Sunday, 10 August 2014

Government policy: A road to Arab Spring

There is no doubt in minds of ordinary people in Pakistan that the government is not serious to diffuse the situation rather they seem serious to fuel it further. If the situation gets worse than who else except the government is to be blamed for their incompetence in negotiation and deescalating the situation. When a senior members of the governing party calls PAT leader as an insane person and actions of the governments suggests that they don’t treat them as even humans as well, whereas their only crime is that they are not elected members. We don’t see the same treatment with PTI leader and members as they are elected ones. The government has to realize the Qadri Sahib holds a power and has fan falling among several thousand members of PAT. Like all the religious parties these followers are also not afraid of giving their lives away for the call of their spiritual leader. The agenda of the leader can be argued if it pro Pakistan or against, is it inner directed or foreign triggered. However he holds the power and he should be given respect and attention. A proper formal initiation of dialog process should be carried out without any delay. But this suggestion is for the ones who are new in the affairs, Sharif brothers have been in the affairs of the state since ages. Their behavior suggests that they themselves want to make the situation worst and perhaps will flee away from the country. What if they were given this agenda by their lords when they made extra arrangements in law to give them a chance to become third time PM of Pakistan? What a pity a family that has been in government for the highest time ever, still mourns to be given more time to bring about a change. Perhaps they want nothing to be changed; they want themselves and their kids in the government for indefinite time. The worst part is the mindset of the followers; they don’t want a change. They can’t imagine any other individual capable to govern the country. This thinking is an outcome of the slavery they have faced by these families (PML-N, PPP etc) for the last three to four decades. This has developed a lasting impact of slavery over their minds and souls. Or perhaps, it’s down to the reason that most of the (so called) die hard followers got birth during their regime.

To me the way government is handling the situation is a complete suicidal which will result in (God forbids) a total chaos and anarchy. All the top brass leadership of Pakistan from almost all the parties have their major stakes in shape of staggering amount of investments outside the country, they have put on their parachutes and life saving jackets they will pick their brief cases and will return back to their home sweet homes and homelands.

The current situation offers high political incentives to other parties as well. Wasif Ali Wasif in his book "Baat Say Baat" said "Too many leaders indicate a leadership crises". Normally there is one leader and lots of followers, unfortunately in our case (specially in this situation) there are lots of leaders with lots of followers. A situation where PAT is openly backed by PTI, silently by MQM PML-Q and even PPP if gets worse than how the government will control the situation? Will they dialog with PTI, PAT, PPP, PML-Q, MQM or other mushroom parties to diffuse the situation??? No doubt everyone will try to take the greatest political mileage regardless of how much loss it can bring to the country amid PML-N itself being the cause of major disturbance and unrest in current situation.

The guarantee given to PPP and PML-N to rule the country for three elections via so called democratic system (electoral system) with no Army intervention by Americans (whistle blow by Shehla Raza in one of her talks the other day in a live program) seems elapsed before time. Perhaps this was the reason that after the recent meeting held between Nawaz & Zardari, both leaders headed back to their lords to get some more extension i.e Nawaz Sharif Sb going to Saudi Arabia and Zardari Sb heading towards USA.

A very hypothetical and naive imagination (God forbids), what if PML-N persists with its current violent, seriously non-serious policy, Army is not allowed to take control of the situation, few protestants get killed and lots of them are injured, Islamabad is sealed by protestants and clashes happening on every corner of the street between police and individuals, terrorists getting benefits of the situation and committing more blasts…. Are you scared??? Is the situation I am depicting is familiar to you??? Is this what we have already witnessed during Arab Spring???? Don’t you think our government is intentionally going on the road to Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Libya???

God Help the Muslims living in the country (Is Mulk Ka Allah Hi Nigaban Ha) and the Muslims around the world…

Syed Afzal Moshadi

Note: The author is a university teacher and the views shared are his personal candid views and are not aimed to hurt the feelings of others.

Sunday, 20 October 2013

Performance Measurement using Distributed Performance Knowledge Management System: Empirical case study of Coca Cola Enterprises

Written by: Tahir Afzal Malik, Hikmat Ullah Khan, Syed Afzal Moshadi Shah & Shafiq Gul

Published in International Review of Business Research Papers, Vol.6, No.1 February 2010, Pp.250-282

Online Available at: http://www.bizresearchpapers.com/23.Tahir.pdf

Abstract:

Measure the most critical processes and improvement for better solution is key indicator to survive in competitor market. Performance management and Knowledge Management provide a best solution for continuous improvement. The paper assess & reviews the enabling factor of Coca Cola Enterprise (CCE) Ltd for the implementation of the distributive knowledgeable management system with performance measurement tool (balance Scorecard) for continuous Improvement. The study has been carried out by conducting literature review, questionnaire survey, structured interviews and case study. On the basis of outcome of the research strategies, the framework has been devised for implementation.

The Distributed Knowledgeable Performance Management System (DKPMS) has been implemented using database. The different factors have been analyzed on suitable sample data and certain conclusions have been derived using proper statistical methods. In the nutshell, DKPMPS depicts optimistic effects on employee & customer satisfaction, mission, vision, values & Strategy etc and move CCE towards business excellence, optimization centric environment and on continuous improvement.

Cultural Diversity in Pakistan: National vs Provincial

Written by Syed Afzal Moshadi Shah & Prof. Dr. Shehla Amjad

Published in Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, ISSN 2039 – 2117, Vol.2, No.2, May 2011

Online Available at : http://www.mcser.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=78%3Asyed-afzal-moshadi-shah-shehla-amjad&Itemid=63

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to investigate the cultural dimensions of the four provinces of Pakistan i.e. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan of Pakistan and their comparison with national culture.

The research capitalizes upon the methodology devised by Hofstede et. al (2008) in order to investigate the cultural dimensions. A total 557 questionnaires were used in order to reach the final analysis by using descriptive statistics and test of significance. Research findings show an existence of a cultural diversity among different provinces of Pakistan, where Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) possessing the most distinctive culture. Beside
provincial disparity with national culture on one to one basis, it does not affect the results on aggregate basis.

Hence the national culture remains a true representation of the country. The nature of subcultures within provinces and the level of their impact was the major limitation of the research. The research would benefit businesses in Pakistan at large both local and Multi-national organizations. VSM-08 is the latest version of all the methodologies devised by Hofstede. No study has yet been conducted in Pakistan to identify cultural dimensions on province level using the parameters defined in this model. Future research on different management and marketing aspects in Pakistani culture can be conducted in the light of this research

Saturday, 19 October 2013

Job Objectives, Career Objectives and Personal Objectives

While choosing a job, career or a profession, do you ask yourself about the basic objective behind your objective???

We all have objectives in our lives. Some have explicit objectives, others have implicit ones. Some follow with conscious efforts other follow them with intuition or unconsciously. It is observed that most of us could not work out properly the desired outcome of the objectives. In the other worlds, do our objects will result in the kind of SATISFACTION we expect or associate with them or not, is a question that merely is asked by us. In this era of fads, trends and fashions, our objectives too get influenced by others. Most of the times, these external factors have little or no relevance to our personal lives and career objectives.

Let’s take the example of choosing a profession for life and its link with famous prevailing trends. Before 1990 there was a massive trend of joining armed forces in Pakistan. The armed forces were a symbol of bravery & charm. The permanent nature of the job and facilities were greatly admired and inspired by the public at large. During 1992 there was again rise in the trend of becoming doctors and engineers. The rise of computer sciences during 1996 in Pakistan influenced a large number of students to opt computer intensive courses in order to choose computer studies as their future area of professions.

If we conduct a survey of the students who are enrolled in different universities in Pakistan, a majority of the students will reveal some of the following reasons for their basic motive to opt for the course they are studying or the career they wish to pursue:

· Father’s desire

· Mother’s desire

· Influenced by a cousin or a friend or a neighbor

· This is what most of the people desire to do

· Etc etc

You would be surprised to know that most of the BBA students, when they are offered specialization course options after one year of their studies, still seem confused and undecided. If they have had opted the course by themselves with a strong passion behind this decision, they have had a better idea of which specialization they should opt for. They would not only have a clarity towards their specialization options (Marketing, Management, Human Resources Management, Finance, Accounting etc… ) but would also have a good understanding of the course scheme, course challenges, future jobs, and ultimate career.

Individuals (in shape of employees) who could not discover their personal objectives, always struggle to find true satisfaction. Given below are some of the problems that they may face:

- High level of dissatisfaction with the professions

- High level of stress

- Low productivity

- Low level of motivation

- High level of complaints

- High level of conflicts

Friday, 18 October 2013

7 tips to stay confident during interviews

7 tips to stay confident during interviews:

Staying natural and confident during interviews is the most crucial part of getting recruited. The success and failure lies on this particular aspect. It’s not how much you possess the knowledge it’s how you exhibit the knowledge during interviews. A normal interview may range between 5-25 minutes; however this may vary according to the nature and level of the job, industry, interviewer/ interviewee’s skills and expertise to handle interviews.

We have seen many who are the tigers on transcripts with flying grades / CGPA’s, however remained unsuccessful in securing a simple job. They possessed all that was required to secure the job, however they failed to impress the interviewers and lacked the basic ingredient of interviewing skills which is called ‘CONFIDENCE…’

Let me share with you an example of an interview that we intended to hire a full time engineer for our Fareham, Southampton, UK factory. John Moore (Technical Director) showed a keen interest in a candidate during interview and the session prolonged to almost half an hour. After the interview Mr. Moore told me that he would not recommend this gentleman for the job. I was surprised as the candidate fulfilled all the basic requirements and skills for the job. On enquiring, he told me that the candidate was not confident during the interview and he suspect as if was trying to hide something from him…

This is one of the many examples that we notice or even unnoticed during the interviews. This is something that all the panel members dedicate a special attention during the interviews.

Tips

1. Prepare well before the interviews. You can establish a clear link between the job advertisements, the potential job and the expected requirements from the candidates. List down the potential questions and answers. Hire the services of your fiend to ask those questions and try to address them with confidence, logic and tactfully. You will be surprised to discover that you were able to predict 50-80% of the questions being asked during the interviews.

2. Try to understand the corporate structure and the working. Even with similar professions there may be huge differences between the working conditions, practices and expectations. A visit to the organization may give you many verbal and nonverbal indications and understanding of the prevailing working environment. This will be very helpful to the candidates who are in their earlier professional carriers, especially the ones who have just graduated from the institutes. Normally such candidates feel huge nervousness and hold an artificial view of the organizations.

3.Try to get information about the interviewer and his style of work. Is S/he task oriented or people oriented. Plan your interview according to what s/he feels important than what you feel yourself. It’s all about her/him, not you during interviews.

4. Try to collect latest information related to your field of studies. Read news papers, professional article, digests etc… It looks very odd during an interview if a mega event has happened within you professional arena and you exhibit to no knowledge about this.

5. Sleep well, eat well and reach well before the time of interview. Make sure you carry all the relevant documents, invitation letters and other proofs required during the interviews.

66. Have faith and confidence that this is not the first and the last job on earth. Make this a learning experience and try to enjoy the session as much as you can.

7. Last but not least, don’t get hurt with failures. Turn every failure into a useful lesson. Try to work on the weakness that you discovered during the interviews. Also try to appear in as much interviews as you can. By this you would learn the key questions that are being asked in your professional area. You will learn about the key skills that they look for during the interviews. This will grow your confidence level and ultimately let you secure the desired job.

Best of luck for your interviews….

Afzal Moshadi Shah