Pragmatic Impact of Loyalty on Deviant Workplace Behavior among Banking Sector Employees

The aim of this research is to present findings of an integrative literature review related to employee loyalty and Deviant Workplace Behavior. The data was collected by a questionnaire called Swat Loyalty Scale and adapted scale of Deviant Workplace Behavior. The population of the study was all the employees working in commercial banks situated in Mingaora, district Swat. The data was randomly collected from a sample of 129 employees working at different level of Management. The data was analyzed through correlation and regression analysis. The result reveals widespread support of negative relationship between Loyalty and Deviant Workplace Behavior (r = .595, β = -.772, t = -17.67, p < 0.005). This study suggests that organization should device the policies to nurture the loyalty of employees in order to eradicated Deviant Workplace Behavior

Ex-situ Management Study of Some High Value Medicinal Plant Species in Swat, Pakistan

researchAn ex-situ experiment was conducted to evaluate the growth performance of six medicinal species (Aconitum laeve Royle, Bunium persicum B. Fedtsch., Saussurea costus (Falc.) Lipsch., Podophyllum hexandrum Royle, Delphinium roylei Munz and Hypericum perforatum L.) from upper Swat, Pakistan. Experiments were conducted at four different locations in the upper Swat valley at altitudes ranging from 1200 to 1900 m.a.s.l. The objectives were; 1) to determine the suitability of ex-situ cultivation of different medicinal species, and; 2) to assess the economic feasibility of growing medicinal plants in the area. A highest mean survival of 80.7% across all locations was observed for H. perforatum followed by 58.7% for B. persicum. The remaining four species exhibited very poor survival rates, although D. roylei, did show encouraging signs of growth and flowered, before experiencing high mortality rates late in the trial. Altitude generally seemed to enhance the degree of sprouting for all species except H. perforatum. However, the productive yield of H. perforatum was certainly not reduced, but rather slightly enhanced in the higher altitude sites. Overall, cultivation of only two of the investigated species, B. persicum and H. perforatum, appeared successful and potentially economically viable under farmland conditions at upper Swat

High Involvement Management Practices and Employees’ OCBs in Banking Sector of Pakistan

This study was designed to evaluate the impact of high involvement HRM practices (HIHRP) on employees’ organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) in the context of banking sector of Pakistan. OCBs is considered as an important construct to evaluate the contextual performance of employees. In case of banking sector professionals, it is a highly desired behavior and top management has a greater interest in evaluating contextual performance in addition to the task performance of employees. This study differentiates itself from previous studies by focusing on HIHRP rather than traditional HRM practices. The data was collected from 396 officers working in top six private sector commercial banks of Pakistan. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data and all responses were recorded on Likert scale. The data was analyzed through correlation and regression analysis and demographic characteristics of the employees were also presented through descriptive statistical techniques. The results show that different types of HIHRP positively influences employees’ OCBs. This study has both theoretical and managerial contributions by empirically examining the relationship between high involvement HRM practices and OCBs in the context of banking sector of Pakistan. The results of this study will help the researchers to better understand the relationship between HRM practices employees’ positive behavioral outcomes like OCBs. In addition, it will also guide the decision makers in adjusting HRM practices to achieve desired behaviors

Ethnobotanical and Economic Observations of Some Plant Resources from the Northern Parts of Pakistan

researchA study on the economic value of plants being extracted from a coniferous forest of the Miandam valley of District Swat was conducted during Spring and Summer 2008. The aim of the study was to identify non-timber forest product plants being used from the target area, to identify the trade network that they are sold into, and to evaluate their value as they move within that network in order to make recommendations for socio-economic development of the area. Information was learned through semi-structured questionnaires and participatory interviews with resource uses and traders. 214 species in 79 families were identified as being useful in traditional livelihood. Of these, 150 were herbs, 36 trees, 26 shrubs and 4 climbers. Plant species are locally used as medicinal (115), multipurpose (35), fodder (31), fuel (30), vegetables (12), tools (12), timber (9), poisons (7), roof thatch (7), wild fruits (6), fences/ hedges (5), veterinary (5), mud supporter (5), foods (4), spices/condiments (4), religious (4), honey bee (3), brooms (3), and evil repellent (1). Twenty out of 115 medicinal species are collected to sell. The gatherers have very little marketing skills and are often not aware of the high market value. As a result, most of collected materials are sold to local middlemen at low prices. The study revealed that the availability of important medicinal and aromatic plant species is decreasing and the number of rare and threatened species among the medicinal and aromatic plants is increasing. Further study is, therefore, required to quantify the availability of species and to suggest suitable method for their production and conservation. Recommendations are, therefore, given in the spheres of training in identification, sustainable collection, value addition, trade monitoring and cooperative system of marketing

Major Barriers to Manufacturing SMEs Growth and Survival: Evidence From Emerging Economy Pakistan

SMEs play a tremendous role in increased national economic development and consider the backbone of the economy around the world. It contributes a great share in the GDP of Pakistan and a huge number of the workforce involved. However, despite such great importance, the SMEs growth in Pakistan face numerous challenges for access to financial resources, market information, and procurement contract. Hence the main aim behind this study is to investigate the influence of these barriers on manufacturing SMEs' growth and survival. A structured questionnaire was distributed among 172 managerial level employees of manufacturing SMEs to explore the influence of financial resources, market information, and procurement contract on the growth of SMEs by incorporating the Structural Equation Model (SEM). The study shows that the lack of access to financial resources, market information, and procurement contract negatively influence the growth and survival of SMEs. Therefore, it needs a certain action to eliminate such barriers for SMEs' sustainable growth and survival. This study suggestion will help to contribute to policymakers and industry players to overcome such barriers.&nbsp

Evaluating On-The-Job Training Effect on Employees’ Satisfaction the SMEs Sector of Malakand Division, Pakistan

Employee satisfaction is the key element for the success and failure of an organization. On-the-job training practices significantly increase the employee satisfaction. Thus, it essential for Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to seek and improve the employee satisfaction to gain competitive edge and market survival. Hence in this backdrop the purpose of study is to investigate on-the-job training effect on the employee satisfaction at SMEs in Malakand Division of Pakistan. The data was collected from 623 employees of SMEs to empirically explore the relationships between on-the-job training and employee satisfaction by incorporating the Pearson correlation and Regression. The results shows that the dimension of on-the-job training such as a) Mentorship b) Apprenticeship and c) Job rotation of duty positively influence the employee’s satisfaction

Protein Profiling of Indegnous Common Bean Through SDS-PAGE

This activity was aimed to investigate the proteomic diversity of common bean landraces collected fromthe different ecological zones of Malakand division, KP, Pakistan. The genetic diversity was assessedthrough seed storage protein profile using SDS-PAGE of 117 landraces collected from differentecological zones of Malakand division, KP, Pakistan. The protein summaries were confirmed via SDSPAGE. The electrophoregram produced ten bands ranging from 180 to 10 kDa with Molecular WeightMarker. The electrophoregram exhibited two zones RI and RII. The R-I, contained six bands ranging insize from 180 to 34kDa and RII is comprised of 4 bands ranging in size from 33 to 10kDa.The averageGenetic Index for R-I was 17%, while for R-II, it was 27%. Among all bands, B-4 and B-5 was found tohave the greatest genetic diversity (90.59% and 88.88%, respectively). The dendrogram based on R-Iand R-II zones sorted all the landmarks into 13 and 10 clusters respectively, showed high level of GDwithin 117 landraces. High degree of Variation in protein band profile and multiple clustering validate thatin future Pakistani bean landraces will provide an abundant chance for obtaining genetically strong andstable genotype with high valued production to breeders.&nbsp;</p