals that emotional brand attachment is a more prominent influencer than brand involvement to escalate original brand patronage although the effect of brand involvement is also significant. However, while improved brand involvement pushes consumers to patronize counterfeits, higher emotional brand attachment does not result in increased counterfeit patronage. These effects do not vary as a function of previous experience of either originals or counterfeits. Findings of this research contribute to brand literature by presenting empirical evidence of distinct influence of emotional brand attachment over brand involvement, which represents significant practical implications in relation to strategic brand management and anti-counterfeiting strategies

An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship between Food Insecurity, Landlessness, and Violent Conflict in Pakistan

This study is an attempt to examine empirically the association between socio-economic measures of deprivation—such as food insecurity, landlessness, unemployment, and human under-development—and the incidence of violent conflict as measured by the number of violent attacks across districts in Pakistan. The study uses a linear probability model in which the dependent variable is defined on the basis of the presence or absence of violent attacks in a particular district. The results of the study indicate that in addition to the provincial-level fixed characteristics, landlessness and food insecurity are positively and robustly associated with the probability of violent attacks across districts in Pakistan. Quite contrary to the general impression held, the number of madrassahs (religious seminaries), employment rate, and literacy rate appear to be statistically irrelevant, on average, in terms of determining the probability of the presence of violent conflict across districts in Pakistan. While emphasising the need to collect better data on the intensity of violent conflict— to take into account both the incidence as well as the origin of violent attacks across districts in Pakistan—the study raises some important questions regarding the role of landlessness and food insecurity that need to be investigated further in future studies on socio-economic drivers of violent conflict in Pakistan.Violent Conflict, Militancy, Food Insecurity, Landlessness, Pakistan

A phenomenological exploration into the lived experience of fathers living with new mothers diagnosed as PND

Postnatal depression (PND) is a widely studied area of research but limited research can be found pertaining to partners of women suffering from postnatal depression. The current research aims to explore the lived experiences of the fathers and consider the impact that it has on all dimensions of their existence. For this purpose, van Manen’s approach based on hermeneutic phenomenology was utilized blended with Structural Existential Analysis (SEA) to uncover the deeper meaning and to develop a more nuanced understanding of their lived experience. The study was limited in terms of sample size and demography, and consisted of seven participants who were all White, British, first-time fathers, working full-time, falling within the 30-40 years of age with no access to familial support. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. The major findings of the study were grouped under eight universal themes, viz. Emotional roller-coaster, Suffering as a couple, Lack of support, Surviving the situation, Living with her PND, Personal challenges, Meeting expectations and Being with others. The findings showed the fathers being ill-equipped to deal with the situation because they were not aware of PND’s impacts and implications. Communicating with their partners effectively became impossible and the relationship of the partners started to suffer. It was found that sources of support were not easily identifiable or accessible by the fathers. The fathers ended up having to find their own personal ways of coping with the situation and their emotional as well as physical wellbeing came under immense pressure. The study has significant implications for both the healthcare practice and service provision to vulnerable individuals as well as for therapeutic work with clients in similar situations

Geography, Institutions and Human Development: A Cross-Country Investigation Using Bayesian Model Averaging

This paper examines the role of long standing institutions – identified through geography, disease ecology, colonial legacy, and some direct measures of political and economic governance – on human development and its non income components across countries. The study employs a novel econometric technique called the Bayesian Model Averaging that allows us to select the relevant predictors by experimenting with a host of competing sets of variables. It constructs estimates as weighted average of OLS estimates for every possible combination of included variables. This is particularly useful in situations when there is model uncertainty and theory provides only a weak guidance on the selection of appropriate predictors. Of the 25 variables that we tried, three stand out in terms of their degree of importance and their robustness across various specifications. These include malaria ecology, KKZ index of good governance and fertility rate. Our finding on the dominant and robust role of malaria ecology in explaining differences in human development across countries, even in the presence of variables that directly and indirectly measure the quality of institutions, is extremely fascinating. It shows that malaria ecology has a direct negative impact on human development and this effect appears to be over and above its effect via institutions. Some of the other measures of climate and geography as well as those of colonial legacy are important as long as we do not control for some direct measures of the performance of political and economic institutions such as the KKZ index of good governance and democracy score. Once we control for these and other conditioning variables such as public spending on health and education; fertility rates; and measures of health infrastructure, the importance of geography and colonial legacy disappears.Human development; geography; institutions; Bayesian Model Averaging