A Divergent View of the Impact of Digital Transformation on Academic Organizational and Spending Efficiency: A Review and Analytical Study on a University E-Service

With the aim of achieving a global ranking and academic distinction, a large number of universities have decided to focus on competition and greater academic quality on a global scale. During the course of such a journey, universities have to face numerous challenges, including the enhancement of organizational efficiency. In the context of organizational efficiency, the most significant pillar supporting this drive is recognized as being digital transformation. It is widely accepted that digital transformation allows electronic systems to be used in the process of teaching and learning. These electronic systems (e-services) enhance universities’ operational efficiency. Keeping this in mind, this research paper aims to analyze the impact of digital transformation on the organizational and spending efficiency of universities, with a special focus on one particular e-service provided by the Saudi University. For this, the study examines the effort made by the government to spread the culture of rationalization and improve the efficiency of spending through a case study involving a statistical analysis of real data from an electronic system. The results of the study state that an increase in the number of subject withdrawals will weaken the spending and organizational efficiency of the University.

Nurses Who Assume the Role of Advocate for Older Hospitalized Patients: A Qualitative Study

Introduction Patient advocacy, acting on behalf of patients’ unmet needs, is fundamental to nursing, and the perception of the need for advocacy motivated this study. Nurses experience moral discomfort, which results from a divergent view regarding medical or caregivers’ decisions about patients’ clinical proceedings, in which patients’ involvement in making those decisions is either doubtful or absent. Objectives The aim of this study is to assess the need for advocacy and explore the perspectives of nurses engaged in the care of older patients. Methods The methodological orientation is that of a qualitative design, by using a purposive and criterion sampling. The sample was of 14 nurses of a ward of general medicine. Focus group as collecting data tool was used, followed by a thematic analysis. Results Nurses demonstrated a high level of moral sensitivity to ethical problems in clinical practice and on occasions, the courage to bring the problem to the physicians or patients’ family’s attention, or help patients develop self-determination. However, it is difficult to advocate because of insufficient communication between professionals, insufficient knowledge of ethics, and the emotional burden it places on nurses which results in emotional resignation in the face of interprofessional teams’ lack of consideration of nurses’ opinions. Conclusion This research highlighted nurses’ need for advocacy to promote patients’ rights, wishes, and values. It is essential for nurses to be aware of their level of moral sensitivity and develop a strategy to regain courage to engage in advocacy. Therefore, ethics education and interprofessional ethical leadership is desired, which inspires healthcare professionals’ work and allows the foundations of an ethical decisionmaking process to be laid through patients and their families’ active involvement.

Bribery and the Informal Economy in Proverbs

In most cases, the Hebrew Bible unequivocally condemns the use of a bribe-gift (שחד ,מתן), declaring such an economic transaction as contradictory to the ways of YHWH. But three verses in Proverbs (17:8; 18:16; 21:14) advocate for a morally positive outlook in the usage of such gifts. Commentators account for this divergent view of bribery through a variety of creative solutions, though none of these explanations align with the most straightforward reading of the text to encourage bribery. Through the lens of economic anthropology, this paper suggests that the moral endorsement of the bribe-gift is a direct result of the development of a local informal economy. The economy of Yehud centered on redistribution, creating robust informal networks. Within redistributive economies, social scientific studies suggest that the bribe can broaden access. As a result, these three verses in Proverbs challenge older understandings of bribes in light of a new economic reality.

The Difference Between Ghana Cocoa Farmers’ Personal Profile on their Financial Sustainability

Introduction: In pursuing their enterprises, cocoa farmers now need financial sustainability. This research focuses on financial sustainability because it is linked to the accessibility of agricultural funding and the effect on society for current and future generations in order to guarantee a sustainable livelihood. This study considers the personal profiles of cocoa farmers, which are sex, education level, number of dependents, and farm sizes. The cocoa farmers profile has a divergent view on their financial sustainability. The study is quantitative research and correlational design research. The sample population of 1,000 Cocoa farmers was conveniently sampled from the six cocoa-growing regions of Ghana as respondents. Method: The study used self-constructed questionnaires to measure financial sustainability, which had sub-variables of financial viability, financial self-sufficiency, and financial impact. The statistical analysis for the differences was computed by using SPSS 23 with T’Test and ANOVA. Result: The results of the study revealed that there was no significant difference in a number of dependents and educational level of cocoa farmers on their financial sustainability. Also, farm size and sex proofed to have a significant difference in the financial sustainability of the cocoa farmer. Large farm size indicated a major difference in financial sustainability as compared to small farm size. Male cocoa farmers were better than the female cocoa farmers on their financial sustainability.The dominance of males in cocoa farming in Ghana makes them consider the financial sustainability of the cocoa farming venture more than females. This is because they are mainly supporting the livelihood of their families. Farm Size as a determinant of financial sustainability is evident by the yield larger farm size can give a cocoa farmer. Discussion: The study recommends that in order to attain financial sustainability for the cocoa farmer, the farm size and sex must be considered.

Voices of Dissent: Preaching and Negotiating Authority

This chapter discusses the attempts of the late Byzantine churchmen to formulate a parallel and divergent view over the idea of imperial authority. In their concerted efforts to construct a coherent programme of action, the churchmen saw themselves both as defenders of social fairness and as promoters of an Orthodox spirituality which they deemed to be core connected aspects in defining Byzantine identity. The evidence presented here also suggests that they avoided showing allegiance to imperial policies. Instead, what they valued in the imperial persona was rather the cultural and spiritual aspects. While, naturally, the church continued to claim authority in the spiritual sphere, it also increasingly asserted the links between religious reform and social changes.

Graduate employees’ generic skills and training needs

Purpose As a response to technological changes, globalization, sector reforms and changes in output demand, there is an increased demand for generic skills in the workplace. The purpose of this paper is to investigate through perceptions of graduate employees and their employers on the extent to which university education in Nigeria is responding to the increased skills requirements of employers. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected by the use of two sets of questionnaires and purposive sampling technique was adopted for sample selection. Past surveys of employers on skills requirements in Nigeria were used as a reference in the selection of the 11 generic skills used in the instrument. Data were analysed using simple percentages, descriptive statistics and χ2. Findings All the listed generic skills are regarded as important by graduate employers. The employed university graduates believed that in terms of generic skills, they were not adequately prepared to meet the requirements of their jobs. Moreover, employers believed that their graduate employees would require further training to a large extent to perform satisfactorily in their jobs. Originality/value Taking a divergent view, the study has established the perceptions of employed university graduates themselves on the extent to which university education has prepared them in meeting the skills requirements of their jobs. Furthermore, apart from confirming the extent of further training required, the study empirically affirms the relative training needs of graduates from different fields of study.

Krise, kritik og samtidsdiagnostik

Det er i dag blevet populært blandt sociologer at omtale det, de laver, som “samtidsdiagnoser“. En diagnostisk selvbevidsthed har tilsyneladende afløst tidligere tiders kritiske bevidsthed, og parallelt hermed taler man i dag hellere om “sociale patologier“ end om “kriser“. Sociologer tager dog sjældent de teoretiske, analytiske og retoriske implikationer af diagnoseperspektivet alvorligt. Af samme grund bemærker man heller ikke farerne ved en ureflekteret og metaforisk omgang med diagnose-termen, f.eks. den at man uforvarende kommer til at forskrive sig til den medicinske diskurs’ dualismer (sund-syg, normal-patologisk). I takt hermed ignorerer man imidlertid som oftest diagnosekategoriens ikke-medicinske og specifikt tidsdiagnostiske og samtidskritiske potentialer. Artiklen belyser i et etymologisk og idéhistorisk perspektiv forholdet mellem krise, kritik og diagnostik. Tesen er, at det etymologiske og idehistoriske forhold mellem krise, kritik og diagnostik kan bruges til at skandere forskelle og ligheder mellem aktuelle typer af kritik og samtidsdiagnostik. I dette øjemed præsenteres og kontrasteres tre nyere former for samtidsdiagnostik, nemlig fornyelsen af den Kritiske Teori fra Habermas til Honneth, Foucaults historisk-genealogiske form for kritik og samtidsdiagnostik, samt den form for socialanalytisk samtidsdiagnostik, der herhjemme er udviklet af filosoffen Lars-Henrik Schmidt i kølvandet på Marx, Nietzsche, Freud og Foucault. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Jens Erik Kristensen: Crisis, Critic and Social Diagnosis In certain currents of contemporary sociology today, the expression “critical“ has been dropped in favour of the expression “diagnostics“ – and the concept of “crisis“ has almost disappeared. It has become popular and more or less self-evident for sociologists to characterize what they are doing as “a diagnosis of the contemporary time“, particularly when they examine social trends and tendencies. However, most sociologists fail to appreciate the interpretive, evaluative, judgmental and, hence, “critical“ moments and potential of the category of diagnosis. They don’t take the theoretical, analytical and rhetorical implications of the diagnostic perspective seriously and, therefore, don’t notice the dangers of an unreflective metaphorical use of the term diagnosis. Therefore they inadvertently subscribe to the dualisms of medical discourse (normal-pathological) and to the associated concepts of medical diagnosis (diagnosis-prognosis-therapy). As a result, they describe social phenomena and tendencies as “pathological“, and inadvertently contribute to a promotion and idealization of medicinal discourse. In order to clarify these questions and categorical shifts, the first part of the article develops the etymological and historical relationship between crisis, critique and diagnostics. The etymological and historical relationship between these three words are used in the second part of the article to scan differences and similarities between three current forms of criticism and types of diagnoses of the times, each with their divergent view and emphasis on “crisis“, “critique“ and “diagnosis“ and the relationship between them: the rejuvenation of Critical Theory in the direction of social philosophy and a diagnosis of the times from Habermas to Honneth; the historical-genealogical forms of critique and diagnoses of the times in Foucault, and finally, the form of social analytic diagnosis of contemporary times which has been developed in Denmark by the philosopher Lars-Henrik Schmidt in the wake of Marx, Nietzsche, Freud and Foucault. Key words: Diagnosis of contemporary times, critic, crisis, history of philosophy, tendency, social analytic.