Educational Aspirations among First-Generation Students and their Parental Influence towards Pursuing Tertiary Education

AbstractThe purpose of this pilot study is to ascertain the level of educational aspiration among first-generation students and the extent of parental influence in the students’ aspirations to pursue tertiary education. A total 71 form four students responded to questionnaires containing aspiration scales and the role of parent's items. The results showed that the level of educational aspirations of first-generation students to pursue studies at higher education institutions is high. The study also showed that parents’ factors influence the first-generation students’ educational aspirations in pursuing tertiary education

The prevalence of stress among project manager at construction sites

As the business environment is increasingly subjected to fast changing forces which include increased competition, the pressure for quality and advanced technology, innovation, and an increase in the pace of doing business, the demands on managers have grown equally dramatically. It is therefore essential to develop strategies for managing stress to give managers the required additional energy to handle particularly difficult and stressful work situations. It is important that organizations provide the assistance and support on the issue of stress as part of their proactive approach to managing managers’ health and safety, by drawing up contingency plans, and to have the necessary infrastructure to deal with such problems. This study investigates the strategies that can be implemented in organizations to reduce stressful situations affecting managers. The main objectives of this study are to identify the source of stress for project manager at workplace, to explore the consequence of stress to the project manager at workplace and to examine the project manager coping ability from stress at workplace. The methodology of this study includes literature reviews, data collection and data analysis. Data was collected by questionnaire survey in Malaysia. The data was analyzed using the average index formula. From the study, some of the factors for source of stress are work environment, colleagues conflict, work cope ability and individualism. The consequences of stress are blood pressure, headache, unusual tiredness, work accident, work pressure, smoking, alcoholic drinks, memory loss and sick leave. Finally, some copying abilities of managers are teamwork, strategic relationship, work-life balances negotiation, exercise and refreshing

Work related stress among contractor management team at construction site

In Malaysia, issues related to occupational health especially in the construction industry was not commonly discussed but data in other countries had indicated major problems associated with occupational illness. Health problems due to stress can increase the cost of health and their impact to human, family, society and nation cannot be neglected. In the past, study on stress at the work was not comprehensive especially on the construction industry. Research for the stress at the work should be done more since it will provide vital information toward producing sustainable human resource that could contribute significantly to our country. The aim of the study is to examine the level and extent of work–related stress and the prevalence of health problem among contractor management team at construction sites. The study was conducted in the Johor Bahru district. Respondent involved were from contractor management team such as engineers, supervisors and project managers. The number of questionnaire forms sent was 50 sets and only 30 sets were replied by engineers, supervisors and project managers. The questionnaire data was analyzed using frequency analysis method and average index method. The findings show, about 30 percent respondent which is 9 person agree that within the past 12 months they suffered from some illness, disability or other physical or mental problem that was caused or made worse by job or work done in the past. Around 13% of those working in the sample construction site job roles currently experiencing stress, depression or anxiety which they feel was caused by or made worse by their job or work done in the past. Around 7% of the respondents found their job extremely stressful. The most stressful aspects of work for respondents were being responsible for the safety of others at work. Around 2.48 of the average index for the demand of job reported to be most critical level of stress

Peningkatan Produktivitas dan Kualitas Palm Sugar dari Nira Aren di Kecamatan Nokilalaki Kabupaten Sigi

The activities carried out in the group Tongoa Aren in the village of Tongoa and Mandiri Bulili in the village of Bulili of District Nokilalaki Sigi with the aim to increase were productivity and the quality of palm sugar from aren juice with the processing technology that can be applied to a group of business partners. The method used to achieve the goals and objectives are counseling, training and mentoring of aren juice processing technology in a controlled manner into palm sugar. The results showed that the target audience activity can be improved productivity and the quality of palm sugar from aren juice with the controlled processing technologies ranging from the preparation of materials and equipment, processing to the packaging. Prior to the program IbM 2015, a group of farmers aren cultivate aren juice into sugar printing sell Rp 12,500, - per kg, after following this program can produce palm sugar and sell it for Rp 30,000, - per kg, so that with the program IbM can increase the income and welfare of farmers aren mainly target farmers\u27 groups

Construction project manager ways to cope with stress at workplace

Health and safety issues at workplaces need to be addressed in ensuring the construction sector in our country is free from health and safety problems. Safety issues are often being trumpeted however health issues have been less emphasized even though these issues actually are more significant and could have large impact on the construction industry. Only a handful of workers know that health issues could result in various negative effects to themselves and organization. One of the health issues that can result in various problems is stress at workplace. Stress could result in various health problems and if being kept long enough it could cause death. Therefore, a study on workplace stress among the construction project manager was conducted to examine the ways they cope with the stress at workplace. The primary data had been collected from the questionnaire surveys on the project managers within the construction industry. The data then were analyzed using the percentage score, average index analysis and the diagram such as bar chart had been be used to visualize the results from the analysis. From the findings, many project managers thought stress at workplace exist, however this issue is being marginalized and only 30% of respondents acknowledged experience stress in their workplace. This problem existed in the Malaysian construction industry however lack of awareness on this issue has resulted in no action taken. Organizational factor was the main factor that causes these problems in our construction industry. Weakness in planning within organization was the sub factor that triggers the stress problem among project manager. Finally, the survey indicated that there were three ways often being practiced by the project manager to handle stress which were good planning in organization, effective communication between employee and always thinking positively

Safety climate among contractor organizations

Understanding the safety climate of a contractor organization with regard to safety and risk in the workplace will provide the overview of the current safety culture of that organization. The perceptions and attitudes of the workforce are important factors in assessing safety need to facilitate workplace safety improvement. Safety performance may fail if they do not take into account these current attitudes and perceptions. The aim of this study is to examine the factors and assessment of safety climate in contractor organizations. This study utilizes questionnaires survey to gauge employee attitudes and perceptions using several attitudes dimensions. The full employee attitude survey questionnaire were divided into two sections consists of 49 statements. The responses of this study were quiet encouraging with 60% participants responded. However, only 38 valid questionnaires sets were subject to analysis. The findings indicated that there are many factors and indicators of safety climate that had been found from the review of literature. There is no agreement on the number of factors required in the safety climate measurements, or which factors are the most effective. From the review of safety climate factors, the most frequently measured dimensions are related to management, safety systems and risk, followed by work pressure and competence and rules/procedures. On the assessment of the contractor safety climate, all the total average scores for each dimension are in level of satisfactory with score ranging from 6.48 to 8.04. Also all the safety climate dimensions show scores in the satisfactory values with score above six (6) for the system interfaces of the contractor organizations by safety climate matrix. Hence, those contractor organizations have the positive safety climate toward safety in their workplace

Achieving Logistics Performance in Military Environmental Dynamism: The Role of Organizational Capabilities

This study aims to understand the factors that influence the Malaysian Army logistics performance and the role of process capability. In addition, this study also attempts to examine the role of learning capability between the military environmental dynamism and process capability. It also attempt to include strategic logistics alliances on the relationship between the process capability and the Malaysian Army logistics performance. Since this study is also focusing on how organizational learning capability and process capability play a role in achieving logistics performance, a more comprehensive conceptual framework is required. This research therefore is expected to fill the research gap by developing a new theoretical conceptual model by tying up three theories including dynamic capability, organizational learning, and social exchange theories

Exploiting building information modeling throughout the whole lifecycle of construction projects

Over the past few years, construction industry has encountered numerous problems such as rework, design errors, accidents and building failure, time and economic losses, poor work efficiency, and low standard level of cooperation amongst team members of different sectors. As such, information communication technology (ICT) has been evolved to minimize all the aforementioned setbacks in the construction industry. In doing so, building information modeling (BIM) has been proposed to all construction members such as engineers, architects, contractors, and owners to take benefit from. Since BIM was emerged into the construction industry, it has received the attention of many researchers and practitioners. While there have been roughly numerous studies conducted on the benefits involved in the use of BIM, it is a unresolved point why there has not been a greater take up of exploiting BIM throughout the whole lifecycle of construction projects. Therefore, this paper is mainly aimed to examine the effectiveness of exploiting BIM throughout the three different phases of building’s lifecycle, including preconstruction, construction, and post construction in great details regarding the previous studies conducted in this field. The authors have concluded that utilization of BIM has several benefits in different stages of construction projects, including minimizing design error, reducing rework, increasing work efficiency and cooperation amongst team members, facilitating the process of delivery and procurement, and reusing the wastages of materials

The emerging of employment gap in the Malaysian construction industry

Employment of young people is a big issue in the Malaysian construction industry. This is a common phenomenon not only in Malaysia but affected most developed and developing countries around the world. Sufficient workers are needed to cater to the robustness of the construction sector and to sustain the productivity that will boost the development demand. However, young people had difficulties to find decent employment in this industry due to lack of experience and skills among young people and some employer are more likely to hire foreign workers. The aim of this study is to examine the emerging of skill gaps in the Malaysian construction industry. The methodology adapted for this study comprise of primary and secondary data collection. The primary data had been collected from the questionnaire surveys on the professional within the construction industry. The data then were analyzed using the percentage score and the diagram such as bar chart had been used to visualize the results from the analysis. While, secondary data collected through literature review to gather information and important views from previous studies. The findings reveal that the construction industry prefer more than 30 years old skilled workers. Eventhough, the jobs could be filled by young people, but somehow, some barriers such as high risk, low wages, hard work and availability of foreign workers had distracted the involvement of young people in the construction industry

Study the Sources of Work Related Stress Risk at Construction Sector of Afghanistan

This research was carried out to study the sources of work related Stress risk at the construction sector of Afghanistan. Stress risk is major problem not only in Afghanistan but also all over the world. It is important to ensure that workers can perform best, considering the highly competitive demands and competition of the construction industry. The objectives of this research are to study the sources of work related stress risk at the construction sector of Afghanistan. The methodology of this study includes data collection, and data analysis. Data was collected using questionnaire survey in Afghanistan through email from the construction industry professional such as project manager, site supervisor, project engineer, quantity surveyor, and architect. The data was analyzed using frequency analysis, the average index. To visualize the result, tables, figures like bar, and pie charts were used to clarify the results. The research revealed that the physical environment, the job itself, and the organization is the key factor for the source stress risk at construction industry of Afghanistan. Based on the analysis of likelihood and severity from eighteen fifteen were main sources were in the very high and high stress risk category for the factors such as workload, work pattern, and work environment.