Change management? Organisational change strategies and managers' and workers' responses : a case study of a commercial vehicle manufacturing plant in southern India

This thesis examines the conception, implementation and outcomes of corporate management change strategies through an ethnographic study of a commercial vehicle manufacturing plant in Southern India with a history of labour-management conflict. Participant observation and interviews were carried out mainly within one manufacturing facility between July 2008 and June 2009, with a further visit in 2011. Towards the end of my fieldwork I also interviewed trade union conveners, activists and a cross-section of workers. The change management programme at the case study firm sought to implement the precepts of lean manufacturing by removing systemic inefficiencies in inventory management and production processes and installing a new organisational culture that promoted greater participation and self-initiative among workers and managers. Investigating the reasons for this programme’s very partial success made it possible to understand better the contradictory pressures faced by corporate management, the challenges encountered by senior plant managers and the factors shaping the reception of management policies by middle managers and workers. The thesis furthers our understanding of the limits of managerial agency by integrating two largely independent strands of enquiry: the rich ethnographic studies of the labour process, by Delbridge [1998], Milkman [1997], Durand and Hatzfeld [2003] and others, that consider the implementation and denouement of Japanese modes of work organisation such as lean manufacturing, and the granular focus on managerial subjectivities that shape managerial activity and condition managerial agency, represented by the work of Watson [1994], Jackall [1988] and Dalton [1950]. In addition, it documents the importance of broader political-economic contexts in determining the outcomes of management initiatives

A Survey On Cloud Computing Security Issues

While cloud computing is picking up prevalence, assorted security and protection issues are rising that block the quick reception of this new computing worldview. Furthermore, the improvement of cautious arrangements is lingering behind. To guarantee a safe and reliable cloud environment it is fundamental to distinguish the impediments of existing arrangements and imagine headings for future research. In this paper, we have reviewed basic security and protection challenges in cloud computing, arranged different existing arrangements, looked at their qualities and constraints, and imagined future research headings

Evaluating the Self-Care Efficacy and Needs of Cancer Patients Experiencing Chemotherapy Side Effects

Background: Chemotherapy involves the strategic use of chemotherapeutic agents to manage cancer. While effective, it can harm healthy cells, leading to adverse effects. Our study aims to identify the self-care gaps faced by cancer patients and provide them with the essential knowledge, skills, and support to manage their condition effectively.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive-analytic design was employed, involving a purposive sample of 100 patients with cancer experiencing side effects from chemotherapy. A predesigned questionnaire evaluated the history of chemotherapy and its side effects, Psychological, social, and religious needs, and Level of independence in basic self-care and daily living skills. Descriptive and inferential statistics organized, tallied, and examined the gathered data. Results: The majority 88 percent of clients meet their needs moderately adequate, only 9 percent of clients meet their needs adequately and 3 percent of clients cannot meet their needs. The overall mean score was 20.99 (SD = 4.802) out of a maximum possible score of 24, indicating that most patients demonstrated autonomy in self-care effectiveness concerning daily activities. A significant correlation was observed between the levels of independence and the demographic variables of the patients. Additionally, there is a noteworthy positive correlation (r = 0.303) between mental health, social, and spiritual requirements and the degree of independence in essential self-care efficacy among cancer patients.Conclusion: The health team's primary duty is to raise awareness of and provide an explanation of self-care management of the disease. This will help people adopt a positive mindset and teach them how to practice at standard levels.Keywords:  Self-care efficacy; Cancer; Chemotherapy; Side effects; Patient needs

The concept of district health management in Malaysia

Background: In Malaysia, public health services sector are administered by the Ministry of Health through its central headquarters to the state and district offices. The District Health Offices particularly manage and coordinate the delivery of an effective, efficient and affordable health services in the districts throughout Malaysia. Materials and Methods: The information and statistics used in this article are based on the data collected from reports, articles, and publications by the Ministry of Health Malaysia and journals published pertaining to the District Health Management in Malaysia. Result: A District Health Office is entrusted with two major roles; to deliver public health services and to manage resources within a district. Led by a Public Health Physician, it acts as a body to oversee the execution of the national health policies and strategies at the ground level and serves to enforce existing health related legislation. It is also responsible in disease monitoring and surveillance and also the achievement of specific health indicators for each activity. There are six major services provided by the District Health Office, namely the Family Health, Disease Control, Occupational Health, Food Quality Control, Health Education, as well as Environmental Health and Water Supply Services. Conclusion: A District Health Office functions as the basic operational level in Malaysia healthcare system. Being the backbone in government healthcare system, it is essential to provide a well organised and integrated health service in delivering quality healthcare services to the population

Assessing the Awareness, Perceptions, and Behaviors Regarding the Harmful Effects of Smoking Among Smokers – An Interventional Community-Based Study

Background: Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of premature deaths. Tobacco control remains a top priority, and health warning labels (HWLs) are one of the recommended methods. The goal of health education is to influence their perception of tobacco use, thereby discouraging smokers and would-be-smokers from smoking. This study is aimed at ascertaining the level of awareness, perceptions, and behaviors regarding the harmful effects of smoking among male smokers in Farasan Island, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  Methods: A pre-experimental group with pre-and post-test design was conducted from January 2022 to March 2022. Totally 200 Participants were selected using a non-probability purposive sampling technique. The questionnaire was prepared using the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) and World Health Organization guidelines.Results: Of the 199 participants, 91% had a family history of smoking, and 78.4% started smoking between the ages of 22–23. Most participants (48.2%) smoked 2–5 cigarettes per day. The mean knowledge score increased in the pretest from 4.49 (1.787) to post-test 17.5 (1.07), with a mean difference of 6.237. In perception, the maximum score was 55, while the mean score significantly increased from 21.65 (3.21) to 49.78 (2.69) in the post-test. Therefore, the educational intervention successfully improved both knowledge and perceptions of smoking.Conclusion: Most participants had a family history of smoking and started smoking at a young age. This study highlights the need for increased awareness and education regarding the harmful effects of smoking and the development of strategies for smoking cessation.Keywords: Awareness; Perception; Behavior; Smoking; Tobacco Contro

A Study on the Impact of COVID on Farm Sector Higher Education and Employment

The issue of the COVID-19 and its impact on higher education is an emergent focus of debate across the globe. Higher education sectors all over the world are exceptionally disordered and disrupted radically and students are struggling a lot to navigate this crisis. An Analysis of Higher Education, Placement, Employment and Earning Contours of TNAU Farm graduates during the Pre and Post COVID 19 Regimes was conducted with the following objectives. For the present study, 372 past candidates were contacted. Data was collected by mailed Questionnaire. The issue of the COVID-19 and its impact on higher education is an emergent focus of debate across the globe. Higher education sectors all over the world are exceptionally  disordered and disrupted radically and students are struggling a lot to navigate this crisis. Among the respondents 57 per cent were girls and 43 percent were boys. Around 42 per cent of the graduates were from rural background, 31% from urban and remaining from peri-urban areas.  Over 61 per cent of the passed out graduates were preparing for competitive examinations, 26 per cent were pursuing higher education and only 13 per cent were employed. The percentage of graduates doing higher education and employed has reduced by nearly 50 percent during the COVID. All the students were employed within India during the pre and post COVID period and the difference between these periods was negligible. However it could be noted that the number of graduates being employed in private sector reduced drastically in the first year of Covid while it increased by 35 percent during the second year after CoVID. The choice of jobs were prioritized in the following preference. They were Salary, passion and job security. However it can be found that the job security aspect has reduced by 20 percent in the Covid situation. About 59 per cent indicated that their jobs were not secured and 36 per cent expressed that they found it difficult to get admission in national and international institutions due to covid pandemic and 17.2 per cent indicated that they were not able to pursue education in National and International institutions even after getting admissions and fellowships. COVID has impacted higher education and job prospect in abroad and far way places

The Love For Learning

In this thesis I answer two closely related questions: answering each of them gives us insight into the other. They are 1) How do we help someone to come to “love” learning? And 2) What characterises those who love learning? To begin with, I establish that an approach to learning that prioritises cognitive control is the “best” kind of learning for facilitating love for learning. Then, I show that pleasure is an important aspect in fostering love for learning and that lovers of learning find learning pleasurable. Following that I argue that lovers of learning are vulnerable and “open” to learning. Finally, I show that a lover of learning is someone who is wholehearted about learning

Assess the effectiveness of Video Teaching Programme on Self-Help Techniques of Osteoarthritis among Elderly in Old Age Homes, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

INTRODUCTION : Old age neither be healed nor be prevented much can be done by health workers in helping the old age people to lead a normal life, which helps them to perform their activities of daily living (ADL) without difficulty. Joint-pain to decreased mobility are the commonest problem of old people to meet their ADL. Due to highest health problem of osteoarthritis among elderly population needs strengthening of geriatric health care services in community and hospital based health care settings. The programme needs to be developed in geriatric health care with the facilities of early diagnosis, counseling, healthy diet, weight control, regular exercise and physiotherapy along with the treatment. The researcher has undertaken this study to improve their self-care activities by giving information regarding the self-help techniques of osteoarthritis thus improving the quality of living to lead a healthy life. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY : 1. To identify the clients affected with Osteoarthritis among elderly. 2. To assess the self-care among elderly with Osteoarthritis. 3. To implement the Video Teaching Programme to clients with osteoarthritis on Self-Help Techniques of Osteoarthritis 4. To assess the effectiveness of Video Teaching Programme on Self-Help Techniques of Osteoarthritis. 5. To associate the self-care knowledge and practice with demographic variables of clients with osteoarthritis. 6. To compare the self-care practice in relation to knowledge of the osteoarthritis clients with osteoarthritis. METHODS : Quasi experimental time series design was adopted for this study. The sample size was 272 osteoarthritis clients from old age homes, Coimbatore. Purposive sampling technique was adopted in this study. Clients more than 50 years of age and of both the sexes were included for the study. The tool used for data collection were osteoarthritis identification tool, modified WOMAC Index tool to assess the severity of osteoarthritis, structured interview schedule in tamil to assess the self-care knowledge on osteoarthritis, observational checklist to assess the self-care abilities and video teaching programme on self-help techniques of Osteoarthritis. Then implemented the video teaching programme on self-help techniques of Osteoarthritis for 25 minutes. After 15 days of interval the post-test was conducted by using same instruments. Severity of Osteoarthritis was assessed for 3 times with every 15 days of intervals by using modified WOMAC index. By using descriptive and inferential statistics the collected data were arranged, tabulated and analyzed. MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE STUDY : • Highest percentage (31%) of clients aged between 66-70 years and majorities (54%) of them were female. • Highest percentage (27%) of clients had secondary education and majority (39%) of them were semi manual workers. • 67 percentage of clients were non vegetarians and highest percentage (45%) of clients under the BMI classification of obesity (BMI 30kg/m2 & above). • 56 percentages of clients were not had any chronic illness. 78 percentages of clients had history of joint pain more than 5 years and only 13 percentages of clients were adopted the assistive devices for mobilization. • Area-wise distribution of osteoarthritis clients according to their level of knowledge regarding self-care shows that, overall highest percentage (37%) of clients had poor knowledge in pre-test and 62 percentage of clients had excellent knowledge in post-test. • Area-wise mean, SD and mean percentage of pre and post-test knowledge Osteoarthritis clients shows that, in pre-test out of 34 maximum obtainable scores the mean score was 15.785±4.594 which is around 52.502 percentage of the total score revealing, clients had average knowledge on self-help techniques of osteoarthritis. Whereas the mean score in post-test was 28.281±3.822, which is around 87.129 percentage of the total score revealing clients had excellent knowledge on self-help techniques of osteoarthritis. • Area-wise distribution of osteoarthritis clients according to their level of practice regarding self-care of osteoarthritis shows that, overall highest percentage (62%) of clients had partially adoptive practice in pre-test. Where as in post-test, 97 percentage of clients had fully adoptive practice it reveals that the video teaching programme was effective on self-help techniques of osteoarthritis. • Area-wise mean, SD and mean percentage of pre and post-test practice of Osteoarthritis clients shows that in pre-test, out of 64 maximum obtainable scores the mean score was 27.08±4.607 which is around 44.368 percentage of the total score, revealing clients had partially adoptive practice on self-help techniques of osteoarthritis. Whereas the mean score in post-test was 54.519±5.031, which is around 85.019 percentage of the total score, revealing clients had fully adoptive practice on self-help techniques of osteoarthritis. • Distribution of osteoarthritis clients according to their severity level of osteoarthritis shows that, in pre-test, 97 percentage of clients had severe level of osteoarthritis and only 3 percentage had moderate level. Where as in post test 74 percentage of clients (202 nos.) came to mild level of severity through fully adaptation of self-help technique and only 5 percentage of clients were still in severe level of osteoarthritis. • Significant association formed between the knowledge and practice of OA clients when compared to the demographic variables of age, sex, educational status, type of previous occupation, body mass index, history of chronic illness and usage of any assistive devices. • Calculated the Paired‘t’ test to assess the significant difference between the pre and post-test knowledge and practice of self-help techniques of osteoarthritis shows highly significant difference. Hence it can be concluded that intervention on self-help techniques of osteoarthritis is highly effective. • Karl Pearson’s co-relation co-efficient analysis between knowledge and practice score of the post-test shows significant positive relationship between knowledge and practice (r= 0.882). • Paired‘t’ test was calculated to analyze the severity of osteoarthritis, shows that in pre and post-test there was a significant difference in WOMAC index. Hence it can be concluded that there is a highly significant difference between the pre and post severity of osteoarthritis and the hypothesis is accepted. It reveals that the practice of self-help technique reduced the severity of osteoarthritis gradually and significantly. • Difference in severity of osteoarthritis in pre and post assessment by using one way repeated measures ANOVA shows the there was a significant improvement in the observation of reduction in severity of osteoarthritis. CONCLUSION : Osteoarthritis is a common disorder in all population and overall prevalence is same in men and women. Osteoarthritis cannot be cured but it can be controlled. The primary responsibility of nurse is to create awareness and explain about self-care management of disease, which will develop positive attitude and learn to practice according to the standard level. In this study majority of the clients had inadequate level of knowledge about the self-care management of osteoarthritis in pre-test. After implementation of video teaching programme on self-help technique of osteoarthritis majority of the clients had excellent knowledge and fully adoptive practice of selfcare management as well as reduced the severity of osteoarthritis gradually and significantl

Mitigating of waterlogging associated problems by the management practices in the rice ecosystem of the Deltaic zone of Tamil Nadu

Cauvery Delta is the major rice-growing tract of Tamil Nadu. Continuous waterlogging is inevitable in the delta region due to unexpected heavy rain, leading to stunted crop growth and poor soil conditions. The present study aimed to alleviate the waterlogging-associated problems of stunted growth, crop nutrition deficiency, heavy algal growth and poor soil aeration issues in the heavy clayey soils of deltaic region of Tamil Nadu. Field experiments were laid out with the treatments viz., CuSO4,, (5kg/ha) (T1), Gypsum (500 kg/ha) (T2), Conoweeding+Alternate Wetting and Drying Irrigation(AWDI) (T3), microbial consortia (K and Zn solubilising Bacteria  500 ml/ha) (T4) control (T5) and combination of all (T6) except  CuSO4  along with control .  The results indicated that the T6 recorded higher plant height (110.2 cm), productive tillers/m2 of 332, filled grains of 118.3 and less chaffy grains of 20.3 nos, high nutrient status of 265 kg/ha of available N,35.4 kg/ha of available P,342 kg/ha of available K,  21.1meq/100 g of Ca,8.2 meq/100 g of Mg and root length and volume. The  algal population in terms of dry biomass was reduced to 3.1 (g/m2) from the control group of 11.2 (g/m2) at 15 days after imposing treatment. The per cent increase of 26.0 % grain yield was also recorded in the combination treatment over control. From the present research, combined application of gypsum @500 kg/ha  +Cono weeding twice +AWDI and microbial consortia of Zn and K solubilising bacteria @500ml/ha could be recommended for better soil environment and rice production in the delta region.