Learning from The Mahabharata For an Anew Contemporary Political Understanding

The Indian Spiritual Epic, the Mahabharata, is a precise write up of Indian mythology of yesteryears and the way social life was led by the top Statesmen who were at the helm of all societal affairs. The Indian Holy Scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, the socio-philosophical- literature of the Indian Socio-Cultural Milieu, also find special place within the Mahabharata in the format ‘Special Dialogue’, otherwise can be quoted as Spiritual Discourse. This literary work originally composed in Sanskrit, the Mother of all Indian Languages, sometime between 400 BC and 400 AD is set in a legendary era thought to relate to the period of Indian culture and history approximately during the tenth century BC.

The Impact of Veganism/Vegetarianism on Animal Welfare Policy

Veganism/vegetarianism is gaining popularity as a food trend, which may generate a high interest in animal welfare. This paper analyzes the motives behind veganism/vegetarianism and its potential impacts on animal welfare policies. It also examines various policy options attempting to improve animal welfare. A qualitative analysis was conducted for this paper. This included a literature review, where 14 articles were selected. The findings showed that while there does not seem to be a clear causation affect between veganism/vegetarianism and animal welfare policies, there are definitely potential impacts that may be more evident in future years and that should be addressed by policymakers and industry leaders.

Economic and Social Impacts of Public Schools Management on the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana

Poverty, illiteracy, and crimes are key factors that commonly lead to poor performance in public schools in many inner cities. Without an adequate solution to eradicate these issues, a city could propel towards a path to destruction. Over the past decade, the city of New Orleans, which is known for its exotic party atmosphere, has been crippled by its failing school system, as well as increasing crime and poverty rates. New Orleans has eagerly strived to improve its social stature, but there are several issues that affect the performance of the public school system. Several research studies have shown that strong education is the key to both economic growth and crime rate reduction. Within the city of New Orleans, it is often realized that the management of the public school system has a major impact on the student’s success rate. Statistics shown that within the recent years, tests scores have been continuously lower, crime has been higher than expected, and the teacher’s salary has been unsatisfactory. This prompts the question of whether there are significant associations between social economic factors and public school performance in inner city such as New Orleans. Hence, this current research will attempt to examine factors contributing to public school performance in New Orleans.

Is Human Capital Related to Voluntary Turnover in U.S. State Governments? Evidence from the State of Oklahoma

Building and retaining human capital stock is critical for organizational success and survival. These two practices, however, may inadvertently be at odds with one another. That is, as organizations seek to increase their human capital stock, through both internal and external strategies, they may also unintentionally increase their risk of voluntary turnover. Research has found support for this relationship in the private sector, yet empirical evidence for such a correlation among public sector organizations is nonexistent. This article, therefore, contributes to the understanding of whether the postulated relationship between human capital and voluntary turnover is generalizable to public sector entities, specifically focusing on U.S. state government. Using longitudinal workforce data from the State of Oklahoma, results of econometric analysis demonstrate that this organizational phenomenon transcends sector boundaries.

Investing During the Recession: How County Governments Utilized Idle Cash

This article examines the investing practices of North and South Carolina county governments during the recession. Unlike many local governments across the country, county governments in both states reported that there were indeed funds available for investing at any given time. Initial findings indicate that investors were concerned for safety and liquidity as the local government investment pool (LGIP) for both states along with certificates of deposit (CDs) were the preferred instruments. Regression models of the four most widely used instruments were analyzed. Findings indicate lower property tax collections and an external primary bank of business were associated with higher LGIP investment; whereas, a significant relationship was also found between those with less experience and official educational background other than accounting and an increase in money market funds and federal government securities.

Learning Needs Assessment at Work (LNA): Past, Present and Future

The aim of this study was to describe and discuss the scientific production on Learning Needs Assessment at work (LNA) in the last five decades (1970 – 2019) through a bibliometric study. Bibliometric and longitudinal reviews on LNA are virtually nonexistent. Therefore, little is known about how LNA knowledge was in the past, is in the present and can be in the future. A survey of scientific articles was conducted in eight globally indexed databases between 2007 and 2019. Only blind review peer journals were utilized. After the application of sample selection criteria, 282 articles were considered valid for analysis. The three quantitative analysis dimensions were demographical, methodological and theoretical, and they were measured by twenty categorical and descriptive variables. In sum, results show that there is a substantial increment in the number of papers on LNA published in the last decade around the world, especially in Africa. Methodologically, it can be said that the studies have made important advances, mainly when it comes to learning needs processes and measures improvements, but there is still an extensive research agenda. On the other hand, it seems that the LNA still have made little conceptual progress since the 1960s. The predominant use of the term “training needs” to refer to skills gaps at work needs to be discussed and reviewed. In the near future, studies need to further investigate innovative theories and methods on LNA, as the application of multilevel modeling, alignment of needs and context/organizational strategy, the use of learning taxonomies, among others.

Managing Formal Organizations in the 21st Century: A Critique of Fredrick Taylor’s Scientific Management Theory

Fredrick Taylor is popularly acknowledged as the father of the scientific management theory in the literature. As a strand of the classical theory of organization, the scientific management aimed at ensuring efficiency, standardization of job performance and discipline in complex organizations. When applied to bricklaying, shoveling, and metal cutting by Taylor, the scientific management approach proved to be very efficient and highly productive. Despite its remarkable success in these organizations, the scientific management has been subjected to series of criticism by scholars and authors alike. The study rely on secondary source of data to engage in a continuous academic scrutiny on the efficacy of the scientific management theory, especially, in modern organizations. The paper critically assesses the relevance or otherwise, of the scientific management theory in the 21st century.

A Re-Interrogation of Immunization Programme in Enugu State Nigeria: Impediments and Way Forward

Immunization is a public health strategy and programme for improving child survival, not only by directly combating key diseases that kill children but also by providing a platform for other health services. Millions of children in low-income areas in Enugu State are believed not to receive the full series of the vaccines on the National routine immunization schedule. The underlying tragedy provokes this research. Random sampling technique was used in choosing six low-income areas in Enugu State. Focus group discussion, questionnaire and face- to- face interview were the major tools used for data collection. Focus group discussion was essentially used to elicit information from mothers who have aversion for immunization. Statistical tools such as frequency tables, correlation coefficient and chi-square were used in data analysis and test of hypotheses. The correlation coefficient test revealed high correlation between lopsidedness in the implementation of immunization policy and high rate of death among children in low-income areas. The chi-square test revealed that immunization policies are properly formulated but most low-income parents do not take their children for full immunization schedule because of insufficient enlightment campaign and sensitization strategy. Essentially, we recommended that immunization certificate should be given to mothers who fully immunized their children. Those who resist immunization should be deprived of democracy dividends from the government.

A Comparative Analysis of Adjustment of Nigerian Selected Macro Economic Variables to Deregulated Exchange Rate System

This study is a comparative analysis of how Nigerian macro economic variables of Balance of Payment and Real Sector performance (surrogated by Real Gross Domestic Product) reacted to exchange rate deregulation in Nigeria. One of the reasons why countries deregulate their exchange rate is to avail themselves the benefits of international trade, and the international trade transaction of every nation is depicted in its balance of payment position. In order to ascertain the significance of Naira deregulated exchange rate on the selected variables, a pre and post deregulation analyses were carried out using Paired Sample T Test staring from 1960 to 1985 as pre deregulation period and 1986 to 2011 as post deregulation period. The result revealed that both Balance of Payment and Real Sector Performance reacted significantly to exchange rate deregulation. While the influence of deregulation of exchange rate on Balance of Payment was negative, it showed a positive influence on Real Sector performance. The researchers concluded that deregulation of exchange rate did not increase the Nigerian general export, but oil export only, which is also an indication that Nigerian domestic industries did not contribute significantly to the country’s export level. We recommend that the monetary authority can consider placing a crawling peg on Naira exchange rate level in order to regulate the level of currency depreciation; this will reduce the cost of production for the domestic industries as most of their raw materials are imported. Again the export ability of the Nigerian domestic industries can be enhanced by granting them export incentives such as free international packaging and external credit guarantee.

The Critical Mass Question, Women Directors and Performance of Banks in Sub Saharan Africa

This study mainly evaluated the effect of Board composition on the performance of deposit money banks (DMBs) in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) with special focus on the critical mass question. Specific objectives are determination of the effect of women directors and board composed of more non-executive directors on return on assets (ROA) and net interest margin (NIM) of the banks. Secondary data on six SSA countries and twelve banks collected for the period 2004 to 2016 were used. Panel data regression approach was employed with model selection subjected to Hausman tests. The study revealed among others that board with more nonexecutive directors has significant positive effect on ROA and NIM with significant positive relationship with ROA and NIM. Women directors have very negligible effect on performance of the DMBs while correlating negatively and insignificantly with ROA and NIM. It is therefore, concluded that though, nonexecutive directors have strong positive significant effect on performance of deposit money banks in Sub Saharan Africa and women directors indicate very negligible effect, the conflicts over the effect of the two variables are not yet fully resolved. It is recommended that DMBs should make room for at least three female directors in their boards while adoption and enforcement of gender quota by countries should be considered.