Productivity Improvement and Public Personnel Management： An Analysis of Presidents Reagan and Obama Administration

Considering the financial crises, all the recent presidents have emphasized the importance of productivity improvement in government, especially in public personnel management. Though there is a general agreement on the concept of productivity, the means to achieve productivity vary with president＇s ideology. President Reagan championed the cause of conservatism. On one hand, despite Obama＇s attempt to diffuse ideological question, his actions can be regarded as liberal. This study seeks to make a comparison between Presidents Reagan and Obama on their efforts in productivity improvement in public personnel management, based on their ideological preferences. President Reagan campaigned on an anti-Washington agenda. He promoted the idea that the government is the problem rather than the solution. He popularized the idea that the people are burdened with heavy taxation as a result of the big government. Therefore, the solution to heavy taxation was to cut big government, which can be accomplished by reducing unnecessary and expensive regulations. On the other hand, when President Obama came to office, the country was faced not only with a deep recession, but two difficult wars, the collapse of the banking and the auto industries, the housing crisis, and overall capacity crisis in the government. Obama resisted ideological level in his campaign speeches to diffuse the criticisms of the conservatives.     

Can Demographic Characteristics Influence Perception on Internal Control System？

The purpose of this study is to develop a reliable and valid construct for internal control system and to assess the association between respondents＇ demographic factors and their perception on internal control system. The fraud triangle theory underpins the development of the survey instrument. Survey questionnaires were administered to 553 respondents out of which 334 were usable responses in the Malaysian financial sector, using face to face data collection procedure. Cochran＇s method was adopted for sample size determination. The confirmatory factor analysis （chi square = 3.09; AGFI = 0.81; NFI = 0.89; TLI = 0.91; CFI = 0.92; RMSEA = 0.08）, normality （skewness 〈 1.50） and reliability （composite reliability = 0.95; average variance extracted = 0.46） results were convincing. It was found that respondents＇ age （p = 0.02） and working experience （p = 0.01） had significant bearings toward their perception on internal control system within the Malaysian financial sector.     

Role of blogging in perceived learning and satisfaction of students

The contemporary smart concepts of education signify a heavy role of blogging tools in digital learning environments that have a substantial effect on students' learning and satisfaction. This study aims to analyze the influence of students' four perceptions about blogging that is, perception of digital technology (PDT), perceptions of teaching and learning (PTL), perceptions of previous blogging experience (PBE), and perceived usefulness of blogging (PUB) on the frequency of blogging and then assesses the impact of the frequency of blogging on perceived satisfaction as well as perceived learning of students. For this purpose, the researchers conducted a quantitative study with a positivist approach in which the data were collected from 350 students in Anhui Province, China to conduct analysis of the proposed relationships. The results of the current study suggest that there is a positive impact of PDT, PTL, PBE and PUB on the frequency of blogging. It means that the positive perceptions of students towards digital technology, teaching and learning, previous bogging experience and usefulness of blogging result in higher frequency and use of blogging activity. It further indicates that the high frequency of blogging has ultimately a positive impact on perceived satisfaction and perceived learning. The discussion and findings of the current study have useful implications for theory and practice because they provide empirical evidence and theoretical guidelines about the role of blogging in perceived learning and satisfaction.     

recovering the past in Jodhaa Akbar: masculinities,femininities and cultural politics in Bombay cinema

As the dominant media institution in South Asia, Bombay cinema's cultural production of narratives, images and spectacle plays a crucial role in the effort to consolidate and project definitions of the nation. Moreover, such images are exported to the South Asian diaspora worldwide as part of the processes associated with the globalized cultural product referred to as Bollywood. This discussion examines the production and reception of the 2008 film Jodhaa Akbar both as process and product of complex historical, cultural and political nation-building projects in which gender plays a central role.     

Suicide on the Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent comprises eight countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan, and the Maldives) and a collective population of more than 1.3 billion people. 10% of the world's suicides (more than 100,000 people) take place in just three of these countries, viz. India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. There is very little information on suicides from the other four countries. Some differences from suicides in Western countries include the high use of organophosphate insecticides, larger numbers of married women, fewer elderly subjects, and interpersonal relationship problems and life events as important causative factors. There is need for more and better information regarding suicide in the countries of the Indian subcontinent. In particular, studies must address culture-specific risk factors associated with suicide in these countries. The prevention of this important public health problem in an area of the world with myriad socio-economic problems, meager resources, and stigmatization of mental illness poses a formidable challenge to mental health professionals, policy makers, and governments of these countries.     

New challenges for a post‐Cold War Japan

Najmul Saqib Khan was Pakistan's ambassador to Japan from 1985 to 1988. He says of Japan, “The country made a profound and lasting impact on me. The economic achievements of a resource‐poor country, the retention of cultural identity by a synthesis of tradition and modernity, and the innovativeness and communitarian values of Japanese society were genuinely impressive. Japan showed a virtually untapped potential to play a more active and independent role in the world.” Khan subsequently wrote a book that distilled the lessons that Southwest Asia could learn from Japan.’ He argued that countries undergoing modernization should shed their elitism and concentrate on attaining a high standard of capability for the average citizen. In this essay, he analyzes the challenges facing Japan in the post‐Cold War era.     

Politics of administrative reform and reorganization in Bangladesh

The present military government in Bangladesh has implemented a number of major administrative reform and reorganization measures. The government claims that effectuation of such measures has led to the decentralization of power and authority to the grass-root level ensuring increasing popular participation in administration; the achievement of cost-effectiveness by reducing the number of ministries, divisions and personnel from the public pay roll and by quickening of the pace of decision-making due to elimination of redundant bureaucratic layers. But the implementation, in reality, has contributed among other things to the legitimization and strengthening of the military government, and a weakening of the democratically organized political opposition. It also enables generalist civil servants to preserve, and to some extent strengthen, their position within the civil service system.     

C. Reviews and notes: bibliographies and works of reference

i. ISLAMIC BOOK REVIEW INDEX. Compiled by Wolfgang H. Behn Berlin, Adiyok. Vol.2, 1983, pp.239; Vol.3, 1984, pp.234. Each DM 60.

ii. L'ORIENT DES PROVENÇAUX DMNS L'HISTOIRE. Marseille, Archives Departementales, Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie, 1982. pp.472.

iii. TUNISIA. By Allan M. Findlay, Anne M.Findlay & R.I.Lawless. (World Bibliographical Series, 33). Oxford & Santa Barbara, Clio Press, 1982. pp.xxviii, 251, map. £28.

iv. INDEX ISLAMICUS 1976–1980. Part 1: ARTICLES, compiled by J.D.Pearson. Part 2: MONOGRAPHS, compiled by J.D.Pearson & Wolfgang BEHN London, Mansell, 1983. 2 vols. pp.xliii, 539, xii, 348. Pt.1 £45; Pt.2 £30.

v. EXPOSITION: LETTRES ET VISAGES DU LIBAN ET DE L'ORIENT, organisée par PHILIPPE DUVOLLET avec la collaboration de la Délégation Permanente du Liban auprès de l'UNESCO. Paris, AGECOOP, 1983. pp.137.

vi. DAS ARABISCHE BUCH: THE ARAB BOOK. EINE AUSSTELLUNG ARABISCHER HANDSCHRIFTEN DER CHESTER BEATTY LIBRARY, DUBLIN...AUS ANLASS DES EURO‐ARABISCHEN DIALOGES, KULTURELLES SYMPOSIUM 1983: AN EXHIBITION OF ARABIC MANUSCRIPTS FROM THE CHESTER BEATYY LIBRARY, DUBLIN...ON THE OCCASION OF THE EURO‐ARAB DIALOGUE, CULTURAL SYMPOSIUM APRIL 1983. By David James. Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, 1983. pp.34.

vii. SAUDI MEDICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. By M.Monir Madkour and Aida J. Kudwah. Edinburgh, Churchill Livingstone, 1983. Vol.I, 1887–1980, pp.284, £35.00; Vol.II, 1981 & 1982, pp.269, £30.00.

viii. LUCHTMANS & BRILL: DRIEHONDERD JAAR UTTGEVERS EN DRUKKERS IN LEIDEN 1683–1983: CATALOGUS VAN DE TENTOONSTELLING GEHOUDEN VAN l SEPTEMBER TOT 1 OKTOBER 1983 IN BET GEMEENTE‐ARCHIEF TE LEIDEN. Leiden, Brill, 1983. pp.74. Plates & illustrations.

ix. PHILOLOGIA ORIENTALIS: A DESCRIPTION OF BOOKS ILLUSTRATING THE STUDY AND PRINTING OF ORIENTAL LANGUAGES IN EUROPE. II. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. (Catalogue 524.) Leiden, Brill, 1983. pp.220. Facsimiles & type‐specimens.

x. ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS IN EGYPT, PAKISTAN AND IRAN: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY. By Asaf Hussain. London, Mansell, 1983. pp.xiv, 168. £16.50.

xi. THE SUBLIME QUR'AN AND ORIENTALISM. By Mohammad Khalifa. London, Longman, 1983. pp.xviii, 262. £11.95.

xii. THE UNIVERSALITY OF ISLAM: a REFUTATION OF HOSTILE CRITICISM By ORIENTALISTS. By Nur‐Ud‐Din Muneer. London, London Mosque, 1983. pp.iv, 26.

xiii. ISLAMIC STUDIES, ORIENTALISTS AND MUSLIM SCHOLARS. By S.Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi. Translated by Mohiuddin Ahmad. Lucknow, Academy of Islamic Research and Publications, 1983. pp.11, 64. Indian Rs.6.

xiv. FAHARIS MAKHTUTAT AL‐KHIZANA AL‐HASANIYYA HASABA ARQAMI‐HA ‘ALA AL‐RUFUF (1). Tasnif MUHAMMAD AL‐MANUUNI. Rabat, al‐Matba'a al‐Malakiyya, 1403/1983. pp.23 + 315.

xv. L'ÉGYPTIEN TEL QU'ON L'ÉCRIT: GLOSSAIRE ÉTABLI D'APRES UN CHOIX D'OEUVRES LITTÉRAIRES ÉGYPTIENNES CONTEMPORAINES. Compiled by Charles Vial. (Textes Arabes et Études Islamiques, Tome XVIII) Cairo, Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale du Caire, 1983. pp.xxiii, 382.

xvii. IMMIGRANTS, MINORITIES AND RACE RELATIONS: A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THESES AND DISSERTATIONS PRESENTED AT BRITISH AND IRISH UNIVERSITIES 1900–1981. By Victor F. Gilbert and Darshan Singh Tatla, with an introduction by Colin Holmes. London and New York, Mansell, 1984. pp.153. £13.50.

xviii. SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA: A BIBLIOGRAPHIC SURVEY. By Ali Banuazizi, with the assistance of Prouchestia Goodarzi. London and New York, Mansell Publishing Ltd., 1984. xviii, pp.248. £18.00.

xix. THE YEMENS. Compiled by G.Rex Smith. (World Bibliographical Series, 50). Oxford, Clio Press, 1984. pp.161, 1 map. Price £20.75.

xx. THE ROLE OF NATIONAL LIBRARIES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SAUDI ARABIA. By Abdulaziz Mohamed Al‐Nahari. London & New York, Mansell, 1984. pp.166. £18.50.