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Potential of Takaful in Pakistan: Operational and Transformational Paradigm Takaful is an Islamic way of doing insurance: It proved its viability after several Fatwas were issued by Ulama and Fiqh academies in its favour. Presently, over 100 Takaful and Re-takaful companies as well as Takaful windows under conventional insurance are operating across the world. Enhanced financial performance of selected Takaful companies has shown the growing interest in Takaful business across the world. Insurance comparison in Muslim and advanced countries as well as in the South Asian region has identified low literacy, low GDP per capita and low GDI value as the probable causes of low insurance penetration in Pakistan. Geographical spread of Takaful business and estimated future potential together with the increasing trend of insurance business indicated that potential for Takaful business exists in the country. It urges the policy makers to pay attention to global indicators that might become potential contributors to Takaful business. The study emphasizes that strengthened regulatory standards, with Shari'ah compliance mechanism playing a central role, are essential to transform conventional insurance system and exploit the existing business potential. To further analyze which of the Takaful standards are significantly affecting Takaful practices, a survey of Takaful operators in the country indicated that reporting standards and internal controls have low level of observance in Pakistan. The survey of 150 life insurance customers revealed that majority of the respondents is unaware of Takaful concept. Level of Takaful awareness was found to be significantly associated with the education of the customers, their perceptions about Takaful and their intentions to shift to Takaful Company. Education was found to be the single important factor affecting monthly income of the respondents, their state of mind and hence their awareness about Takaful. The study identifies effective regulatory framework a critical factor for the success of Takaful business in Pakistan. A greater focus on promotion of Takaful and governance issues along with strengthened role of SECP as a regulatory authority is likely to contribute for further growth of Takaful industry in Pakistan.
Role of Islamic Leadership in Value Based Corporate Management Value crisis in corporate world around the globe significantly increased the need to find new management paradigm to deal with existing ethical dilemma. Study investigates inherent flaws of the contemporary corporate management in general and value based corporate management in particular. Study identifies that weaknesses of current corporate management stem form two main factors first lack of values and ethics and second loss of leadership integrity. A questionnaire containing 50 items was developed and validated. Study was carried out by taking a sample of 302 managers from manufacturing and service sectors of Pakistan. Data was processed and analyzed in SPSS and VPLS. Results of the study indicate that there is significant and positive relationship among values and ethics, managerial performance and welfare and protection of all stakeholders of organization. Findings suggest that management by example is a better management paradigm to curb many ethical ailments of modern enterprise. The current study developed ‘Islamic VBM Score’ to assess VBM practices in an organization from Islamic perspective. Furthermore, results suggest that Islamic leadership tries to take the organization towards total value based management through ensuring welfare and protection for all stakeholders of organization including shareholders, employees, customers and society at large. This study concludes that Islamic leadership in value based corporate management theory ensures satisfaction of all stakeholders of organization.
Attribution and Influence Perception of Success Among Male and Female Managers: A Perspective of Pakistani Private Sector Organizations This study investigated whether people’s attribution for success and failure do reflect identifiable dimensions and whether or not these were compatible with those proposed by Weiner (1985, 2004) mainly internal and external locus of control. Moreover, it also looked at the perceived influence used by managers, mainly rationality, ingratiation and exchange maneuvers. It was hypothesized that success will be attributed more to internal factors like ability etc; whereas failure will be attributed to external factors like luck etc. The gender of the managers was believed to influence the attributions made, with males’ success and females’ failure attributed to internal causes. For influence perceptions, it was hypothesized that success will be attributed to the usage of ingratiation and exchange maneuvers as well as rationality maneuvers. As for the gender of the managers, it was hypothesized that males’ success will be assigned to the more frequent usage of rationality maneuvers, whereas the success of female managers will be assigned to the more frequent usage of ingratiation and exchange maneuvers. The design of the study was experimental and four hundred employees from the private sector organizations of Pakistan participated in this investigation. The overall design of this study was a 2 (managers: most successful/least successful) X 2 (manager’s sex: male/female) X 2 (participants sex: male/female) between-subjects factorial. This means that this was a 2x2x2 factorial design because three independent variables were examined: the managers’ success, the managers’ gender and the subjects’ gender all with two categories each. Data was gathered with the help of a self-report questionnaire with closed questions that included scaled items. MANOVA and ANOVA techniques were performed to test the hypotheses. The results revealed only partial acceptance of the hypotheses proposed. As predicted, success by a male was assigned to skill (internal), whereas the lack of career success in a female was attributed to lack of skill (internal). For influence perceptions, male’s success was assigned to the more frequent use of rationality maneuvers compared to the other managers. The gender of the participants was not significant in the evaluations of the manager. Moreover limitations, future research, directions, and implications for organizations were also discussed.
Impact of Devolution on Managerial Functions of Public Health: Perception of Health Managers in Pakistan The objective of the study was to examine the impact of devolution reform of 2001 on the health management functions and to determine the change in managerial roles and responsibilities after the devolution reform. Qualitative research methods, inclusive of review of published as well as the grey literature, archival analysis and informant interviews were used for analysis. An internationally validated tool was used for data collection and analysis. Analysis of data showed that devolution reform of 2001 has changed the power holder scenario in the Health sector all the way down from the National level to the District and Facility level, with an increased involvement of District level after devolution. On the other side there is still a conflict among various power holders, about who has the authority and has responsibility of certain managerial functions. This conflict is visible, in the way respondents identified the level of authority and responsibility for each managerial function, and the level of agreement (or disagreement) among the respondents for that function. After the devolution, lower level managerial cadre has been upgraded with new district level management system, but it has increased the role-conflict among various power-holders in health system. This role-conflict resulted in increased ambiguity and a negative impact on the managerial functions of public health. The main conclusion of the study is that health managers in Pakistan do not share same perceptions of how responsibility and authority are distributed after the devolution. Managerial powers were not clearly allocated even in past before decentralization, but post-devolution situation has further increased the role conflict in the health system. Management roles in health sector have become more ambiguous after devolution, and the impact of devolution in redistribution of management responsibility and authority has not been in a better and desired direction. A model of managerial functions in post-devolved health systems is also suggested in recommendations.
Impact of Job Analysis on Job Performance: A Study of Public Sector Organizations of Pakistan Job Analysis forms the core of most human resource activities and can perform a number of functions. Researchers in strategic human resource management have established a relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices and organizational performance, but the relationship between HRM practice like Job Analysis – Job Performance, the intervening process recruitment, connecting Job Analysis and Job Performance remains unexplored. This research attempts to assess the impact of Job Analysis on Job Performance on the basis of the opinions of the employees of public sector regulatory authorities. A survey questionnaire was designed and pre-tested. The study was carried out by taking a sample size of 568 employees of Pakistan public sector regulatory authorities from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) dealing with the telecommunications, oil & gas, power, media, corporate, capital and banking sectors has presented a holistic conceptual framework of human resource practices in relation to recruitment process and its impact on employees’ job performance and subsequent job satisfaction and retention. Results supported the HR-Performance conceptual model by showing significant impact of Human Resource Management practices on job performance. Correlations and regression analyses were used to refine and increase the accuracy of six independent variables of HR practices, one intervening variable conforming to their relationship and impact on dependent variable job performance. Overall, the independent variables explained the positive variations in the dependent variable of job performance followed by the intervening variable, Recruitment. In addition, other statistical tools were also used to analyze the opinions of employees to ascertain differences in various regulatory authorities in relation to size and sector. The results revealed that importance of job analysis has a positive relationship with job performance in all regulatory authorities except OGRA where it has a negative relationship. The study further revealed six relationships showing large effect size correlations between job satisfaction and job succession planning, job security and job succession planning, job succession planning and job performance, job design and job performance, job performance and job satisfaction and job security and job satisfaction. These positive highly significant relationships are the addition to the literature on Human Resource Management particularly with reference to Pakistan. The practice in vogue of only carrying out job analysis for successful recruitment process has met with little success and therefore, other contributing factors like job design, job evaluation, job security and job succession planning, job satisfaction and job retention need to be examined. This study found that job analysis, job evaluation and job retention with the moderating variable Recruitment knowledge, skills and ability (KSA) explained a much larger proportion of the total variance on dependent variable, job performance. The relatively stable standardized beta coefficients generated by job analysis, Job design, job evaluation, job security, job succession planning, job satisfaction and job retention with recruitment, indicating its unique impact, independent of moderators, support the central argument of this study that a job analysis is an important HR strategy to achieve superior job performance results. The study extends to the findings of the HR-job performance research followed in Western countries to a non-Western context.
The Potential and Impact of Perceived Internal Service Quality in Business Process of Pakistani Banks and its Relations to Organizational Performance During the last one and a half decades the financial and banking sector in Pakistan has observed a substantial transformation from a sluggish government subjugated sector to a more receptive and competitive one. Today, many financial services, especially the Banks are organizing themselves to become customer centered. In the modern and competitive era the internal services quality is getting more importance in all areas of service industry like banking sector and it has received an ever-increasing interest among the scholars and practitioners especially during the ongoing decade. The purpose of this study was to establish a framework for the internal service quality considering the basic dimensions of the human resources management and the impact of the organizational performance. The data were collected through a cross-sectional field study of the frontline employees and management of both the public and the privatized commercial banks located in Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Pakistan (N=450, the response rate was 88 %). A particular banking sector was selected because of the perceived poor human resources management climate and the high running amounts of deficiency in the organizational performance. The internal services quality in the banking sector is found to relate positively to the organizational performance, with partial mediation by the employees’ selection, training and development, rewards and recognition, work design and job definitions . The regression analysis shows that two factors, namely the internal services quality and the employee job satisfaction contribute a great deal to the banks’ performance, but unexpectedly, the employees’ retention and productivity did not contribute, however. This study demonstrates the important effects of the internal services quality in general and HRM in particular on the frontline employees and management in the banks. The management of both the public and privatized banks should benefit themselves from noting the links and the like service quality outcome for the organizational performance.
The Relationship Between Occupational Stress and Organizational Commitment in Non-Governmental Organizations of Pakistan The purpose of this research was to extend the existing body of knowledge on the relationship between occupational stress and employees’ organizational commitment into the context of non-governmental organizations of Pakistan, as little research have been conducted on this relationship in Pakistan. It was a descriptive correlational study in which scientific methodology was used to answer the research questions. Based upon the review of the recent literature available on the subject, a conceptual framework was developed to study the relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment in the NGO sector in Pakistan. The framework illustrates three dimensions of occupational stress including occupational role stress, personal strain and coping resources and their hypothesized relationship with organizational commitment, as well as the influence of some major demographic factors including age, experience, job position, gender, qualification, income and marital status on the relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment. Occupational stress inventory-Revised Edition and Organizational Commitment Questionnaire were used to collect data. The overall response rate from the NGO employees was 64%. Several statistical techniques, including arithmetic mean, standard deviation, correlation analysis, percentile analysis and analysis of variance-ANOVA were used to test the hypotheses of the study. Consistent with prior research, an inverse relationship was found between occupational stress and organizational commitment. The level of occupational stress experienced by NGO employees was found to be high. The occupational roles that employees play were reported as the main source of stress. The level of employees’ organizational commitment was generally moderate but with a tendency towards high. Normative commitment was reported as the strongest form of commitment. Demographic variables of age, experience, job position and income as well as gender significantly influenced the relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment. This study is significant because of the insights it provides for the NGO managers to better understand the occupational stressors inherent in the functions of their workforce. Furthermore, this study develops an understanding of the commitment process and its relationship with occupational stress to promote commitment among employees and help them achieve their organizational goals effectively. NGO management can utilize the research findings to formulate appropriate strategies to address the stress related problems of their employees.
The Relationship of Organizational Learning and Competitive Advantage: A Case Study of Petroleum Companies of Pakistan The concept of organizational learning has been the area of attention for academicians, practitioners, and researchers for decades. Organizational developments as a subject realized the significance of cognitive learning and behavioral development; and embraced the idea of ‘learning organization’ because of its potential to create and sustain competitive advantage in an organization. The purpose of the study is to explore the characteristics of a learning organization and examine the relationship of organizational learning and competitive advantage. Knowledge acquired is disseminated through learning in organization. It is noted that the petroleum companies are knowledge intensive and learning oriented, equipped with latest technologies and facing intense competition. In Pakistan, no empirical research work has been done to explore the concept of learning organization to date. Literature review revealed systems thinking, mental models/culture, shared vision/mission, leadership, knowledge/information flow, personal mastery and team learning as antecedents of a learning organization. Survey questionnaire was distributed in all four strata of petroleum companies and in response of 225 questionnaires 170 were received back, out of which 165 were valid. Multiple regression analytic technique was applied to test the hypotheses. Statistical analysis revealed that all chosen characteristics of a learning organization significantly contribute towards achievement of competitive advantage. Shared vision and systems thinking emerged as most significant contributors. This study signifies the impact of learning to achieve competitive advantage and requires the attention of executives and practitioners of organization development. It demands that the concept of learning organization if implemented with strategic intent in petroleum companies of Pakistan can be a sustainable source to develop and prepare organizations to cope up and adapt the environmental changes proactively.
Total Quality Management Perspective of Cellular Mobile Telephone Operators in Pakistan This study is focused on identifying the facilitating role of the learning organizations in the process of individuals' careers development. The research has undertaken the study of the part of the process of Organizational Development, where capacity development in terms of Career Development of the staff is carried out to enhance the capabilities of the organization. The study establishes the fact that if the objectives of the two processes are merged together then a synergetic effect is created which enhances the pace of both the process. The theoretical framework of this study has taken career development as dependent variable, Organizational Development strategies is the Independent Variable. This study analyzes the reliance of the introduction of knowledge sharing strategy of OD on the individual capacity development. The main construct of this study is to see the significance of the correlation between the processes of career development and Organizational Development. The theoretical frame work has been studied in two different context i.e the learning organizations' and the conventional organization and a comparative analysis of the two have been carried out establishing certain results. Keeping in view the qualitative nature of the study, three different tools have been employed by this study including Participant Observation, Questionnaire and Structured interviews. The conclusion of the study indicated that the Learning Organizations context is more supportive to the process of career development as compared to the Conventional context. It was also concluded that the management of both the organizations are undoubtedly clear about the positive contribution of the capacity development process to organization's benefit but the role performed by the management in these two different context is different from each other. The recommendations of this study include a model for integrating HR activities of the organization with the career development process.
Career Development in Learning Organization This study is focused on identifying the facilitating role of the learning organizations in the process of individuals' careers development. The research has undertaken the study of the part of the process of Organizational Development, where capacity development in terms of Career Development of the staff is carried out to enhance the capabilities of the organization. The study establishes the fact that if the objectives of the two processes are merged together then a synergetic effect is created which enhances the pace of both the process. The theoretical framework of this study has taken career development as dependent variable, Organizational Development strategies is the Independent Variable. This study analyzes the reliance of the introduction of knowledge sharing strategy of OD on the individual capacity development. The main construct of this study is to see the significance of the correlation between the processes of career development and Organizational Development. The theoretical frame work has been studied in two different context i.e the learning organizations' and the conventional organization and a comparative analysis of the two have been carried out establishing certain results. Keeping in view the qualitative nature of the study, three different tools have been employed by this study including Participant Observation, Questionnaire and Structured interviews. The conclusion of the study indicated that the Learning Organizations context is more supportive to the process of career development as compared to the Conventional context. It was also concluded that the management of both the organizations are undoubtedly clear about the positive contribution of the capacity development process to organization's benefit but the role performed by the management in these two different context is different from each other. The recommendations of this study include a model for integrating HR activities of the organization with the career development process.
A Comparative Study of Self-Perceived Employability Among Employees and Organizational Performance in Selected Private and Public Sector Organizations (Pakistan) This study analyzes Self-Perceived Employability attributes among employees and its impact on Organizational Performance of private and public sectors in respect of key supporting variables i.e. personal attributes, occupational attributes, subjective career success, professional commitment, and internal and external labour markets. The twenty first century recognizes tremendous benefits of Self-Perceived Employability Attributes as a key of success for employees’ better performance as well as for organizational development. After presenting a theoretical frame work; a conceptual model is proposed and tested with AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structure) statistic technique to examine the impact of self-perceived employability attributes on organizational performance. Disproportionate stratified random sampling method was used to collect data from employees of private and public sectors’ organizations of twin cities, Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan through a structured questionnaire. The sample size (n= 464) is selected from total population of this study. This empirical investigation uses regression analysis, Tukey Test for mean difference, and mean and standard deviation for data analysis with SPSS 15.0 version. The findings validate the proposed model with significant correlation between self-perceived employability attributes and organizational performance either in internal or external markets. This study, therefore strongly advocates the implementation of self-perceived employability attributes among employees for better organizational performance by means of improving employee’s performance either in private or public sectors. The self-Perceived Employability attributes have a remarkable and immense importance in developing countries and especially in Pakistan so that growing human inventory can be trained and effectively used for sustained growth and human development. Findings of the study support educational qualifications that play vital role to enhance self-perceived employability attributes. Furthermore, as qualification increases, the self-perceived attributes also boost up and then business education contributes more as compared to other categories of education. Eventually, organizational performance will also be enhanced significantly. In the light of regression analysis, the findings of the study significantly maintain training, especially during service, which plays a dynamic role not only to enhance Self-Perceived Employability Attributes but also organizational performance. It is generally observed that feminine gender shows better attributes than masculine gender. Table 4.70 favours that private sector considers Self-Perceived Employability more important for better organizational output than the public sector. Thereupon, the findings of the study support self-perceived employability attributes which significantly enhance organizational performance for achieving sustainable development and competitive advantage.
Frontline Management Evaluation of Selected Public Sector Postgraduate Colleges in Punjab, Pakistan The principals in the public sector postgraduate peripheral colleges in the Punjab are the frontline management in these colleges. The present study is delimited to qualitative evaluation of the effectiveness of the Frontline Management (the principals) of the 35 selected public sector postgraduate peripheral colleges in the Punjab. The study is based on the perceptions of the vice-principals and the senior-most staff members from the teaching staff of the colleges under study about their principals. Mainly two questionnaires were used for eliciting responses from the respondents, one for independent variables-vision, integrity, political networking, courage, initiative, professional management training, high exposure and dynamism and the other for effectiveness, the dependent variable in the study. The third questionnaire was for rank-ordering of the independent variables, yet another for eliciting general information about the study on open-ended questions. The data so obtained was tabulated and analyzed using SPSS 15. Inferences were drawn from the results obtained from t-test for single samples for hypotheses testing and Linear Regression and Multiple Regressions Analyses. The t-test for paired samples (Associations) was also performed. On the basis of the results of analyses, 08 out of 25 hypotheses were accepted and 17 were rejected at 0.05% significance level, showing thereby, that the frontline management (the principals) of the peripheral postgraduate colleges under study lacked the 06 characteristics desirable for effectiveness namely, vision, courage, initiative, professional management training, high exposure, and dynamism except 02 those of integrity & political networking and these colleges also lacked effectiveness. The expected and perceived rank-ordering of the independent variables also differed. The variation in dependent variable was not significantly explained and affected by the independent variables except integrity, political networking & training. Very weak correlations were manifested between the independent variables and dependent variable except integrity, political networking & training which were significantly correlated with the dependent variable i.e., effectiveness at 0.05% significance level. Some interesting insights were perceived in the colleges under study. Politicized culture, tuition mafia, sponsor- protégé relationships, and no-work culture were some of them. The need for inculcating the desirable characteristics for effectiveness of frontline management is strongly emphasized.
Customer Relationship Management in the Banking Sector of Pakistan Banking sector all over the world facing immense competition and Pakistani banking sector is not an exception. It is an acceptable fact that acquiring new customer is more costly than retaining the existing customer. The researcher followed the same fact and developed the basic purpose of this research study that is to discover the major factors that affect customer loyalty, which is a focus of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for overcoming high competition in the banking sector of Pakistan. Although there are many aspects of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the banking sector, this research study focuses on its customer part. Understanding customers is the key to success of any bank. Banks having an in-depth understanding of their customers develop a better competitive edge over their competitors. The major focus of CRM is to not only to acquire new customers but also to retain the existing ones. This research study will help banks to build customer loyalty. Every bank tries its best to acquire and retain their customers but due to increased competition and rapid improvements in technology, customers have quick access to thousands and thousands of products and services. The researcher collected data from customers of banks with the help of questionnaire and for doing demographic, correlation, and regression analysis used SPSS software version 16.00. After detailed analysis and discussions, results of this research study indicate that identified factors do affect customer loyalty and their relationships with each other vary from bank to bank. These identified variations can help banks to overcome their existing weaknesses to develop better customer loyalty strategies. The researcher identified factors of trust, perceived value, satisfaction, switching barriers, and culture that affect customer loyalty. After measuring relationships of these factors with each other, researcher responded to this research study`s questions and hypotheses and developed a customer loyalty model for the banking sector of Pakistan for the mutual benefits of customers and banks. Furthermore, this research study`s findings and recommendations contributes towards improvement in existing customer loyalty strategies of banks. The researcher would also like to mention here that there is hardly any research study in Pakistan that has seen the affects of customer culture and customer trust on customer loyalty as the results of this research study indicate that these factors affect customer loyalty in the banking sector of Pakistan.
The Effect of Cross Cultural Training of the Performance of Expatriated in Business Organizations The purpose of this research study is to explore the practice of the cross cultural training before expatriates are posted on overseas assignments, and to assess the impacts of cross cultural training on the performance of expatriates. Multinational organizations need expatriates who can be representatives, ambassadors and have knowledge of coordination, integration of operations, knowledge transfer, and global managerial skills as they are investing in foreign markets to establish some subsidiaries in foreign countries. During this process, many of expatriates are not able to complete their overseas assignments. The rate of failure sometimes can reach to 85 percent. The main reasons of this high rate are culture shock, difficulties in adjustment, and so on. A questionnaire was developed based on the theoretical framework. The samples comprising 100 expatriates were taken from different organizations; education, construction, telecommunication, and press and media were focused in particular. The conclusion of the study has revealed that there are multi-faceted benefits of cross cultural training for expatriates working abroad. Cross cultural training can minimize culture shock, and premature return. Moreover, it can facilitate cultural adjustment, high productivity, and expatriates’ performance. The study has been delimited to the global companies operating in Pakistan. However, the majority of the organizations are established in Islamabad.