Does Learning Organization Lead to a Better Performance?: A Study of a GLC in Malaysia

The Government-linked Companies (GLCs) transformation program is aimed to ensure its competency and competitiveness in achieving the nation’s Vision 2020. One of the factors that lead to higher performance is through the development of learning organization which provides continuous learning and improvement, directly linked to competitive advantage. Data collected from 150 employees of a telecommunication GLC in Malaysia revealed that three of learning organization dimensions namely; systems connection, strategic leadership and team learningwere positively related to organizational performance. This study is significant to GLCs top management and the Malaysian government in ensuring superior performance in a knowledge-driven economy.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia..Keywords: learning  organization, organizational performance

Job crafting, psychological capital and work engagement: an empirical evidence of a sustainable high-performance GLC / Norashikin Hussein and Nur Suhaila Amiruddin

Malaysian government-linked companies (GLCs) are expected to not only sustain their performance but also to contribute more on the long term business and societal value. Thus, in moving towards this direction, the organisation needs employees that are energetic and have a secure positive connection to their job. This study aims to determine job and individual-related factors that influence an individual work engagement. Specifically, this study aims at determining the (1) relationship between job crafting and work engagement; (2) relationship between psychological capital and work engagement. Data were collected from 201 executives level employees of a high-performance GLC in Malaysia. The findings revealed that employees need to have self-efficacy and optimism in order to be engaged in their work. Additionally, social job resources such as feedback and support are also found to be crucial to create high work engagement workforce. This study is significant to the top management, human resource practitioners, managers and supervisors in the understanding job and individual factors that would lead to work engagement. This input is also beneficial in designing jobs and creating programs that would lead to high work engagement among employees

Role Overload, Self- Efficacy, Locus of Control and Job Performance among Employees of a Printing Company in Malaysia

Abstract: Job performance becomes the most commonly discussed issue in the recent years even though many research have been conducted. As the employee is the most important asset for an organization, various factors influencing the employee performance need to be ascertained. For companies that offer services to customers, their employees’ job performance could impact the loyalty of the customers and longevity of the business. However, constant dealing with high and various consumer demands, employees of printing company could easily be stressful hence requiring them to control their emotions. Therefore this study investigated the effects of role overload, self-efficacy, and locus of control towards employee job performance. A total of 67 employees of a small printing company located in Klang Valley, Malaysia had participated in the survey of this descriptive and correlational study. The results indicated that there was a strong positive relationship between self-efficacy and job performance, the meanwhile locus of control had a moderate positive relationship with job performance. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by validating the positive association of both self-efficacy and locus of control with employee job performance. The practitioners could also make reference to this study in order to properly manage the performance of their employees

Relationship study of transformational leadership and psychological empowerment on employees job satisfaction / Norashikin Hussein, Maimunah Mohd Shah and Nasuha Bhasah.

This study aims to determine the relationship between transformational leadership (TL) and psychological empowerment (PE) towards job satisfaction (JS) among employees in an electric company. Both TL and PE are important factors in determining job satisfaction. TL is a stimulating and engaging relationship between leaders and followers. It is adapted to enhance employees’ job satisfaction. While, PE is related to employees’ performances, attitudes and various work behaviors. Data were collected using questionnaires and were analyzed using SPSS. Random sampling technique was applied in the distribution of the questionnaire. 125 cases were analyzed and findings were interpreted accordingly. The results reveal that only one dimension of transformational leadership (i.e., intellectual stimulation) and one psychological empowerment dimension (ie.,meaning) are significantly related to job satisfaction. Further discussion on the results are shared in this paper

Controlled Release Compound Based on Metanilate-Layered Double Hydroxide Nanohybrid

Metanilate-layered double hydroxide nanohybrid compound was synthesized for controlled release purposes through co-precipitation method of the metal cations and organic anion. The effect of various divalent metal cations (M2+), namely Zn2+, Mg2+ and Ca2+ on the formation of metanilate-LDH nanohybrids, in which metanilate anion was intercalated into three different layered double hydroxide (LDH) systems; Zn-Al, Mg-Al and Ca-Al were investigated. The syntheses were carried out with M2+ to Al3+ initial molar ratio, R of 4. The pH of the mother liquor was maintained at pH 7.5 and 10 during the synthesis, and the resulting mixture was aged at around 70 °C for about 18 h. The intercalation of metanilate anion into the host was found to be strongly influenced by the M2+ that formed the inorganic metal hydroxide layers. Under our experimental condition, the formation of the nanohybrid materials was found to be more feasible for the Zn-Al than for the other two systems, in which the former showed well-ordered layered organic-inorganic nanohybrid structure with good crystallinity. Intercalation is confirmed by the expansion of the interlayer spacing to about 15-17 Å when metanilate was introduced into the interlamellae of Zn-Al LDHs. In addition, CHNS and FTIR analyses also support that metanilate anion has been successfully intercalated into the interlamellae of the inorganic LDH. Apart from M2+, this study also shows that the initial pH of the mother liquor plays an important role in determining the physicochemical properties of the resulting nanohybrids, especially the mole fraction of the Zn2+ substituted by the Al3+ ion in the LDH inorganic sheets which in turn controlled the loading percentage of the organic anion, surface properties and the true density. Preliminary study shows that LDH can be used to host beneficial guests, active agent with controlled release capability of the guests. Generally the overall process is governed by pseudo second order kinetic but for the first 180 min, the release process can be slightly better described by parabolic diffusion than the other models

Learning Organization and Work Engagement: An Empirical Evidence of a Higher Learning Institution in Malaysia

Rapidly changing business environment requires organization to gain competitive advantage in order to survive. As people is known to be the most valuable assets to an organization, having employees that are actively engaged in their work can positively leads to higher performance and subsequently contribute to the success of the organization. One of the factors that would lead to work engagement among employees is through the learning organization concept which provides continuous learning and improvement, directly linked to an employee daily work and development. Despite its importance, seldom has it been reported in the literature that this paradigm has been examined. Therefore, this study attempts to determine: (i) the level of work engagement among employees; and (ii) the relationship between learning organization dimension and work engagement. Data collected from 150 employees of an institution of higher education revealed that work engagement among employees is at high level. Only four learning organization dimensions namely, empowerment, embedded system, environmental connection and strategic leadership were found to have positive and significant relationships with work engagement. The implications and consequences of the study findings for higher learning institutions are further discussed

Objective assessment of vitiligo with a computerised digital imaging analysis system

An objective tool to quantify treatment response in vitiligo is currently lacking. This study aimed to objectively evaluate the treatment response in vitiligo by using a computerised digital imaging analysis system (C-DIAS) and to compare it with the physician's global assessment (PGA). Tacrolimus ointment 0.1% (Protopic; Astellas Pharma Tech,Toyama, Japan) was applied twice daily on selected lesions which were photographed every 6 weeks for 24 weeks. The primary efficacy end-point was the mean percentage of repigmentation (MPR), as assessed by the digital method (MPR-C-DIAS) or by the PGA. The response was categorised into none (0%), mild (1–25%), moderate (26–50%), good (51–75%) and excellent (76–100%). MPR-C-DIAS: Out of 56 patients, 44 (79%) responded. Overall, the response was mild in 22 (39%), moderate in 21(40%) and good in one (2%) patient(s). A total of 39 (70%) patients responded as measured by PGA. The repigmentation was mild in 27(48%), moderate in 10 (18%) and good to excellent in two (4%) patients. The κ test of consistency was 0.17 (P = 0.053), which shows poor agreement between the two assessment methods, although this is not statistically significant. The C-DIAS can be used to perform an objective analysis of repigmentation or depigmentation in vitiligo skin lesions in response to treatment

Computerised image analysis of vitiligo lesion: evaluation using manually defined lesion areas

Background: Vitiligo is a cutaneous pigmentary disorder characterized by depigmented macules and patches that result from loss of epidermal melanocytes. Physician evaluates the efficacy of treatment by comparing the extent of vitiligo lesions before and after treatment based on the overall visual impression of the treatment response. This method is called the physician's global assessment (PGA) which is subjective. In this article, we present an innovative digital image processing method to determine vitiligo lesion area in an objective manner. Method: The digital method uses Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to generate melanin-based images representing skin areas due to melanin followed by Region Growing process to segment vitiligo lesion from normal skin. Results: Based on 41 digital images of vitiligo lesions taken from 18 patients, the proposed method achieved sensitivities of 0.9105 ± 0.0161, specificities of 0.9973 ± 0.0009 and accuracies of 0.9901 ± 0.0028 at 95% confidence level. Conclusion: With the proposed method, physicians are able to assess vitiligo treatment efficacies objectively

Plagiarism: An Empirical Evidence of Business Students

As the education world places countless emphasis on achievement and success, the issue of academic dishonesty particularly involving plagiarism has reached prevalent extents especially in the institutions of higher learning. Since this contemporary problem in higher education requires very urgent attention to curb, various factors were assessed for their influence on students’ degree of plagiarism act. Therefore, this paper focuses on the extent of the business students’ self-perceived plagiarism and factors contributing to the act.  A total of 152 questionnaires were collected from final year students of four business degree programs in one of a public university in Malaysia. Findings revealed that negative attitude, followed by competence lacking were the major contributors of self-perceived plagiarism. Discussion and significance of the study are further discussed.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: academic dishonesty, self-perceived plagiaris

Treatment response of port-wine stain to 585-nm pulsed dye laser: a 5-year retrospective review

Background: The treatment of port-wine stains (PWS) with the pulsed dye laser (PDL) is well established in patients with lighter skin phototypes with few complications. Evidence is emerging that PDL also produces favourable outcome in patients with darker skin types. This review aimed to evaluate the efficacy of flashlamp-pumped PDL for PWS in our centre and to assess the complications of treatment. Patients and Methods: A retrospective review of 36 patients with PWS treated with PDL (585-nm, 450 microseconds pulse width, Candela Sptl-1b) at the Department of Dermatology, Hospital Kuala Lumpur over a five-year period from 2003 to 2007 was undertaken. All patients (28 females, 8 males; 25 Chinese, 10 Malays and 1 Indian) were of Fitzpatrick skin types IV (30/36) and V (6/36) with ages ranged from 1 to 59 years (mean 18.9 years). The site of lesion was mainly facial (34/36) with colour varying from red (24/36) to pink (4/36), dark purple (1/36) and mixed (7/36). Response was graded as 0-25% = nil to minimal lightening; 26-50% = moderate lightening; 51-75% = marked lightening; 76-100% = excellent based on the last treatment visit. Results: The number of sessions ranged from 2 to 16 over 4 to 52 months (mean 5.9 months). The average treatment interval was 4.6 months (range, 1 to 13 months). In a total of 213 sessions, minimal lightening was observed in 19(53%) patients after a mean of 4.2 sessions, moderate lightening in 8(22%) patients after a mean of 8.1 sessions, marked lightening in 3(8%) patients after a mean of 6 sessions and excellent in 6(17%) patients after a mean of 6.8 sessions. No patient showed complete clearance. 1 patient developed both textural change and scarring. Conclusion: The flashlamp-pumped PDL is a useful and safe treatment modality for PWS in Asian patients of darker skin phototypes