EDITORIAL

Volume 14, Issue 4, 2019

1. Human Resource Issues in a Digital Era

- Fernando Kevin Vince PhD

Digital technology has become vital in business, but it is still people who handle the work. One of the obstacles to smooth transfer to new technology is generational difference. The oldest workers completed their formal education without any computers at all, while the youngest learnt to use them at primary school if not before. For them, new digital learning is modification of old skills. Workers who first met computers after many years of working in other ways need to acquire a new mindset. Most do this and adjust like younger workers, but there are still many who resist. Behind all this, there is still constant change, which brings the need to update equipment and skills, and to observe and adapt to changes in the market at the same time. This means steady development at the organisational level, while supporting the personnel who are dealing with it all. It is a mix of technical, practical, people and talent issues, requiring steady change management at all levels of the organisation. This paper outlines the processes necessary to get it right..

 

2. Saving the Environment Doesn’t Need to Cost Money!

- Kay Emblem Perry & Les Duckers

For a long time, profit has been the prime concern for businesses, and the environment has been viewed as a limitless provider. It is now increasingly clear that this has gone too far, and the planet could become uninhabitable. Some measures taken to save the environment need heavy investment, but some are very cheap, or even free. It just requires managing in a different way. This paper presents the Environmental Value for Money Framework (EVMF) to achieve improvement for the environment at the same time as financial savings. Even turning off lights in empty rooms will make a difference, but it will work best if there is a consistent policy in the use of all resources. The first step is to identify where resources are being used. It may seem obvious and unnecessary, but recording this often leads to realisation of where savings can be made. Further steps can then be taken to reduce costs, and year by year it can be decided what to do with the savings – to keep the comfort of a budget surplus or to reinvest. Another advantage of this saving is the company reputation, as customers often prefer a company with good green credentials. .

 

3. Project-based Accelerated Action Learning: Adventure of an Action Learner from Apprentice to Mastery

- Practice Professor KC Chan

Learning by doing is more effective than learning by being told. This is clear from an early age, but seems to be forgotten in education of older people, older in this case starting very young. Primary schools tend to adopt the chalk-and-talk technique once children lose some of their urge to run around. Chalk-and-talk has its place, but learning by doing gives immediate experience and is more likely to cement the knowledge. Very young children can only learn by doing as they lack the language, prior knowledge, and conceptual processes to learn by being told. Later, theoretical knowledge can be applied and concepts learned without doing, but it remains, lifelong, a more thorough learning experience if it has the immediacy of doing as you learn, and learning as you do. Project-based action learning means learning by being involved in real projects, with appropriate supervision when necessary. There will be mistakes, but these have the benefit of encouraging thinking about next time, which has more impact than reading about other people’s views of what is correct.

 

4. An Empirical Model of Service Quality Dimensions for Internet Service Providers: Retaining Customers in Myanmar

- Thazin Aung & William Chua

There are many aspects to customer satisfaction, including quality of the service, availability of information, and support when things aren't going as well as they should. All of these apply to any service and this paper looks at these factors in the context of internet service provision. There was, as expected, a positive relationship between customer satisfaction and the quality of service, but surprisingly little relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. There must be other factors that influence customers when considering moving to a different provider. Customer loyalty divides into two types. The first is behavioural loyalty, where a customer repeatedly uses the service, and this can be measured. Then there is a deeper level, attitudinal loyalty, where the customer feels an attraction towards the existing provider. This is difficult to measure, but stronger and more valuable. When customers are loyal, there are less need to attract new ones. Finding new customers is more expensive than keeping existing ones satisfied and loyal. Estimates of how much more go as high as tenfold. Customer loyalty is a high-value asset, in internet provision, as shown by this paper, and in any other enterprise.

 

5. AAn Exploratory Study Between Collection and Recovery Team Discretionary Effort and Performance: A Case Study on Regional Credit Control Centre of a Malaysian Bank in Johor

- David Raj Arumugam & William Chua

Any job involves both compulsory effort, which is essential to stay in employment, and discretionary effort, which is going above minimum requirements to provide a better service. There is probably a circular effect where those more willing to do extra are getting pleasant feedback, which makes them enjoy the job more, and so more willing to do extra. This creates better service, better customer satisfaction, better feedback to the workforce, and so more enjoyment and more willingness, and so on. It is worth a great deal to get this in motion. This paper looks at this in the context of credit control. Amongst the recommendations is to encourage employees to make decisions, to keep discussing, learning, and sharing knowledge. This creates a feeling of ownership and commitment, and willingness to go the extra mile. Job rotation can increase the learning and give a better overview of the work of the company, which also helps a feeling of ownership and commitment, as well as encouraging ideas for improvement. This paper is a case study in the finance sector, but the principles have wider application.