SAMANM Group of Research Publications
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SAMANM Group of Research Publications provides an international and open access research platform for scholars, academicians, researchers, educationists, teachers and students, where they can share their novel and creative knowledge, information, histories and cultural glimpses under one roof. Our society welcomes original and contemporary research work in fields of humanities, social sciences, business, entrepreneurship, economics, finance,
accounting, management, marketing, human resource management, education, sociology, business relations, business law, history, sports, media sciences, linguistics, arts, music, public administration, information sciences, computer sciences, astrology, new moon 2024, astronomy, leadership, knowledge management, and many more. We appreciate authors to submit their quality work that can be in form of research papers, academic articles books and original thesis or dissertations that will further undergone through rigorous peer-reviewed process before publication.
This society is a non for profit entity that is established to contribute maximum research promotion and to facilitate an open access quality publications worldwide. We provide free access for quality research publications to international audience without any financial, legal or technical barriers.
SAMANM Group of Research Publications focuses on submission of pure and original scientific research work of every type in the area of Social Sciences and Humanities. Submitted work must be first hand that should neither be already published nor is under consideration for publication elsewhere.
Authors and researchers are requested to submit quality work in form of Research papers, Academic articles, Research notes, Review papers, Scholarly papers, Term papers, Research notes, Commentaries, Scientific writing, and Thesis or dissertation.
Our Vision
SAMANM Group of Research Publications intends to be a top tier scholarly and academic research society.
Our Mission
To contribute globally towards research development and progression of scientific discoveries and to provide free access to online publications around the globe that is the dream of every educationist.
Editorial Team
Dr. Abdul Majid Makki
Associate Professor Department of Commerce, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Ms. Anam Siddiqui
M.Phil (Human Resource Management), The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Ms. Sumaira Aslam
M.Phil (Finance), Masters (Economics), The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Mr. Ammad Asif
Assistant Director, WAPDA, Senior Engineer affiliated with UET, Lahore, Pakistan.
Mr. Jamal Asif, ACA.
C.A., Manager Audit, Assurance and Advisory, Associate Member of Institute of Chartered Accountant of Pakistan (ICAP), Pakistan.
Mr. Umar Wali
Zonal Customer Care Manager, HR Specialist, Lahore, Pakistan.
Mr. Muhammad Amir Sultan
Independent Researcher & Sales Support Executive ZIL Limited, Pakistan
Dr. Maggie Foley
Assistant Professor of Finance, Jacksonville University, USA.
Ms. Madiha Latif
M.Phil (Finance), Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan.
Ms. Aisha Akram
M.Phil (Finance), Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan.
Ms. Madeeha Jabeen
M.Phil (Human Resource Management), The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Ms. Fehmida Malik
M.Phil (Finance), Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan.
Ms. Jumana Maryum
M.Phil (Human Resource Management), The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Ms. Mehwish Malik
M.Phil (Finance), The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Muhammad Usman
Lecturer, Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Sahiwal, Pakistan.
Dr. Lung-Tan Lu
Associate Professor, Department of Management, Fo Guang University, Taiwan.
Dr. Ali Dehghan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Business & Economics, Wesleyan College.
Dr. Ionica Oncioiu
Associate Professor PhD, Christian University Dimitrie Cantemir Bucharest, Faculty of Management Touristic and Commercial, Constanta, Romania.
Dr Mohamed El Hedi Arouri
Professor of Finance at Université d’Auvergne, Researcher at CRCGM and Associate Researcher at EDHEC Business School.
Dr. Sarra Ben Slimane
Economist, Post doctoral in Erasmus and Averroes program: DEFI University of Mediterranean, Aix Marseille II, Ph.D. in Economics, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, Tunisian.
Dr. Mohd Zulkifli Muhammad
Lecturer, Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Malaysia.
Dr. Iftikhar Hussain
Assistant Professor & Chairman, Department of Commerce, University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Faculty of Administrative Sciences, Kotli AJK, Pakistan.
Dr. Zafar Ahmad Sultan
Assistant professor, Department of Management, College of Business Administration, Al-Kharj, Salman Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Khaled Mokni
Assistant professor, Higher Institute of informatics and Management of Kairouan, Tunisia.
Dr. Mohamed Abbas Mohamed Ibrahim
Assistant Professor of Economics in Faculty of Business Administration, Majmaah University, Majmaah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Cosimo Magazzino
Professor for the SSD SECS-P/02 at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Roma Tre University, Italy.
Dr. Amaresh Das
Visiting Professor, College of Business, Southern University at New Orleans, USA.
Dr. Allam Mohammed Mousa Hamdan
Assistant Professor of Accounting, Ahlia University, Bahrain.
Dr. José G. Vargas-Hernández
Member of the National System of Researchers of Mexico, Mexico.
Dr. Justice Gameli Djokoto
Senior Lecturer, Central Business School, Central University College; Accra, Ghana.
Dr. Tajul Ariffin Masron
Senior lecturer, USM, Malaysia.
Dr. Sutan Emir Hidayat
Assistant Professor and academic advisor for Islamic finance at University College of Bahrain (UCB), Bahrain.
Dr. Yueting Hu
Vice-director in the headquarter of CNPC HSE Department and visiting lecturer in several institutes, China.
Dr. Yu-Te Tu
Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, Chungyu Institute of Technology, Taiwan.
Dr. Anson Wong
Teaching Fellow, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
Dr. Babajide Abiola Ayopo
Senior Lecture, Department of Banking & Finance, College of Development Studies, Covenant University, Nigeria.
Dr. Abdullah Bin Saleh Al-Khulaifi
The fourth President of Qatar University, Qatar.
Dr. Melike E Bildirici
Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, Yıldız Technical University, Yıldız/ Istanbul, Turkey.
Dr. Nkasiobi Silas Oguzor
PhD (Agriculture) Provost, Federal College of Education (Technical),Omoku- Nigeria.
Dr. Jacinta A. Opara
PhD (Environmental Studies) Associate Professor, Universidad Azteca,Chalco- Mexico.
Dr. Austin N. Nosike
PhD (Management), Senior Research Fellow and Director, Globalization and Development Program, The Granada Management Institute, Granada-Spain.
Dr.Grace Fayombo
PhD (Psychology) University of West Indies at Babardos, West Indies.
Dr. Shobana Nelasco
Associate Professor and Post Doctoral Faculty Fellow of ICSSR, Dept. of Economics, Bharathidasan University, Khajamalai Campus, Trichirappalli-620023
Dr. Samir Alredaisy
PhD(Geography)University of Khartourn, Sudan.
Dr. Adaku Ngozi Achilike
PhD (Business Education) Former Deputy, Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic,Unwana-Afikpo, Nigeria.
Dr.Tariq Ahmad Lone
Ph.D., (Biotch), Assistant Professor, Department Of Microbiology, Sree Amman Arts & Science College, Chittode- Erode-638102, Tamil Nadu India.
Dr. ANUPAM MITRA
Assistant Professor (Finance) at Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Bangalore, Symbiosis International University (SIU), India.
Dr. Prohlad Roy
Assistant Professor, deptt. of education, visva-bharati university, India.
Dr. Mahfuz Ahmad Judeh
Dean, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Applied Science University (ASU), Jordan.
Prof. Dr. P. Malyadri
M.Com, Ph.D, PGDCA, Principal, Government Degree College, Osmania University, Patancheru, Hyderabad – 502 319, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Dr. V. Vijay Durga Prasad
M.B.A., Ph.D., Professor and Head, Department of Management Studies, PSCMR College of Engineering and Technology, Vijayawada – 520 001, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Dr. Ionel Bostan-DHC
PhD Professor, Doctor in Economics and Doctor in Law, Al. I. Cuza University / Economics Faculty, Iasi- Romania.
Professor Dr. Nawab Ali KhanDepartment of Human Resource Management, College of Business Administration. Salman Bin Abdulaziz University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Dr.V.Mahalakshmi M.L,Mba,Ph.D
Dean, Panimalar Engineering College, Chennai, IndiaDr. Santosh Kumar Behera
Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Sidho-Kanho-Birsh University, Purulia, West Bengal, IndiaDr. Gouher Ahmed Associate Professor, College of Business Studies, Al Ghurair University, Dubai, UAE
Dr. N Maruti Rao Associate Professor, PG Dept. of Business Administration, Rani Channamma University, India
Dr. Sanjay Rode
Ph.D in economics, Assistant professor, Mumbai University, India
Dr. Hsu-Feng Hung
Ph.D. of Business Administration, Assistant Professor, Department of Hospitality, MingDao University, Republic of China (R.O.C.)
DR. Rose Mugweni
PhD in Education Policy Studies, M. Ed. (ECE), B. Ed. (ECE), CE, Deputy Dean – Faculty of Education, Great Zimbabwe University, Zimbabwe.
Dr. Zoltán BUJDOSÓ College Professor, Head of Institution, Károly Róbert University College Instituion for Tourism, Regional Development and Foreign Language, Hungary.
Dr. MUHAMMAD RIZWAN PhD. in STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING, MILITARY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, PAKISTAN.
ANIL BARIK Faculty of Management Studies, SOA University,Bhubaneswar,India
Dr. Abhishek Gupta Administrative-cum-Accounts Officer, Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India
Dr. Doman GNOUFOUGOU PhD and Assistant professor at Kara University, TOGO, China
Daniel Agyapong
Lecturer and Principal Research Assistant, School of Business, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
Noriza Mohd Saad
Senior Lecturer, Universiti Tenaga National, Faculty of Finance & Economics, Sultan Hj Ahmad Shah Campus, 26700,Muadzam Shah, Pahang, Malaysia.
Suhana Mohamed
PhD Scholar & Lecturer of Finance, Universiti Teknologi MARA Kampus Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
Tapas Pal
PhD Scholar, Department of Geography, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, Birbhum, West Bengal, India.
Md. Lutfur Rahman
Ph D student and Assistant Professor, Dept. of Business Administration, East West University, Australia.
Ying Chen
PhD Candidate, Lecturer and Senior Lecturer, Sydney institute of language and commerce, Shanghai University Bilingually taught accounting, Financial management. Part-time lecturer of UFIDA ERP software. Manager of laboratory on bookkeeping and ERP, China.
Salman Khalid
MS (Management), visiting lecturer in different institutions of Faisalabad, Pakistan.
Dr. Vandana Srivastava
Professor (IT), IILM Institute for Higher Education, New Delhi, India.
Dr. M. Senthilkumar
Senior Scientist (Microbiology), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Government of India, India.
Dr. Silviu Beciu Assoc. Prof. Ph.D. Beciu Silviu, ViceDean of the Faculty of Management - USAMV Bucharest, Romania
Ionela Mituko Vlad
PhD Lecturer, Faculty of Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and Rural Development, University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Bucharest, Romania.
Articles
International SAMANM Journal of Business and Social Sciences (ISJBSS)
Online ISSN 2308-2372
Print ISSN 2309-3420
International SAMANM Journal of Business and Social Sciences is a peer reviewed, open access, annually published journal that publishes quality research work both basic and theoretical. The journal aims at creating, building, and disseminating valuable knowledge and scholarly information on the topics of social sciences that is further focused to pursue social international welfare. Its subjects ranging from general level to specific level of topics related to social sciences as stated under.
ISJBSS is an open assess journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the academic user. Users are allowed to read, download, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
International SAMANM Journal of Finance and Accounting (ISJFA)
Online ISSN 2308-2356
Print ISSN 2309-3439
International SAMANM Journal of Finance and Accounting is a peer reviewed, open access, annually published journal that publishes quality research work both basic and theoretical. This journals aims to promote research in the areas of finance, accounting and business and to elicit debate and eminent discussion on the wider and specific topics that comes under head of business finance that are stated under.
ISJFA is an open assess journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the academic user. Users are allowed to read, download, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
International SAMANM Journal of Marketing and Management (ISJMM)
Online ISSN 2308-2399
Print ISSN 2309-3412
International SAMANM Journal of Marketing and Management is a peer reviewed, open access, annually published journal that publishes quality research work both applied and basic. The aim of this journal is to stretch researchers and scholars intuiting and thinking over areas of marketing, management and human resource management and to share their in-depth knowledge under this magnificent platform. All type of research and scholarly work is welcomed from all over the world so to create a gigantic hub mitigating eminent educationist, theorist, teachers, scholars, researchers, academicians, students and learners to openly share their learned ideas and views.
ISJMM is an open assess journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the academic user. Users are allowed to read, download, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
Guidelines for Authors
Publication Process
SAMANM Group of Research Publications follows a transparent and systematic procedure of publication.
Authors can submit their research work through email on this contact isjfa@samanmjournals.org or editor@samanmjournals.org Editors will respond to author email and will acknowledge the receipt of email within 72 hours. The paper will then send for review process to the prestigious editorial members and at least 2 reviewers will rigorously review the paper and will take almost a month in review process. Review email will be send to authors within a month of receiving paper along with the copy of review report from two known reviewers, copy of reviewed paper and copy of plagiarism report (optional). Authors will be requested to make recommended changes (if any) in the reviewed paper and send it back to the editors within 4 day span. Finally the paper will be send for final acceptance and if the paper get accepted then acceptance letter will be send to the authors. Authors are then requested to make payment of only USD150$ which includes all charges as online publication, print publication, shipment charges and other processing charges. As soon as the payment will be made successfully and payment receipt will be send to the editor, author will be requested to send the final consent for publication of their paper. Online publication of paper will appear only within 2 weeks period. Printed copies will be send to authors after the completion of issue and will be send on corresponding authors mailing address on semiannual basis.
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Important Note Please note that submitted manuscript must be purely first hand as it must neither be published already nor it must be under consideration for publication elsewhere.
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Authors are requested to follow following layout for their manuscript;
Cover letter Author(s) must submit cover letter in MS word format comprising of;
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Note: Do not give headings within the abstract.
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Findings / discussion This portion must include the original findings of the work with clearly stating results and comprehensively discussing these results in light of previous researches.
Recommendations and Suggestions This portion includes and suggestions or recommendations that author(s) can provide to support their work generality and application. As this is not mandatory portion author(s) can exclude this part if not consider it as necessary.
Conclusion This portion includes stating the utility of study and its consistency with previous studies.
References Author(s) must follow the APA style of referencing.
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As per the policy of our Journal only 15 to 18 percent plagiarism is acceptable, more similarity content will lead your paper to rejection.
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Online publication fee is only USD 55$. Online plus printed publication charges per accepted paper equals only $150 USD. This fee includes all charges as processing fee, printing charges,shipment charges.Please note there is no submission fee for this journal. Moreover online version of published paper is easily downloadable and accessible for everyone. No charges are to be paid to access paper online.
Special Announcement for All Authors
SAMANM Group of Research Publications undergoes tight and rigorous peer review process after publication of every issue, journal’s editor in chief and other board members will select the best paper out of all published papers. Author of best paper will be granted a best paper awarding certificate plus the best paper title for every issue of concerned journal will be shown on the home page of the society.
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Please note:
Dear authors it is humbly requested to you that SGRP is an open platform for all authors related to any region or country of world. We strongly recommend concerned authors of papers or manuscripts to make submissions on their own without involving any intermediate or agent or middleman. Our website is only responsible for the services that are mentioned on our website only. It is highly mandatory for corresponding authors that they must be writer of submitted papers and have written consent of all authors to send paper and publish accepted manuscripts in SGRP. SGRP will only oblige such papers whose correspondence will be done by authors not any middleman, agent or intermediary person, organization, or conference.
Application of SORF©Analysis in Formulating Business Strategies
Dr. Shahin Shadfar1Chief Strategy Officer at Rossen Darman PJSCAbstractNowadays, hardly any business entity can continue without setting strategy, whether implicit orexplicit. The essence of business strategy lies in creating future competitive advantage “faster”,“better” and more “realistic” than competitors. In the other hand, there are various tools,techniques and methods to develop and formulate strategies. However, for over a half century inbusiness; SWOT analysis has been leading tool and analytical model to look for gaps andmatches between competences, resources and the business environment. But, due to weaknessesof SWOT, including pejorative language, unclear and arbitrary boundary between “inside” &“outside”, ignoring contexts overlaps, isolated analysis and lack of logical link among seentopics when its repeated; new concept is needed. To this end, this paper introduces analysis ofStrengths, Opportunities, Realities and Facts called “SORF©Analysis” in order to provide moreholistic view on companies’ strategies. As case study, application of SORF©analysis on Iranhealthcare market is given in order to provide 360º view on Multinationals (MNCs) go-to-marketstrategy for this challenging marketKeywords: SWOT Analysis, SORFAnalysis, Business Strategies, Iran Healthcare MarketIntroductionPerhaps, the reason that many executives emphasize on having business strategy is because bythat they can have a succinct and pragmatic plans and also can have shared definition when theycreate, communicate, and implement plans for their businesses. They [executives] look for thestrategies that are consistent, feasible and practical.However, there are various business strategies that can be formulated in order to compete andsurvive in the market places. There are also various techniques, systems and tools from whichcan be used to formulate strategies. But, for companies; first and most important step beforeentering into any market is to study of the strategic plan that should put into action and get a fullrealistic 360º strategic view of the market.1shadfar@rossendarman.com© 2013 Dr. Shahin Shadfar. All rights reserved. All SORF analysis materials, including abbreviation and matrix may not be reproduced, displayed, modified ordistributed without the express prior written permission of the copyright holder. For permission, please contact [shahin.shadfar@gmail.com].
The fundamental of strategy makers; if the techniques, tools and models can be called so; is toprovide some independent and to some extent “naive” perspective on the overall businessstrategy. The term “naive” here should not imply a lack of business knowledge but only a lack ofindoctrination into the market culture, facts, realities, miss-understandings, miss-represents andbiases. The objective, however, is to identify the “root-causes” of difficulty and avoid being“blind-sided” on, opportunities, chances, potentials, and eventually risks and issues (Lieb, 2012).The result of any strategy plan study, methodology and technique, however, should verify thatthe designed strategy and market entry model for targeted market are consistent and feasible.Strategies that are based on decisions and assumptions which don’t get reviewed thoroughlyenough and challenged enough to “harden” the overall premise, are compromised from thebeginning (Evans, 2013).Formulating StrategiesIt was during World War II that strategic planning arose and later during 1950s, by efforts ofHarvard Business School, importance of having strategy to integrate the various functional areasin companies and organization highlighted. Nowadays, hardly any business entity can continuewithout setting strategy, whether implicit or explicit. However, the essence of business strategylies in creating future competitive advantage “faster”, “better” and more “realistic” thancompetitors (Ward and Peppard, 2002). Nevertheless, many of the analysis techniques ofstrategy formulation are used to focus on a particular strategic issue such as the analysis ofcompetitors, the strength of the existing portfolio of products or the relative merits of differentcourses of action (Ibid). Though, there exists a far broader context within which the techniquesand tools are applied and any organization should consider and investigate them carefully.Involving factors are “the external environment”, “stakeholders” and “internal plans andstrategies”. Ward and Peppard concluded in an ideal world, the strategy frameworks would besufficient for the organization to use to address the planning needs at all levels and across allfunctions in the organization. However, it is evident that such frameworks are not widely used,perhaps due to the high degree of formality implied in this approach. It needs not to bebureaucratic or prescriptive, but each of the elements should be addressed separately. Instead, itappears that many organizations use a number of different strategy tools, but often without anoverall framework, resulting in inadequate synthesis of the outputs from the various analyses and processes.
Techniques to Plan StrategiesVarious business analysis techniques can be used in strategic formulation, including SWOTanalysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), PEST analysis (Political,Economic, Social, and Technological analysis), STEER analysis (Socio-cultural, Technological,Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors), and EPISTELS (Environment, Political,Informative, Social, Technological, Economic, Legal and Spiritual). First time StanfordUniversity’s Albert Humphrey led a research project in the 1960s-1970s and Strengths,Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis (SWOT) was to have originated from his“Stakeholders Concept and SWOT Analysis” (Friesner, 2009). It is now more than 50 years thatin business SWOT analysis is leading tool and analytical model to look for gaps and matchesbetween competences, resources and the business environment. Nevertheless, many strategistsand marketeer have tried to develop alternative tools and different models to replace SWOT.Recently, Panagiotou (2003) suggested “TELESCOPIC Observation” (TO) to make animprovement on this long-standing strategic planning tool. “TELESCOPIC Observation” (TO) isa more structured strategic framework which scans and observes distance objects, focuses andzooms in them, and brings them closer to the user for a more effective analysis and evaluation.“TELESCOPIC Observation” (TO) is not intended to replace other environmental analysistechniques but rather to consolidate on them in a systematic method. This method also focus on“internal environment” (maps strengths and weaknesses) and “external environment” (mapsopportunities and threats) [please see table 1].More recently, Graves (2006) introduces versatile alternative to SWOT in strategy analysis;called SCORE. Like SWOT, it’s a quick checklist for strategy, focuses in turn on Strengths,Challenges, Options and Opportunities, the probable Responses and returns of the strategy aswell as the impact on overall Effectiveness. Also like SWOT, it can be used for quick assessmentTable 1:
of strategic issues, but unlike SWOT, the results are measurable and assess both before and afteraction effects.However, Graves put serious questions on SWOT, and raised some requirements that has maderethinking SWOT as must do. He has shown that any alternative tool, including his own, (a)should make the language more real, (b) adapt for use in more complex contexts, © give moreholistic view and (d) enhance the methodology. He continues “these are some of the issues weneed to address, if we’re to make SWOT more useful in today’s more complex world” (Graves,2006). He rightly highlighted, SWOT has serious limitations which do cause real problems insetting strategy.Introducing SORF©TechniqueTo overcome the weaknesses of SWOT (e.g. pejorative language, unclear and arbitrary boundarybetween “inside” and “outside”, ignoring contexts overlaps, isolated analysis and lack of logicallink among seen topics when its repeated); new concept is needed. To this end, this paperintroduces SORF©analysis to adopt more holistic view on setting strategies. As case study, theSORF technique has been used in order to analysis Iran health market for multinationalcompanies.The SORF model puts all available cards on the table and gives much bigger outlook to theaudiences about the targeted market. It surf the general surrounding atmosphere and simplylooks into Strengths and Opportunities, and at the same time, instead of having superiors senseof danger, negatively and anxiously look for Threats and Weaknesses; it opens eyes on Realitiesand Facts that exist. The later concepts are “neutral” to any situation and are including whateveravailable, can be seen and exist at time of analysis, related directly and indirectly to the studiedtopic. When listing strengths of a company; anything related to targeted market are valuable. Forsure there are enough good reasons that a company is interested to a particular market.Therefore, it is also easy to list all opportunities that exist.Realities and Facts can be “inside” and “outside” of topic boundaries and at the same time, canbe stated and represented by different and opposite stakeholders. The Realities and Facts can be“inside” the company or organization, and at the same time can exist in the market (outsiders).However, normally Facts are measurable, like market shares, different Retail Selling Price(RSP) for competing products, marketing budget of competitors or customs tariff. These are notthreats; they are rather simple facts in the market that should be treated properly; study deep andtolerated. For instance, “long procedure of registration for any health related products at MinistryOf Health (normally 6 months) in Iran” is a fact about health care market in this country. Orcurrency fluctuation and devaluation is another unfortunate fact about Iran. But these kinds of“issues” are not really threats for a multinational company to ignore this market! Because,believe or not, just as fact, Iran is the 7thbiggest cosmetic market in the world and every ladywho is between 15 – 64 years old, spend $ 7 per month for her good of look (Joffe-Walt, 2010).Another difference between traditional and conservative SWOT analysis and SORF is the“outcome”. By end of SWOT, normally executives and board members are forced to make avery painful decision based on plus/minus factors. However, Strengths, Opportunities, Realitiesand Facts (SORF) analysis, assumed that, today threats may transform to opportunities bytomorrow and vice versa (I am sure everyone recalls many situations like this). It is the same story for weaknesses. So, why don’t focus on Facts which; are measurable and logical; andRealities which, like them or not, are out there. If they change, the company should also beflexible and agile enough to adopt accordingly, otherwise it cannot survive in this challengingworld.Application of SORF©Analysis on Iran Healthcare MarketAccording to Business Monitor International (2011), Iran remains a very risky market (reality),not least due to its unsettled political situation. Theoretically speaking, however, it boasts astrong growth potential (fact), propped up by the large population (another fact), which isforecast to reach nearly 80 M in 2016, and the reliance on imports for high-tech products (morefacts). The report also shows healthcare expenditure in 2010 was $ 28.57 B, reached to $ 31.88 Bin 2011 by + 11.6% growths (again more facts) Strengths:For any healthcare company, having full line of products in certain categories, for example,personal care, or baby care, skin care, bath and shower products, hair care, body care, men’sgrooming, oral care & etc is strategic value proposition in which can play as strong suit card.Add to this list, advanced marketing approach and techniques, supporting sales forces by ad-hoctraining and promotional plans.Opportunities:The list starting from consumer side. A very young population guarantees growth in demand.Despite all myths; pro-western brands aspirations among Iranians secure top ranking in wish listof consumers. These two factors are enforcing changes in the market; speeding up by ripe of newretailers; like Hyperstar $ 60 M direct investment mini mall project by Dubai based Majid Al-Fottaim, franchisee of Carrefour) & Hami (biggest private domestic chain stores run by long-time FMCG market player; Shekofa Kish; distributor of Nivea and Philips).StrengthsFactsRealitiesOpportunitiesFigure 1: SORF© Analysis ModelTargeted Market Boundaries Realities: First eye-catching point about Iran healthcare market is by any international standards still thismarket is underserved in many segments. Therefore, early-entrants would get rewards mucheasier/earlier. But alluring as the market is, there are some sticky issues, especially if involvesUSA retailers and goods [USA sanctions ban trade with Iran]. However, medicine, food andagricultural products manufacturers can get OFAC license2and start operation in Iran. On thetop of these, shifting political dynamics in which cause inconsistency in planning is the boldestreality can be seen in Iran general business atmosphere.Facts:Located in an extraordinary geostrategic location in Middle East, by more than 77 millionpopulations who 2/3 of them are under 30 years old, Iranian government strategy is to providehighest attainable level of health to the nation (Iran Constitution, 1995). Iran has relatively highGDP per capita by $ 4,741 (89thin the world, 23rdin Asia) (IMF, 2011) and its total healthexpenditure per capita stands at $ 929 (69thin the world) which is accounted for 6.8% of its GDP(WHO, 2011). Iran also is 18thworld largest by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP); achievedeconomic growth of 2.6%, in 2009 while suffering more than 22% unemployment, 25% officialinflation and has no credit facilities (IMF, 2010). However, still Iran is considered as fastestgrowing market for many Multi-National Companies (MNCs) in Middle East (ME). Forinstance, Euromonitor (2012) report on Skin Care market in Middle East has admitted that Iran,accompany with Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates “are the largest and most robustmarket, in both terms of size and volume’ and “ are likely to see the big international playersmaking moves to increase their share of sales in the region”.ConclusionThe application of Strengths, Opportunities, Realities and Facts (SORF) addresses key issuesin developing and framing strategy. Basically, SORF looks for what is already available aroundthe topic at edge of the targeted market boundaries (please see fig 1). SORF analysis also likeSWOT lists strengths and opportunities, inside and outside, right from consumers, crew andmarket to the product range and technology or advanced promotional plans. For instance, pro-western lifestyle or having a Farsi or Arab speaking employee who can help senior managementto have better understanding of regional dynamics is great deal of opportunity for any companyin Middle East. When it comes to knowledge, Facts would help to summarize, categorize andback arguments. The more facts are there, the more realistic the outcome would be. For example,in case of Iran, healthcare expenditures or cost of skin care by Iranian ladies are very strong andsolid facts. And, finally, for sure the Reality is, Iran is quite difficult, challenging and under-served, yet rewarding market.2On 22 October 2012, OFAC amended the Iranian Transactions Regulations (ITR), renamed the regulations to be called the Iranian Transactions and SanctionsRegulations (ITSR), and reissued the rules in their entirety. Given the nature of the changes, companies should review their global operations related to Iran indetail. Some changes resulted in the elimination of license exceptions. Other changes offer opportunities to companies by creating new general licenses fortrade without the need for a specific license. For more information, please read “New OFAC Regulations on Iran” at www.hoganlovells.com.
By conducting SORF analysis, gathering all necessary facts that needs to strategically analyzingthe situation is guaranteed. Because as part of the model; Realities also have been studied; theoutcome strategy will be much more realistic. In addition since the formulated strategy is basedon strengths; therefore the solutions are practical and robust. Opportunities also are identified inorder to allocate available resources more effective. After all, one of the important aspects ofboard members duties is to identify opportunities, capitalize strengths and based on facts andrealities decide on best-fit strategy for the companies.Once Peter Drucker (1980) said, “one gets paid only for strengths; one does not get paid forweaknesses. The question, therefore, is firs, what are our specific strengths? And then, are theythe right strengths? Are they the strengths that fit the opportunities of tomorrow, or are they thestrengths that fitted those of yesterday? Are we deploying our strengths where the opportunitiesno longer are, or perhaps never were? And finally, what additional strengths do we have toacquire? What performance capacities do we have to add to exploit the changes, theopportunities, the turbulences of the environment – those created by demographics, by changingin knowledge and technology, and by the change in the world economy?” Application of SORFmight be handy in this kind of situations.ReferencesAnonymous, Bureau of Rules and Regulations, 1995, I.R. of Iran Constitution, I. R. IranPresidency Office.Anonymous, Business Monitor International, 2012, Iran Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Report– Q2 2012, Retrieved from www.marketresearch.com.Drucker, P. F., 2011, Managing in Turbulent Times, Routledge.Evans, J., 2013, What Were They Thinking? Avoiding Corporate Strategy Disasters, retrievedfrom www.methodframeworks.com.Friesner, T., 2009, History of SWOT Analysis, Retrieved from MarketingTeacher.com.Graves, T., 2006, An Introduction to SCORE, Tetradian Consulting, www.tetradian.com.Joffe-Walt, B., 2010, Iran found to be the Middle East’s Second Largest Market for Cosmetics,Retrieved from www.thedailynewsegypt.com.Kondhia, P., 2012, Skin Care, The Key to Unlocking Middle East Market, Euromonitor.Lieb, E., 2012, Methods of Strategic Planning, pdf document retrieved from www.lieb.com.Mehrdad, R., 2009, Health System in Iran, Japan Medical Association Journal, Vol. 52, No. 1,January/February 2009.Anonymous, 2011, World Economy Outlook Database, retrieved from www.imf.org.Anonymous, 2010, World Economy Outlook Database, retrieved from www.imf.org.Panagiotou, G., 2003, Bringing SWOT into Focus, Business Strategy Review, Vol. 14, Issue 2,pp. 8-10.Ward, J., and J. Peppard, 2002, Strategic Planning for Information Systems, John Wiley & SonsLtd.Anonymous, World Health Organization, 2012, retrieved from www.who.int.
Pioneering in Ethics Teaching: The Case of Management Accounting in Iranian Universities
Babak Jamshidinavid1, Mojtaba Chavoshani2, ForoozanKamari3AbstractThe main objective of this research is to draw the clear obvious picture of present situation of managementaccounting ethics teaching in Iran universities and also to present the effective and strategic guidelines inorder to complete this developing picture based on the management accounting lecturer’s ideas, views andattitudes basically with focusing on first four steps of 7 steps presented by Sims (2000). This study which isthe first survey research about management accounting ethics teaching in Iranian universities is performedby interviewing and submitting the questionnaire to email address of management accounting lecturers in 34valid universities. The results of present research revealed that a significant majority of managementaccounting lecturers address ethical issues in their teaching who can be viewed as “pioneers” in ethicsteaching. Nonetheless, ethics importance and personal interest have been expressed as two main reasons inaddressing ethical issues by lecturers. In other words, there is no special time schedule in curriculum formanagement accounting ethics teaching. The role of universities and their ability in developing of student’sethical attitude and behavior and also the responsibility of universities in teaching professional ethics besidetechnical issues is so inconspicuous. With respect to presence of “pioneers” in ethics teaching, universitiescan fulfill their mission statement in training ethical specialist by designing and implementing the suitablerequirements.1Department of Accounting, Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran2 Department of Accounting, Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran, Email:mojtaba_cch@yahoo.com3 Department of Managemen, Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran
Keywords: Ethics, Ethics teaching, Iranian universities, Management accounting.1. IntroductionThe information which accountants provide is crucial in aiding managers, investors and others in makingcritical economic decisions. Accordingly, ethical improprieties by accountants can be detrimental to society,resulting in distrust by the public and disruption of efficient capital market operations (Williams & Elson2010). Experiment of companies such as Enron, WorldCom and Martha Stewart are samples of thesescandals (IMA 2008). In relation to management accounting as a part of accounting information system, lawprovides additional degrees of freedom to provide information. For this reason, ethics in ManagementAccounting requires more attentions. Given the importance and position of ethics in business, several studieshave been done on the issue of whether ethics teaching can be effective in blurting moral behavior. Results ofprevious studies suggest in order to blurt ethical behavior people should be taught (Brands, 2010). In otherwords, regardless to other factors which influences in forming the moral character of persons, emerging theethical behavior in people who are educated about the ethics is likely much more than who aren‟t educatedabout ethics.There are much debates surrounds how best to teach business ethics (Whetstone, 1998) – what the goals andmethods should be (Adams et al, 1998; Bampton and Cowton, 2002; Hajjawi, 2008). Such debates aboutgood or best practice are commonplace regarding the teaching of ethics in higher education, but perhaps themost basic questions relate to what place, if any, ethics should have in the curriculum (Callahan, 1980). AsDunfee and Robertson (1988) point out, it can be (1) a separate compulsory course in the businesscurriculum, (2) it can be offered as a separate optional course, or (3) it can be integrated into the teaching ofother business courses (Dunfee and Robertson, 1988). Although business ethics teaching has not necessarilyyet secured a substantial foothold at least in the form of separate provision (core or optional) in Iranian highereducation, but the importance of professional ethics and professionalism has been increased in recent years sothat it has been attracted the attentions of many researchers and academics in various fields includingaccounting. Some would contend, in any case, that the integration of business ethics into the core businesscurriculum – the third approach cited above – is likely to be more effective than separate provision alone(Dunfee and Robertson, 1988; Sims, 2000; Mahoney, 1990). The separate provision is more likely toreinforce a view that business ethics is a “super optional” of peripheral concern to core business andmanagement studies, though the course itself might be compulsory or required element. Also, many studentswould not therefore take business ethics seriously, if lecturers of “mainstream” business and managementareas do not admit to the importance of teaching business ethical issues. Furthermore, if some students believe in the relevance of business ethics, the lecturers of “ethics free” business subjects do nothing to equiptheir students for managing ethically in their subsequent career (Hajjawi, 2007).Based on experience at Nova Southeastern University, Sims suggests seven steps in developing an “ethicsacross the curriculum” policy. It means if the importance of professional ethics is perceived and it‟s decidedto ethics teaching in that case, to integrate business ethics into the curriculum of the program is the beststrategy, but if the 7 steps presented by Sims are applied. These steps have been presented as follows (seeFigure 1):Step1Faculty agreement that business ethics is importantStep2Faculty agreement that universities should teach business ethicsStep3Faculty agreement that they should be the ones who teach business ethicsStep4Faculty share how they currently handle business ethics within their coursesStep5Ask for volunteers to formalize the teaching of business ethics within their coursesStep6Write an Ethics Across the Curriculum Policy statementStep7Provide faculty supportSource: Sims (2000)Figure1. Suggested steps in developing an ethics across the curriculum policySupplying and installing above steps so, ethics is entered and Institutionalized within the studied fields suchas management accounting which is the main studied area in this research.Now there is very little information about the extent of ethical issues teaching in management accounting inIran. Though much of accounting education and training is concerned with technical issues, there have beensome signs in recent years of increased interests in accounting ethics. Among them, articles and books can bementioned which have been written in this area. Nevertheless, management accounting receivescomparatively little attention. Furthermore, most management accounting textbooks allocate little or no spacefor ethics (Duska and Duska, 2003).The aim of this paper is to draw on the findings of a questionnaire survey about management accountingethics in Iranian universities in order to address the position of ethical issues in teaching.
Literature ReviewDespite of the perceived importance of ethics in accounting management, little efforts have been made toincorporate it in the management accounting curriculum. As noted by Sims (2000) the implementation ofethics into the university curriculum needs to some requirements which must be prepared. Bampton andCowton (2002) conducted a study on the evaluation of preconditions needed to institutionalize ethics into themanagement accounting curriculum in UK universities based on 7 steps provided by Sims (2000). Theirresults showed although morality does not have any official status in the management accounting curriculumbut lecturers are quite aware of the importance of ethics in management accounting so they teachmanagement accounting ethics implicit or explicit besides teaching technical subjects of managementaccounting. In addition, their results strongly revealed that universities are the best candidates for teachingethics to students of management accounting.Hajjawi (2008) conducted a research on the importance and the position of management accounting ethicsbased on 7 steps proposed by Sims (2000) at Palestine Universities. He found that the majority of lecturersagree on the importance of ethics in management accounting but only very few of them teach managementaccounting ethics along with technical issues of management accounting profession.3. Research MethodThis research is among the descriptive- survey research. The research statistical population consists of allmanagement accounting lecturers throughout Iran who teach in different kinds of prestigious University bothnon-profit and profit. For doing this study, a questionnaire containing several questions have been mailed toemail address of management accounting lecturers in various universities in Iran. All needed informationincluding management accounting lecturers‟ name and their email addresses has been explored by visiting theuniversity‟s portal. Considering that on many universities websites lecturer‟s name or any other contactinformation was not available therefore could not make contact with the lecturers and these lecturers weredeleted inevitably.Since the population of management accounting teachers identifiable in Iran was not too large, a samplingstrategy was unnecessary, and a questionnaire was sent to all lecturers whose addresses were available. Intotal 219 questionnaires were mailed to lecturers at 34 different universities. Generally, 143 questionnairesdistributed were returned that 17 questionnaires were excluded because of they were uncompletedquestionnaires. The total number of respondents was 126, representing a pleasing response rate of 57.5%. A small program of face-to-face interviews and e-mail conversations to complement the questionnaire survey isalso taking place.The questionnaire itself was devised with reference to some previous surveys of ethics teaching (Bamptonand Cowton, 2002; Cummins, 1999; Downer, 1981; Mintz, 1990) and texts on questionnaire design. Some ofthe topics examined included:•how to incorporate business ethics into the academic curriculum;•the extent to which management accounting ethics is included in undergraduate degree courses;•the reasons for the inclusion of ethics in management accounting education;•identifying the areas that are of most interest areas;•the role of universities in ethics teaching and promoting ethics in students;•opinions on issues relating to moral development•the adequacy of existing resources to support teaching and learning;Several questions in the survey had been asked from respondents but only those findings that are relevant toits particular aims are presented and discussed in the following section.3.1 Demographic Characteristics Of Statistical SampleIn this section, the demographic characteristics of the sample have been described. Features that have beenconsidered including the status of respondents in terms of age, gender, teaching experience, academic leveland type of university:3.1.1 Frequency Distribution Of AgeTable 1 shows the age distribution of respondents:Age (year)20-3031-4041-50≥ 51TotalNumber4059198126%3247.215026.1100Table1: age distribution of respondents Frequency Distribution Of GenderGender is among nominal scales so; frequency table can provide many general information regarding thisvariable. As can be seen in Table 2, a total of 123 people have answered the questions, 58 were female and 67were male:genderFemalemaleTotalNumber5967126%46.853.2100Table 2: distribution of gender3.1.3 Frequency Distribution Of Teaching ExperienceThe teaching experience of respondents has been presented in table3:Teachingexperience(year)1-55-1010-20>20Totalnumber5441301126%43.132.6240.8100Table 3: distribution of teaching experience3.1.4Frequency Distribution Of Academic LevelTable 4 has been summarized the academic level of respondents:Academic level InstructorAssistantProfessorAssociateProfessorProfessorTotalNumber853821126%67.230.41.60.8100Table 4: distribution of academic level As presented in table 5, among the respondents, 35 person in governmental universities, 19 person in payam-e-noor universities (a type of valid universities in Iran), 61 person in Azad universities and 11 person inapplied-scientific universities 11 have being taught:typeofuniversitygovernmentaluniversitypayam-e-nooruniversityAzaduniversitiyapplied-scientificuniversitiesTotalNumber35196111126%2815.248.38.5100Table 5: distribution of the type of university3.2 Survey FindingsOne of the main interesting findings of the survey is that in despite of what is reported in the academicliterature and texts, most lecturers address ethical issues in their teaching of management accounting:%number27Explicit and implicit26Explicit only42Implicit only31Not stated75.495Ethics addressed24.631No coverage100.0126TotalTable 6: Summary of ethics coverageAs Table 6 indicates, about three-quarters of respondents (75.4%) stated that they do include an ethicalelement in their teaching of management accounting and only a quarter of them (24.6%) in their managementaccounting theory teaching and don‟t address ethical issues.It should be noted that the questionnaire offered respondents more than just a simple binary yes/no choiceover whether or not they included ethics in their teaching of management accounting. Without complicatingsuch a basic early question too much, the options presented included boxes for explicit and implicit coverage.
It can be seen from Table 1 that the number of lecturers who address ethical issues is more than who addressexplicitly (some indicated both). Although implicit coverage does not involve a specific timetabled session onethics, we will include it as a positive response; although there is a significant distinguishes between the twotypes of respondent where appropriate (Implicits and Explicits). Where respondents have said that they dealwith ethics both explicitly and implicitly, we will treat them as an Explicit because the term suggests atimetabled commitment to, or formalized coverage of ethical issues, the fruits of which are presumablypicked up in other sessions (Sims, 2000). From the perspective of advocates of business ethics in highereducation, those who address ethical issues explicitly might be viewed, as implementers of best practice.Even though the findings of the survey indicate that that commitment is usually for only a very few hours,Explicits might perhaps be regarded as the “true” pioneers (Bampton and Cowton, 2001). But we will alsotreat Implicits, at least for the time being, as pioneering, since there is so little attention to ethical issueswithin the conventional treatment of the subject as represented by the textbook literature.In presenting and discussing the findings of the questionnaire survey, the structure of the remainder of thissection will reflect Sims‟ (2000) first four steps, reproduced in Figure 1: attitudes towards the importance ofethics; opinions over the role of universities in moral development; and views regarding who should teachethics and also how to incorporate business ethics into the academic curriculum.3.2.1 The Importance of EthicsOne of the questions which might follow from Table 6 is: why do some lecturers address ethical issues intheir management accounting teaching? Table 7 provides some answers:Explicit%NoImplicits%NoAll%No67.93661.92665.362Ethics important22.61214.3618.918Personal interest5.7314.369.59Covered in text------predecessor3.829.546.36Other100.053100.042100.095TotalTable 7: Reasons for inclusion of ethics
Table 7 shows the reasons that respondents gave for including management accounting ethics in theirteaching. Respondents were segregated into Implicits and Explicits in order to see if there were any notabledifferences. The most common reason given for the inclusion of ethics was that it is an important part ofmanagement accounting, with about 65.3% of respondents citing this as a reason. Another reason which hasbeen expressed by lecturers for driving the expression of ethics training is personal interest, as 18.9% of therespondents address ethical issues for their personal interest. What lies behind that personal interest would bean interesting question for further research. For example, Macfarlane and Ottewill (2001) suggest that manybusiness ethics educators have commitments to particular religious or ethical positions.Another interesting perspective about respondent‟s view on the inclusion of ethical issues in managementaccounting education is that most professors who expressed the two main reasons; importance of ethics andpersonal interest, address ethical issues explicitly. In other words, it can be concluded who teachers haverealized the importance of ethics and solely for their personal interest and not coercion, choose the explicitmethod in their ethics teaching. Conversely, about those teachers who have stated the reason of covered intext and also about lecturers who have stated the other reason for the inclusion of ethics, implicit method isviewed as ethics teaching method.Generally, it can be concluded that the perceptions and beliefs of lecturers of ethics play an important role inhow to train of ethics. When the teachers realize the importance of ethics or are interested in morality, theywill address ethical issues in their teaching explicitly refers and a portion of class time will be spent forteaching ethics.3.2.2 Importance Of Ethics In Different AreasThere are various fields in accounting curriculum. One of the highlights of this study is to examinerespondent‟s views about the importance of ethics in different accounting areas. All respondents were askedto answer, not just those who cover ethics, the question in this case is included in the questionnaire. Withoutsaying it‟s clear that the ethics dimension is important in all areas of accounting but its importance in variousfields and from different people‟s views is not equal. Table 8 summarizes the results of the question whicharea is the most important field:
Allgroup" Yes"group" No"443311Auditing17125Taxation23185Management Accounting34268Financial Accounting22-Accounting Theory642Financial Management1269531TotalTable 8: Importance of ethics in different areasFor both the Yes group and the No group, auditing stands out as the area where ethics is most important.Similarly also, the importance of ethics in financial accounting, for both groups is place in second place afterauditing. It is interesting that not only those teachers who address ethical issues but also those lecturers whodon‟t address ethics in their education, believe that ethics and it‟s compliance auditing area is most importantof other areas. From the viewpoint of the respondents, importance of ethics in management accounting ranksin third place. One possible explanation is that, although ethical issues do arise in these areas, they areprobably less obvious. Ethical issues occur in management accounting practice but they are certainly lesswritten about in the journal literature and are largely absent from the textbooks (Fisher and Lovell, 2000).Table 8 presents evidence on the importance of ethics in management accounting.3.2.3 The Role Of UniversitiesHowever, it is one thing to think that ethical issues are important in an area of study or practice; it is anotherto take responsibility for promoting ethics. Lecturers might be excused for not addressing ethical issues ifthey thought that university education would have no impact on promotion of ethics in students. This is anarea of considerable debate and empirical research in accounting (Jeffrey, 1993; Loeb, 1991; Ponemon andGlazer, 1990), business ethics (see Whetstone, 1998) and higher education generally (Callahan and Bok,1980). In the current study, also it has been questioned. Table 4 summarizes the comments of respondentsabout “Do you think that teaching ethics at the University can enhance students’ ethical attitudes andbehaviors”: group"Yes"group" No"All572380 ( 63.5)%Yes, significantly34842( 33.33)%Yes, but limited impact3-3 ( 2.4)%No1-10 ( 0.8)%Don‟t know9531126( 100.0)TotalTable 9: Perceived impact of university ethics teaching on attitudes and behaviorAs it was expected, most members of yes group believe that ethics education at university has a significantimpact on students’ ethical attitudes and behavior, but perhaps it‟s so interesting and surprising that themembers of No group also think that ethics teaching at university is effective. Overall, 63.5% of respondentsbelieve that the teaching of ethics at the University substantially affect on students’ behavior and attitudes. Astable 9 suggests, despite of that approximately 33.33% of the yes and no respondents answered believe thatethics education at university has limited impact on student behavior but they do not deny the existence ofthis effect. It would seem, then, that many respondents in the No group have other reasons for not teachingethics, examples of which include previous failure to consider the issue or a perceived lack of time or space inthe curriculum (Bampton and Cowton, 2001).It is possible that some lecturers who think that universities can have no or limited impact might believe thatthey should not teach ethics. Such lecturers might believe that today‟s universities, notwithstanding theirhistoric role, have a limited responsibility or remit to pursue the development of ethical attitudes and behaviorin students. Rather than pursuing this issue in isolation, the questionnaire contextualized it by askingrespondents for their views on the institutions that they think should take responsibility for ethics education.Table 10 summarizes the findings:group" Yes"group" No"All361440( 31.7)%Family2-2( 1.6)%Religious Groups—School431659( 46.8)%University14115( 11.9)%Business & Profession9531126( 100.0)TotalTable 10: Responsibility for ethics education
Taking the respondents as a whole, it can be seen that university is introduced as an institution which must beresponsible in teaching ethical issues to students. It must be noticed that not only yes group, but also no groupacknowledged this fact that ethics training is the responsibility of universities. Family with 31.7% of votes isplaced in the second place after university with 46.8% of the votes. So in general, it can be concluded thattaking responsibility for teaching ethics is for two groups; university and family.3.2.4 Identifying TeachersThe third step in getting ethics incorporated into the curriculum, as identified by Sims (2000), is findingappropriate teachers. Even lecturers who believe that universities can and should deal with accounting ethicsmight feel unable to do so themselves. As Sims notes, not all faculty members feel qualified to cover theethical issues related to their subject area. However, it is interesting to note that those lecturers who doaddress ethical issues in their teaching do not view a background in moral philosophy as important.Interviews and answers suggest that this is probably because the coverage of ethics is limited and seen as anatural extension of the existing management accounting teaching. In such circumstances lecturers willingand able to teach ethics identify themselves by including it in their teaching (Bampton and Cowton, 2002).Although a qualification in, or even a knowledge of, moral philosophy are not viewed as being particularlyimportant for being able to teach management accounting ethics, an interest in business ethics is accordedsome importance. In order to identify the best option for management accounting ethics teaching, respondentswere asked to answer the question “expertise and knowledge in which field is better for managementaccounting ethics teachers are”. The results have been presented in Table 11:29Knowledge of management accounting theory8Interest in business ethics69Practical management accounting experience4Qualification in moral philosophy16Knowledge of moral philosophy126TotalTable 11: Importance of background for teaching management accounting ethicsAs shown in the above table, the majority of respondents (54.76%) believe who have practical experience inManagement accounting are the best candidates for management accounting ethics educating. In the case oflecturers in management accounting, personal experience of ethical dilemmas at work provides one means ofovercoming the limitations of textbooks (Fisher & Lovell, 2000).
Identifying Appropriate Tools For Teaching EthicsRelative growth in business provision ethics and specifically based on the result of present research due torecognize the necessity of teaching ethics in management accounting which has been identified according torespondent‟s community may lead to discussion about available resource‟s frequency for teaching ethics.There are many methods and tools to promote learning and printed material is surely the basic resource(Burton et al, 1991; Betts et al, 1993; Hajjawi, 2007; De George, 1991). The availability of wide range ofsatisfactory textbooks that influence the effectiveness of teaching is a vitally important. It is not fair tocontemplate holding back some potential modules on the grounds of lack teaching material. Therefore,textbooks are of particular importance to provide solid grounding for business ethics essentials into newpanorama (Hajjawi, 2008). So, in order to identify the best tool for teaching ethics, management accountinglecturers were asked to answer the question “which of the tools in teaching ethics in management accountingis more appropriate in Iran”. The results of this survey are presented in Table 12:group “Yes"group” No"All461662( 49.2)%Textbooks101020( 15.9)%case studies13114( 11.1)%Paper14418( 14.3)%Professional journals12-12( 9.5)%other9531126( 100.0)TotalTable 12: Identifying appropriate tools for teaching ethicsAs table 12 shows, 49.2% of the respondents have selected the textbook as the most important tool in themanagement accounting ethics teaching. It is interesting to note that the textbook has been introduced as animportant source by both yes and no groups. In other words, even those teachers who have been expressedthat they don‟t address ethical issues in their teaching introduce the textbook as the best tool in teachingethics. A case study with 15.9% votes after the book has been recognized as an effective source. Theprofessional journals with 14.3% of the comments have been ranked in third place. It should be noted thatthere is significant difference between the case studies and professional journals in the terms of Yes and Nogroup‟s options. So that, if only the comments of yes group be a basic of judgment professional journals insecond place and case studies in third place will be ranked. Conversely, if only No group comments beconsidered the case study is ranked in second place.
Suggestions For Future ResearchesAs noted by Sims (2000), in order to business ethics teaching at universities 7 Steps must be traveled. In thisstudy, 4 first steps of 7 steps were surveyed. The basic steps taken in this research were very important toinstitutionalize ethics at university education because of they might possible to reach the goal and made thepath very smooth and short. Study results showed that there are relatively favorable conditions formanagement accounting ethics education in Iranian universities. For navigation of steps 1 to 4, opinions ofManagement Accounting lecturers were needed while Step 5 requires to survey and to collect the student‟sviews on how to formulate management accounting ethics education into the academic curriculum. In orderto complete the image of management accounting ethics education examining the step 5 is suggested forfuture research.Taking steps 6 and 7 require to assistance and consideration of universities. Universities can writ ethics inmanagement accounting curriculum policy statement and support Teachers in the teaching of ethics byproviding the needed and effective resources and in this way, they can profit of the opinions of teachers andstudents of management accounting. It is conditions; universities can play their role in fostering ethicalspecialists comprehensively.5. ConclusionThe main objective of this research has been to draw the clear obvious picture of present situation ofmanagement accounting ethics teaching in Iran universities. In addition, this study has provided the basis forcomparing the results of researches which may be provided in the future. Drawing primarily on findings froma postal questionnaire survey, it has provided insights into the attitudes and opinions of managementaccounting lecturers at Iranian valid universities have been presented about following subjects. The first foursteps in the stage model presented by Sims (2000) were found useful in structuring the presentation anddiscussion of the findings.Many teachers (more precisely 75.4%) stated that emphasize on ethical issues in their managementaccounting education. This indicates that most of the professors acknowledge the importance of ethics inmanagement accounting. Maybe it‟s not surprising those professors who address ethical issues generally andapart from the importance of morality, have mentioned self-interest as the main factor in addressing ethics.Furthermore, it was cleared that the importance of ethics in management accounting compared with otherareas of accounting is in third place.
A good number of lectures think universities have a role to play in ethics teaching. Indeed, for better orworse, the respondents do not appear intimidated by ethics, in the sense that they do not consider a formalqualification in moral philosophy to be important, and even a knowledge of moral philosophy is seen as lessimportant than a theoretical or practical knowledge of management accounting. According to a survey donemajority of lecturers have mentioned the textbook as the best source in management accounting ethicseducation. Also, integration ethics issues into the special topics of management accounting profession havebeen cited as the best way to teach ethics.Although the literature on management accounting ethics has not been developed in Iran However, the surveyresults suggest that are a significant majority of lecturers who discuss ethical issues in varying degrees withtheir students can be viewed as “pioneers” of management accounting ethics teaching. These pioneers canprovide the required conditions for designing and implementing executive infrastructures at universities inorder to management accounting ethics teaching.6. AcknowledgementsThen authors would like to thank Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah Branch for its support to thisresearch.ReferencesAdams, J.S., Harris, C. and Carley, S.S. 1998. “Challenges in Teaching Ethics: Using Role Set Analysisof Early Career Dilemmas”, Journal of Business Ethics, 17(12), pp.1325-1335.Bampton R.J, Cowton C. 2002. Pioneering in Ethics Teaching: The Case of Management Accounting inUK Universities. SPRINGER. 279-295,Betts M, Liow S.J.R, Pollock R.W. 1993. Different Perceptions of Importance of Educational Objectives.Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice. 119:317-329.Brands K. 2010. Teaching Ethics and Value in Accounting Courses. 13th Annual Colleagues in JesuitBusiness Education Conference.Burton S, Johnston M.W, Wilson, E.J. 1991. An Experimental Assessment of Alternative TeachingApproaches for Introducing Business Ethics to Undergraduate Business Students. J Bus Ethics, 10,pp.507-517.Callahan D, Bok S. 1980. Ethics Teaching in Higher Education. Plenum Press, New York.Callahan, D. 1980. „Goals in the Teaching of Ethics‟, in D. Callahan and S. Bok (eds.), Ethics Teachingin Higher Education, Plenum Press, New York, NY, pp. 61-80.
Cummins J. 1999. The Teaching of Business Ethics at Undergraduate, Postgraduate and ProfessionalLevels in the UK. Institute of Business Ethics, London.De George R.T. 2006. Business Ethics. 6th edn. New Jersey, and Upper Saddle River: PearsonEducation.Downer S.G. 1981. The Teaching of Taxation in Undergraduate Degrees in the UK. AUTA Review 13:39-52.Dunfee T.W, Robertson D.C. 1988. Integrating Ethics into the Business School Curriculum. J BusEthics. 7:847-859.Duska, R.F. and Duska, B.S. 2003. Accounting Ethics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.Fisher C. and Lovell A. 2000. Accountants‟ Responses to Ethical Issues at Work. Chartered Institute ofManagement Accountants, London.Hajjawi O. 2007. Using Electronic Bulletin Board in Teaching Business Ethics in Palestine. ScientificConference on Knowledge Economics, in press.Nablus, Palestine: Faculty of Economics andAdministration Sciences, an- Najah National University.Hajjawi O. 2008. Pioneering in Teaching Ethics: The Case of Management Accounting in Universities inPaletine. Eur J Econ, Finance and Administrative Sciences, 14:149-157.Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). 2008. Values and Ethics: From Inception to Practice.Published by IMA.Jeffrey C. 1993. Ethical Development of Accounting Students, Non-Accounting Business Students, andLiberal Arts Students. Issues in Accounting Education. 8:86-96.Loeb S.E. 1991. The Evaluation of “Outcomes” of Accounting Ethics Education. J Bus Ethics. 10:77-84.Macfarlane B, Ottewill R. 2001. Business Ethics. Effective Learning and Teaching in Business andManagement. Kogan Page/ILT, London. 108-122.Mahoney, J. 1990, Teaching Business Ethics in the UK, Europe and the USA: A Comparative Study,Athlone Press, London.Mintz S.M. 1990. Ethics in the Management Accounting Curriculum. Management Accounting (US) 71:51-54.Ponemon L.A, Glazer A. 1990. Accounting Education and Ethical Development: The Influence ofLiberal Learning on Students and Alumni in Accounting Practice. Issues in Accounting Education.5:195-208.Sims R.L. 2000. Teaching Business Ethics: A Case Study of an Ethics Across the Curriculum Policy.Teaching Business Ethics. 4:437-443.Whetstone, J.T.1998, „Teaching Ethics to Managers: Contemporary Problems and a TraditionalSolution‟, in C.J. Cowton and R.S. Crisp (eds.), Business Ethics: Perspectives on the Practice of Theory,Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 177-206.
Determining the Job Satisfaction Level of the Academic Staff at Tertiary Academic Institutes of Pakistan
Ms. Iram SabaMS Scholar, Department of Management Sciences, The Islamia University Bahawalpur, PakistanEmail: iramsaba01@yahoo.comMs. Faiza IqbalVisiting Lecturer in Department of Computer Sciences and IT, The Islamia UniversityBahawalpur, PakistanEmail: faiza_iqbal11@hotmail.comAbstractPurpose: Purpose of this paper is to explore various factors that can affect on job satisfactionlevel of faculty and their possible extent through which these factors make work exciting andenjoyable for teachers to perform at university level. Several studies have been conductedpreviously but very little previous studies have been found in higher education sector especiallyin developing and under developed countries. As Pakistan is a developing country therefore,authors have tried to conduct this research in universities of Pakistan so that significantcontribution could be made in this regard.Methodology: Authors have deeply searched previous studies of researchers and through scoresof secondary information variables have been extracted to view the underlying concept clearly.For conducting this primary research authors have selected four reputed universities of Pakistanand have used both questionnaires and interviews as data collection instruments from the targetpopulation. Target population is faculty members of case study universities and authors havecollected data by drawing sample of this vast population.Findings: Authors have analyzed data by using simple means. It is revealed through results thatthe factor that got highest mean score is job security which means that job security largelyincrease job satisfaction of an employee whereas the factor that has got lowest mean score isavailability of fringe benefits to faculty members.Contribution: This study can be proved fruitful for policy makers and strategists of academicinstitutes. The major beneficiaries could be faculty members of academic institutes andmanagement of higher education system.Keywords: job satisfaction level, theories of job satisfaction, indicators affecting job satisfactionof employees.
Introduction
Students are one of the precious assets of any academic institute. Well-being of any societydepends upon its students because these are the one who will take the responsibility of success ofthe society in the future and teachers also play very important role in achieving this goal. Theyare the source of guidance at many crucial steps in academic life. Teachers are not only thesource of knowledge for the students but they also provide the guidance to their students tochoose the right path for their career. When teachers are satisfied with their job they can performtheir responsibilities with more concentration, devotion and competence.There are a number of research papers; thesis and other published work available on measuringjob satisfaction level of faculty members which shows the importance of this concept. Accordingto the Clark (1996), Managers, human resource specialists, supervisor and workforce itself areinvolved in exploring the ways that how job satisfaction of employees can be improved.Similarly, numerous articles and monographs have been published by the economists thatexplore the determinants of job satisfaction and outcomes of labor market (Bender & Heywood,2000). A wide variety of literature is available on this topic.Physical and mental health also depends upon the job satisfaction level of the employees. Jobsatisfaction plays vital role in the well-being of the workers (Oshangbemi, 1999). The well-beingof the employees can be improved by understanding the factors such as pay, promotionopportunities, support of research, support of teaching, fringe benefits, which have significantimpact on job satisfaction (Alam et al., 2005).According to the Santhapparaj and Alam (2005) if the workers are satisfied with their job thenthey will be more productive and they will remain in the organization for the longer period oftime. That is the reason to give importance to this concept because the ultimate goal of anyorganization is to increase the productivity as well as returns in long run.Similarly, Ozdemir (2009) quoted in his research paper that the employees want to be a part ofthat organization for a longer time period where they have maximum job satisfaction and theyalso shows greater productivity while performing their jobs and vice versa. From thedeterminants of job satisfaction it is indicated that older and the youngest employees have ahigher job satisfaction (Clark, Oswald and Warr, 1996). According to the Clark (1997) andSousa-Poza (2000) women have a greater job satisfaction than men.As major aim of conducting this research is to explore maximum factors that may increase ordecrease employee job satisfaction. Moreover, through analysis of results authors want tomeasure the extent to which various factors affect satisfaction level of faculty members. Thisstudy is useful for the management of higher education system as this study is conducted mainlyat universities. Authors have analyzed the primary data collected and several useful suggestionsand recommendations are given for improvement of staff satisfaction level. If teachers becomesatisfied from their job then they can perform better and immediate beneficiaries of this would bestudents. Thus overall quality of education delivered can be increased in this way.
Definitions of Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction is a momentous concept in any work environment so attention is paid by manyresearchers. Job satisfaction has various definitions. Generally job satisfaction can be defined asa positive or negative feeling that the workers feel about their work (Locke, 1976; Odom, Boxx,and Dunn, 1990). It is the satisfaction of the employees about the general aspects of job like pay,promotion, relationship with management, job itself, and progression in the job etc. (Noordin andJusoff, 2009). Job satisfaction of an employee can also be defined as an encouraging emotionalcondition resulting from the work (Locke, 1976; Spector, 1997). A positive emotional state thatgives the feeling of happiness to the employees when they complete their work is called jobsatisfaction.There are different researchers who define job satisfaction in different manner. As according toRobbins (2003) job satisfaction of an employee is his individual common attention or attitudetoward his job. The attitude can be positive or negative. The individuals who have positiveattitude towards their jobs are more satisfied with their jobs as compared to the individuals whohave negative attitude. We can say that the employees are satisfied with their job if they have thepositive attitude and are dissatisfied with their job if they have negative attitude towards it.Lawler (1973) defines that job satisfaction has only one-dimension. Employees are either happyor unhappy with the work. According to this researcher job satisfaction has only one dimension,employees are either satisfied or dissatisfied with their work. If they are satisfied with their workthey will be happy and if they are dissatisfied they will be unhappy from their work. There is nothird option at any work place according to him.In contrast to the above mention statements, other scholars as Smith, Kendall and Hulin (1969)described that job satisfaction is multi-dimensional, Employee might be more satisfied or lesssatisfied with the factors that affect their jobs i.e. Someone might be more satisfied withcompensation but less satisfied with the supervisor or promotion opportunities.There are many factors that affect the satisfaction level of the employees and in the point of viewof these researcher job satisfaction has more than one dimension. Satisfaction of any employeemight ranges from strongly satisfied to strongly dissatisfied. If someone is strongly satisfied withworking environment of the organization it doesn’t mean that he or she is also satisfied withsalary offered or with his coworkers. He or she may or may not be satisfied with the other factors(Smith, Kendall and Hulin, 1969).So at the same time someone could be satisfied with the one factor like promotion opportunitiesor salary and could be dissatisfied with the other factors like support for research or recognitionor any other factor.Similarly, Baloch (2009) quoted in his research paper that job satisfaction is the state of mind ofany employees which is pleasurable for him or her. These are all the definitions quoted by theprevious researcher in their research papers. These all shows that how much literature isavailable on this topic and how much important concept it is at any work setting.
Theories of Job Satisfaction
There are many theories related to job satisfaction with the help of which we can understand thisconcept in more detail. Following are the theories of job satisfaction that affect the jobsatisfaction level of the academicians;2.2.1 Discrepancy TheoryDiscrepancy theory was presented by the Locke (1969). According to discrepancy theory thedifference between the actual outcome and excepted outcome tells us about the satisfaction levelof the employee (Lawler, 1973). It means that if the actual outcomes of the employees arematched with the expected outcomes then their satisfaction level would be high but if the actualoutcomes are lower than the expected one then the satisfaction level will be low.2.2.2 Equity TheoryEquity theory was presented by Mowday (1992). According to equity theory employees comparetheir participation and production with the other individuals. If the ratio of one employee equal tothe other, the individual might be more pleased with his or her job (Mowday, 1992). Equity islinked with satisfaction and inequity with dissatisfaction. It means that employees compare theirinput/output ratio like the number of hour they work with the wages that their peers obtainedafter the same amount of work if they find it equal they feel more satisfied. On the other hand ifthere is any inequity then they feel dissatisfied. Hence, equity is associated with the jobsatisfaction.2.2.3 Motivator-Hygiene TheoryThis theory is presented by Herzberg et al. in 1959. According to them there are many factors atany workplace that are related to the job satisfaction or job dissatisfaction. The factors that arelinked to the job satisfaction are recognized as “motivators” and the factors which results in jobdissatisfaction are known as “hygiene”.According to the Herzberg et al. (1959) following are Motivators:Work Itself: Work itself is basically is the nature of the job or actual job that the employeeshave to perform. It must be according to personality of individuals. For example for an extrovertperson marketing job is best suitable same is the case with teachers. If a person have the abilityto clear his or her point of view in front of all other individual so the teaching profession wouldbe suitable for him or her.Therefore, if the actual work fits well with individual personality traits that person would bemore satisfied with the job.Recognition: Gratitude or appreciation that an employee want to obtained from the employer,other superiors personalities in the organization, supervisors, peers, the society in common orfrom the general public is known as recognition. Same is the case in higher education the praise that the teachers obtained from their chair person or dean is recognition which may enhancesatisfaction level of employees.Achievement: The success or accomplishment that the individuals get from their career is calledachievement. Higher the level of the achievement more will be the satisfaction level of theemployees.Responsibility: Accountability that employees have in their work environment. It is also relatedto the satisfaction level of the teachers.Advancement: Advancement is the change in the actual job duties. The progression orimprovement in the actual job duties is called advancement. This thing can improves satisfactionlevel of faculty members.Following are the Hygiene Factors:Salary: It is the amount of money that the employees get on regular basis. It is offered onmonthly basis in most cases. According to this theory lower level of salary could be a factor ofdissatisfaction at work setting.Supervision: The role of supervisor is also of major importance at workplace. If the supervisordelegate authority and duties according to the interest of the person it adds in the satisfactionlevel of that person otherwise it leads towards dissatisfaction.Policy and Administration: Policies that are followed in any organization and in case ofeducation policies followed at institutions and universities or any other administrative actionscan also results in satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the employees working under those policies.Working Conditions: Physical work setting and other facilities that create the environment forworkers is called working conditions. Working conditions are very important to perform dutiesefficiently and effectively. For example if there is lot of noise outside the classroom, it will turnaway the attention of teacher as well as the students and their effectiveness would decline. If theworking conditions are good then employees feel satisfied with their job otherwise vice versa.Interpersonal Relations: Relationship of the workers with the supervisor, peers, subordinatesand other individuals in the organization is the interpersonal relations. It is another indicator forsatisfaction or dissatisfaction.Herzberg et al. (1959) identified these factors but their description in the scenario of education isprovided by the Padilla-Veles (1993).2.3 Integration of Job Satisfaction with Other PracticesJob satisfaction has relationship with other concepts used at any organization like motivation,commitment and work-life balance, performance and productivity etc.
Work-Life Balance and Job Satisfaction
According to Malik et al. (2009) there is a momentous relationship between job satisfaction ofthe employees and the work-life balance (WLB). If there is WLB in the life of the employeesthey are definitely satisfied with their work and the duties they perform. Higher WLB will resultsin higher job satisfaction according to them and female employees are more satisfied incomparison of male staff. Eikhof et al. (2007) indicated that proper WLB is a crucial need of thisera because it helps the employees to mold their attitude according to the work environment anddaily life activities. WLB is balancing the work and non-work activities and the capability of theemployees to perform job by creating balance between it (Moore, 2007)2.3.2 Motivation and Job SatisfactionMotivation is another important concept at workplace and it has a clear relationship with jobsatisfaction. Bishay (1996) quoted in his research paper that there is significant affiliationbetween motivation and job satisfaction. As motivation is the willingness to do any work so ifthe individuals are satisfied with their jobs, they are more motivated to do their jobs and viceversa. That’s why motivation and job satisfaction has clear relationship. At the same timeNoordin and Jusoff (2009) also indicated about the significant association of the job satisfactionand employee motivation. Higher job satisfaction leads towards the higher motivation of theacademic staff.2.3.3 Commitment and Job SatisfactionAccording to the Tella et al. (2007), encouraging link exists between job satisfaction andorganizational commitment. It means that if the employees have higher level of job satisfaction,their commitment to their organization will be higher. Organizational commitment is defined asloyalty of employees with their organization or the willingness to put their maximum effort forsuccess of their organization (Bateman & Strasser, 1984). Similarly, job satisfaction has aconsiderable and significant impact on commitment of workers with organization which resultsin lower turnover and absenteeism rate (Noordin and Jusoff, 2009). Thus high job satisfactioncould leads towards high organizational commitment.2.3.4 Performance and Job SatisfactionAccording to the Baloch (2009), job satisfaction has a significant impact over productivity andprofitability of organization. It means higher is the job satisfaction higher would be performanceof employees in terms of profitability and productivity.It is added that job satisfaction has a great influence on the working behavior and theproductivity of work along with turnover and absenteeism rate of employees. Due to this fact jobsatisfaction has a great importance for both employees and employers. Similarly, Noordin andJusoff (2009) indicated that a considerable association exists between the satisfaction level ofteachers and job performance. Both are directly related to each other according to them.
Material rewards are much essential in job satisfaction. Along with the primary wants materialgoods meets luxury desires and wishes of people (Ozdemir, 2009). According to manyresearchers a direct relation exists between salary and job satisfaction of employees. Increase inone thing must improve the other. As identified by Souza-Poza (2000), salary is a forecaster ofwork satisfaction and according to Miller (1980) workers showed a better job satisfaction whowere rewarded vastly.2.4.2 Promotion opportunitiesOzdemir (2009) discussed that promotion opportunities can affect satisfaction level of theemployees in the different manner because of the existence of a number of promotion strategieswhich varies to organization to organization. He added that satisfaction level of the employeeswho are promoted on the basis of seniority is different than the employees promoted on the basisof performance.2.4.3 Working ConditionsAs determined by Herzberg et al. (1959) working conditions are a chief factor that effect level ofjob satisfaction. A significant connection is present in the job satisfaction and working condition(Santhepparaj & Alam, 2005). Job satisfaction can be increased by improving the workingenvironment (Onu et al., 2005). Female staff found to be more satisfied with the workingconditions than the male staff at the university level (Alam et al., 2005; Santhepparaj & Alam,2005).2.4.4 Job SecurityLacy & Sheehan (1997) indicated that clear relationship exists in job security and satisfactionwith work. Another predictor of job satisfaction is security of services. Security of service is afeature that has a considerable affiliation with the job satisfaction (Siddique et al., 2002).Permanent employees are more pleased with their jobs in comparison to the employees who areon temporary basis.2.4.5 Management supportBaloch (2009) indicated the existence of a constructive relationship between the supervision andjob satisfaction of workers. It is contributed by the Billingsley & Cross (1992) that satisfactionwith the supervision provided at workplace to employees and with the management leadstowards the satisfaction with the jobs. Similarly, if the supervisor provide assistance and co-operate with the worker in accomplishing the assigned task then it must results in highersatisfaction (Ting, 1997).
Methodology
Authors have taken four universities of Pakistan for the sake of conducting primary research.The target population includes all faculty members of case study universities from which authorshave taken out sample through convenience sampling technique. Both questionnaires andinterviews are floated to collect data from the respondents. The data is then analyzed by usingSPSS software and by applying simple means. In order to measure the results, various factors orvariables have been identified by the prior studies of previous researchers. 4-point Likert scale(1=strongly disagree to 4=strongly agree) has been developed to explore the responses of facultymembers. The respondents are asked to tell their views regarding extent of impact of variousfactors on their job satisfaction level. Various statements are discussed below and thecorresponding values of means are also mentioned in table 1.4. Findings And DiscussionFactorsMeanScoresEffect of job security on job satisfaction3.96Effect of management and co-workers support on jobsatisfaction3.81Effect of salary on job satisfaction3.79Effect of promotion opportunity on job satisfaction3.68Effect of working condition on job satisfaction3.63Effect of fringe benefits on job satisfaction3.58Table 1As the results indicate that the highest mean score of 3.96 belongs to the statement that jobsatisfaction of an employee is highly affected by sense of job security. Most of the respondentsagree with the statement. Respondents revealed in their interviews that job security is essentialfor their proper and effective working. As employees feel relaxed and considered themselves as apermanent part of organization therefore they feel satisfied and happy with their job and as wellas with organization. However those faculty members who were on probationary period or whowere on contractual basis were arguing that due to temporary nature of job they feel tensed andunder-pressure of losing their jobs. Due to this factor their satisfaction level declines sharply.The second highest mean score of 3.81 belongs to the statement that management and co-workers support largely impacts on satisfaction level of employees. Respondents revealed in their interviews that supervisors help and support is required every time. Not only new facultymembers need support formally and informally but also senior faculty members require thesame. Respondents further discussed that novelty of ideas, creativity in teaching, use of newtechnology during teaching and application of new methods all could be possible only ifmanagement is supportive and cooperative. Teachers also discussed that provision of resourcesfor delivering quality education to students is also primary responsibility of superiors. Moreoversuperiors’ role in creating work-life balance for their subordinates is also highly important.Respondents also throw light upon behavior of co-workers at workplace. They discussed thatteam working can make work both efficient and effective besides employees working onindividual basis. This thing makes teachers more satisfied and pleased with their job.Third highest mean score of 3.79 belongs to the factor salary. Many respondents agree to thestatement that appropriate amount of salary increase their job satisfaction. A respondent revealedin their interviews that adequate amount of salary is highly important to keep one boosted andmotivated to perform job to the fullest. Respondents further added that a teacher has to performthree important functions. He has to teach, conduct research, and ahs to look upon theadministrative functions as well. There is a lot of work pressure on teacher’s shoulders and theyhave to perform many tasks on deadlines as well. Therefore if they are rewarded with lesseramount of salary then employees’ motivation level decline and their satisfaction level also turneddown badly.Fourth and fifth highest mean score of 3.68 and 3.63 belongs to the statements that there isimpact of promotion opportunity and working condition on satisfaction level of employees.Respondents described during their interview that mostly promotion opportunities are based onseniority or length of service and it also depends largely on advancing level of education.Respondents further discussed that working conditions are mostly favorable and almost all of therespondents seems satisfied with their working environment. Thus this shows that at averagelevel promotion opportunities and working conditions somehow impacts on job satisfaction levelof employees.The least mean score of 3.58 belongs to the statement that fringe benefit impact on jobsatisfaction. Respondents revealed that they receive fringe benefits as housing allowances andmedical allowances, travel allowance. Respondents described that on contractual or temporarybasis these benefits are not given separately to the employees however these are part ofcomposite salary. But as a teacher gets permanent these benefits are granted to him according tothe scale or level of job he possesses. Availability of fringe benefits does impact on jobsatisfaction of employees that can guarantee their long term commitment to the organization.5. Conclusion And RecommendationsAs this study is designed to find out those factors that highly impacts on job satisfaction level offaculty members. Authors have conducted primary research on higher education sector and hascollected and analyzed data. It is hence concluded from the findings that according to facultymembers of universities the factor that largely effects on job satisfaction level of employees isjob security and the least important factor that has minor impact on satisfaction level ofemployees is availability of fringe benefits. In light of this authors have come up with following useful suggestions and recommendations for the management of universities that could behelpful if they consider these while devising and applying policies.• Management must support their staff in performing their day to day work and in providingopportunities for work.• Management must also provide required resources to their staff so that they could perform theirwork properly.• Management must try to inoculate such environment that foster team working. They mustprovide collective working opportunities to staff so that teachers must not act as competitors toeach other instead help each other in completing work effectively and efficiently.• Management must also introduce such policies of promotion and compensation that rewardsmerit and performance. Staff must be given performance based benefits so that good performerscan be rewarded and similarly promotions must also be tied with level of performance not justlength of service in university.• Policies must be made to provide job security to the employees.• Management must maintain friendly working environment for their employees.Thus by keeping above mentioned suggestions in consideration both employers and employeescould creep benefits and overall quality of education can be raised.References1. Alam, S. S., Talha, M., Sivanand, C. N., & Ahsan, N. (2005). “Job Satisfaction of UniversityWoman Teachers in Bangladesh”. Journal of Social Sciences, 1(2), 88 - 91.2. 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