Exploratory Study on User Satisfaction of E-HRM

With the high demands to provide service quality, growing workforce, and globalization of economy, HR has transformed into an inevitable power of technology that transforms HRM into electronic human resource management (E-HRM) systems. Brunei Darussalam without exception is also practicing E-HRM in the government sector called government employee management system (GEMS). This chapter investigates the user satisfaction of E-HRM by examining the current status of GEMS in Brunei Darussalam. The user satisfaction was studied through seven elements: the implementation of E-HRM, training, user-friendliness, infrastructure, data security, technical support, and user support. Qualitative interview and descriptive quantitative method were conducted on HR officers from the public organization. Findings revealed that the GEMS are not able to provide satisfactory system. This chapter has developed a theoretical framework as a recommendation to integrate relevant elements, together with the influence of age, gender, and years of service that impact user satisfaction.

Legal Framework on the Implementation of the Human Resource Management Reforms in the Philippines After the Marcos Era Up to the Duterte Administration

This study is aimed at filling the gap and will discuss the overview of both the legal reform processes happening in the public sector of the Philippine government and of recent developments and challenges initiated by the Civil Service Commission of the Philippine government as its Central Personnel Agency. This chapter will cover the years commencing 1986 up to the present dispensation of the Duterte administration where the primary goal is to study and suggest the approaches to reforming the Civil Service system and its decision-making process. It also outlines the discourses on the reform of public service among educators and public officials in the Philippines. Then, it elaborates on the laws and institutional measures introduced for an effective public personnel administration system in the country. A documentary analysis on the successful practices of public personnel administration will be used to evolve on the possible steps/strategies to further enhance the delivery of personnel services of the government sector workforce in the Philippines.

A Comparative Study on Symmetric and Asymmetric Key Encryption Techniques

With the rise in use of internet in various fields like education, military, government sector, banking, the security and privacy of the info has been the foremost concern. As in today's era, most of the handling of data and transactions are done online. When the data is transferred from the one end of sender to the other end of receiver online, it's eavesdropped by an intruder and thus could be a threat to the secrecy or confidentiality of the info. The hottest technique that protects the confidentiality of the data is cryptography which converts the plain text into scrambled form which is unreadable. Then the receiver applies a reverse mechanism to decrypt the unreadable data to readable form. This mechanism is known as encryption-decryption process or cryptography. Cryptography can be both symmetric and asymmetric. Here the authors discuss symmetric and asymmetric algorithms.

FTS: File Tracking System for Railway Board

The aim of this paper proposes a project based implementation File Tracking System (FTS) used in private and mostly in government sector. This project is built on Railway System using three tier architecture. This application is used to prevent corruption. There are a large number of departments in the Railway Department where file transfer is done from one department to another. The number of files moving within the specific time duration, file allocated to any employee and whether the file has been forwarded or not. Sometimes if someone has to do corruption then they does not send that file forward, seeing all this problem we have developed File Tracking System (FTS), which track the movements of the file within the organization. This application will keep track the movement of files from one desk to another inside the department.

Prospects for architects in the Government Sector

Purpose: With the conception of one’s professional life, it is essential to understand all the possibilities and opportunities that lie before them. In the case of architecture, there exists a bias towards the private sector where newly graduate students aspire to work in private practices and possibly even envision a practice of their own at a certain point in life. While there is nothing wrong with envisioning a future in the private sector, it is also essential to be aware about the public sector and understand the opportunities it provides to be able to make an informed decision. There is a preconceived notion about the monotonous nature of government jobs and a lack of awareness about students about the opportunities in this sector. Hence, it becomes crucial to understand the numerous opportunities this sector has to offer and thus, explore the potential of architects in government organizations. Methodology: The research for this paper has been done by referring to existing literature and interviews with concerned people. With an understanding of how and why is the government sector an essential area of research for budding architects and planners. The research was done through interviews and possible case studies was done based on review of existing literature. Main Findings: The government is one sector with tremendous possibilities in the realm of architecture but is often plagued with stereotypes and preconceptions which have emerged over the years. It is imagined to be “lazy”, “uninnovative” and “non-productive” but this sector has evolved over the recent years and is now shaping to be one of the more lucrative sectors for practice. The number of perks, benefits and a clear comparative advantage of a higher salary, added with the direct contribution towards serving the nation, the government sector clearly has an unrealised potential for architectural professionals. Implications: With younger architetcs having preconceived notions about role of architetcs in a government sector limited to unexciting set of designs without creativity, this article may help bring a fresh thought process to choose professional sector wisely.

Fiscal Decentralisation of Services: The Case of the Local Public Sector in European Countries

Services are a dynamically developing economic sector in all countries. The paper focuses on public services, evaluated from the perspective of fiscal decentralization. It aims to evaluate the level of fiscal decentralization of expenditures in selected categories of public services in European countries. For this purpose, government expenditures by the local government sector are analyzed in the set of the selected 28 European countries in the period 2010-2018. Cluster analysis has been carried out in order to determine four clusters of countries based on their level of decentralization of expenditures on services. The results show differences in the extent of decentralization between the European countries in the provision of specific public services and reflect the form of financing of local public needs. A low level of fiscal decentralization of expenditures on services (public order and safety; housing and community amenities; recreation, culture, and religion) was observed in the majority of the countries. However, the majority of the countries failed to prove a high level of fiscal decentralization of expenditures on services (social protection, health, education) and a medium level of decentralization of expenditures in terms of general public services and services of economic affairs. These findings demonstrate that the degree of decentralization of public services is determined, to a certain degree, determined by country history and its geographical location, as well as by the different roles of sector-specific public policies. The findings can be helpful for creators of local public policies, strategic plans, and financial concepts.

Evaluation of real time PCR for the detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in faecal samples of cattle

The efficiency and suitability of a MAP F57 based SYBR Green qPCR assay for the detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) using a set of known MAP positive (12) and MAP negative (23) DNA samples that were previously identified by conventional IS 900 PCR were assessed. These DNA samples were isolated in our previous study from faecal samples collected from cattle in the livestock farms under government sector with a previous history of Johne’s disease. The MAP F57 qPCR was able to identify all the positive samples accurately and rapidly with Cq values ranging from 20-29. The efficiency of qPCR using recombinant plasmid for standard curve was 0.991 and limit of detection was 10 MAP organisms per microlitre of DNA sample.

Quality of Communication Process between Cancer Patients and Doctors

Background: Communication between cancer patients and healthcare providers plays a vital role towards providing quality of life for cancer patients. However, it remains as a debatable issue in the society. This study discovered that the communication in cancer care are affected by socio-demographic characteristics of cancer patients. Objectives: To determine the quality of communication (QOC) between cancer patients and doctors, and its associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed at a teaching hospital, with 600 cancer patients in the oncology clinic and admited to oncology ward as participants. Results: The mean score for the overall doctor’s QOC was 8.23 ± 0.74. This indicated that the level of Doctor Communication was close to very good communication. The following factors contribute remarkably on the scores of quality of communication with doctors; aged 71 years old and above (β = 6.27, p<0.001), secondary school qualification holder (β = 1.99, p<0.001.), diploma and degree holder (β =4.14, p<0.001. ), government sector employees (β = 14.85 p<0.001.), private sector, factory or estate employees, and self-employed (β = 10.31 p<0.001), had been diagnosed for over a year (β = 7.07, p<0.001), no monthly income (β = 12.25, p<0.001), and do not stay with family (β = 2.51, p<0.003). Conclusions: Study found that socio-demographic factors including age, level of education,employment status, working sector, illness duration and income of cancer patients can affect the communication, and most of the time, negatively. This issue should be taken seriously for the improvement of the care of cancer patients.

Firm-level Inefficiency in Post-transition Economies

Firms in post-transition economies are frequently considered less efficient than those in more advanced market economies. By relying on the World Bank Enterprise Survey for the year 2019, firm-level technical inefficiency is estimated by the stochastic frontier analysis method for a sample of European post-transition countries. To be precise, the analysis included Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, North Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, and Slovenia. Furthermore, the factors contributing to the firm-level inefficiency are explored in a comparative setting. The effects of the international orientation of the firm, foreign ownership, doing business with the government sector, presence of informal competitors, innovation activity, manager experience, and the age of the firm on the technical inefficiency are estimated. Results show that although some factors are common to a subsample of countries, not a single factor is significant in all the analysed economies. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Human governance a pathway to integrity in counteracting corruption

Purpose Corruption is a global phenomenon. The 2016 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Report and the 2019 Malaysia National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) Report stated that the government sector most prone to corruption is procurement. The purpose of this study is to explore what drives the government procurement practitioners to commit corruption or uphold integrity. The novelty of this research is it focusses on the human aspect based on a human model which comprises both the physical and non-physical dimensions. It incorporated four theories which are the virtue theory, transaction cost theory (TCT), human governance (HG) philosophy and Al-Ghazali theory of the soul to design the research framework. Design/methodology/approach This approach to counteract corruption is through the inner “Self” (spirituality) and is not limited or bound to processes, procedures, rules, regulations, systems and structures. Findings The findings obtained through the phenomenological method suggest that the Inciting Soul is the driver behind corruption. This happens when intellect (‘Aql) becomes submissive to appetition (Shahwa) and self-assertion (Ghadab) resulting in vice characters. In upholding integrity, Soul-at-Peace is the driver where intellect dominates appetition and self-assertion leading to virtue characters. The HG philosophy is what encapsulates the taxonomy of virtue character. Research limitations/implications This research concentrates only on understanding why corruption happens among those with authority. Nevertheless, this research did not delve into the inculcation of HG. Therefore, the authors would suggest for future research is to explore techniques to inculcate the ability of an individual to exercise all the necessary inner “Self” functions (to curb corruption) without having intervention from an external authority. Practical implications Corruption is a global phenomenon. The 2016 OECD Report and the 2019 Malaysia NACP Report found that procurement is the government sector most prone to corruption. Originality/value The novelty of this research is its focus on the human aspect based on the model of a human comprising both the physical and non-physical dimensions. The theoretical framework integrates the virtue theory, TCT, HG philosophy and Al-Ghazali theory of the Soul.