JACKAREA DAWSON

There was a survey done by Cornell University with regard to its staff satisfaction on their work life in fall 2005. Four antecedents acted as independent variables; namely, structural position, workload, life outside Cornell and integration (Martin, 2006). Integration or sense of belonging had five-items measurement. "Faculty who feel ignored, cannot navigate the unwritten rules of faculty life, are stressed by politics, are unsatisfied with opportunities to collaborate, and are considering leaving Cornell to find a more supportive work environment as a reason to leave Cornell." In other words, the faculty positive experiences with regards to the five measures had created a strong perception on the sense of belonging. The analysis also pointed out that women were less integrated than men. They constituted the large part of the less integrated faculty who tended to be less satisfied with the faculty work life. MY WORDS: this survey gives an important information about the me...

According to Li et al (2008), there must be a need to ensure the nurturing of research environment so that the faculty members who already being overloaded with teaching responsibility and other ad hoc tasks have meaningful and enjoyable research activities. This is in tandem with a global trend in which university has become sites where everyone must at some point think about everything (Nixon, 2008: 20). Thus, effort to encourage "publish or perish" dictum must first takes into consideration the environment of the work life. Li et al further cited the work of Pratt et al (1999)who believed that building a research friendly culture is a major step to improve the research productivity among academicians. Publication, then, should be rewarded accordingly. Promotion is one of the suggested rewards besides tenure and further research funding. Once the management of university shows its seriousness in implementing the culture, the faculty members will keen to engage more in res...

Castillo and Cano (2004) had conducted a study explaining the influence of Herzberg et al (1959) Motivator-Hygiene theory on job satisfaction among the faculty in College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Science at Ohio State University. Their research was mooted by Bowen’s (1980) report that the said theory was not applicable for teacher educators in agriculture. Moreover, the motivator-hygiene theory had been popularly used in testing the level of job satisfaction. In addition to that, it was to the researchers’ intention to determine which measures constituted a valid assessment of job satisfaction. Also, the researchers wanted to validate the one-item measure of overall job satisfaction. There were 172 faculty members involved in the study. Hundred and forty eight respondents returned the questionnaires which represented 86% of the response rate. The questionnaires contained three parts. Part I consisted of 18 items from Job Satisfaction Index questionnaire. Each item was ...

A Study on the employees' perceptions towards quality of work life in private higher learning institution was done by Saad et al (2008). This research was conducted among the staff of UNITAR, one of the leading private higher learning institute in the country (Malaysia). The researchers formulated hypotheses on three objectives. First, to check whether employees' perceptions of job satisfaction is influenced by the organizational climate. Second, to identify sources of stress in higher learning environment. Third, to see whether the level of satisfaction is related to various job related aspects. Ten facets of organziational climate are used to test the relationship. These facets are grouped into affective, cognitive and instrumental. 250 were retuned with a response rate of 54.6%. 44.5% of the respondents are academicians. This fact led to the finding that only three facets namely; meaningfulness, pessimism about organization and self determination are significantly related ...

Doing PhD is not an easy one. It needs your ultimate understanding on particular topic as stated in the research topic. One day a professor asked me the difference between common research and PhD research. My answer was that PhD's research is done within specific time. The answer was no what he expected. According to him, common research is what 'publish or perish' all about. Academicians have to continually contribute their expertise on their related field of study by doing research. Meanwhile, students who pursue their PhD degree need only to go for the target of the research as specified by the supervisor. They only have to concentrate on that advise given by the supervisor (s). This is the case where PhD's students are said to be under their own management. In other word, they have to be self-management. Along the study period, they have to initiate discussions, ask for the help needed, argue about what you should be learning and so on. The students need to know t...

The Abilene Paradox is a paradox in which the limits of a particular situation force a group of people to act in a way that is directly the opposite of their actual preferences. It is a phenomenon that occurs when groups continue with misguided activities which no group member desires because no member is willing to raise objections. It was observed by management expert Jerry B. Harvey in his 1988 book The Abilene Paradox and other Meditations on Management. The name of the phenomenon comes from an anecdote in the book which Harvey uses to elucidate the paradox: On a hot afternoon visiting in Coleman, Texas, the family is comfortably playing dominoes on a porch, until the father-in-law suggests that they take a trip to Abilene (53 miles away) for dinner. The wife says, "Sounds like a great idea." Although he has reservations because the drive is long and hot, thinking that his preferences must be out-of-step with the group the husband says, "Sounds good to me. I just h...

Universiti Malaysia Sabah sebagai satu-satunya Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Awam Malaysia yang berpusat di Sabah, secara tidak langsung turut memainkan peranan dalam mengetengahkan Negeri Sabah khasnya, sebagai sebuah negeri yang mempunyai daya tarikan pelancong yang menarik untuk dikunjungi oleh para pelancong dari luar negara. Ini adalah kerana, selain mempunyai lanskap yang menarik, UMS juga mempunyai bilangan pensyarah luar negara yang mencukupi dalam mempastikan bidang-bidang pengajaran yang dilaksanakan di sini sentiasa berada pada standard dan tahap kualiti yang disasarkan oleh Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi Malaysia. Graduan yang dilahirkan sentiasa diperkasakan ilmiahnya dengan pengajaran yang disampaikan oleh para pensyarah yang datang dari merata negara di dunia. Kehadiran kumpulan pensyarah ini seharusnya dilihat sebagai agen pelancongan yang berupaya menarik lebih ramai pelancong asing ke negara ini. Setelah beberapa lama mengenali keindahan negeri ini dan memahami adat res...