Nor Diana Mohd Mahudin

Work-life balance policies in Malaysia: theory and practice

In this chapter we examine work-life balance policies and initiatives in Malaysia. We begin by first considering the Employment Act (1955), the most important legislation that specifies the minimum working terms related to wages, working hours, leave, termination and lay-off benefits for employees in the country. Next, we discuss women’s employment and in the process of strengthening human resources, the work-life policies and practices that have been initiated to help them harmonize between their work and family. In reality, however, these work-life balance practices are sorely lacking, especially for those who most needed them. We present data based on an exploratory study examining the availability and use of some of these work-life balance initiatives within a university setting in the country and discuss their implications on employees. Finally, taking into account current realities and employees’ needs for better work-life balance, we conclude with several suggestions. These include addressing cultural norms regarding gender roles; direct intervention by the state to change how work and family are perceived, and to transfer care from the home to the public sector; and mandating public and private sectors to provide work-life policies within their organizations.

Bayesian network model of crowd emotion and negative behavior

The effects of overcrowding have become a major concern for event organizers. One aspect of this concern has been the idea that overcrowding can enhance the occurrence of serious incidents during events. As one of the largest Muslim religious gathering attended by pilgrims from all over the world, Hajj has become extremely overcrowded with many incidents being reported. The purpose of this study is to analyze the nature of human emotion and negative behavior resulting from overcrowding during Hajj events from data gathered in Malaysian Hajj Experience Survey in 2013. The sample comprised of 147 Malaysian pilgrims (70 males and 77 females). Utilizing a probabilistic model called Bayesian network, this paper models the dependence structure between different emotions and negative behaviors of pilgrims in the crowd. The model included the following variables of emotion: negative, negative comfortable, positive, positive comfortable and positive spiritual and variables of negative behaviors; aggressive and hazardous acts. The study demonstrated that emotions of negative, negative comfortable, positive spiritual and positive emotion have a direct influence on aggressive behavior whereas emotion of negative comfortable, positive spiritual and positive have a direct influence on hazardous acts behavior. The sensitivity analysis showed that a low level of negative and negative comfortable emotions leads to a lower level of aggressive and hazardous behavior. Findings of the study can be further improved to identify the exact cause and risk factors of crowd-related incidents in preventing crowd disasters during the mass gathering events.

Factors Influencing the Implementation of Islamic Work Ethics in Banks: A Qualitative Study

Work ethics are essential in organisations not only because they are used to guide employees to behave ethically, but they could also affect employees’ performance and efficiency. This reality necessitates a clear and effective strategy for implementation of workplace ethics policies in general and Islamic work ethics in particular. However, little systematic evaluation of such implementation processes has been made. This study explored what is known regarding the issues that facilitate the implementation of Islamic work ethics in organisations and made recommendations for their successful implementation. A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews (n = 16) with Branch Managers and Assistant Branch Managers from six Islamic banks in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor was conducted. Data saturation was reached after 12 interviews, with four additional interviews undertaken to ensure a broadly representative sample. Using thematic analysis, nine themes describing factors influencing the implementation of Islamic work ethics were identified. These factors vary from personal and organisational to management and environmental. Improvements in these factors could have positive effects on successful implementation of ethics policies in organisations. The implications of the findings and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Work, Family and Women’s Well-Being in Malaysia

In this chapter we examine work, family and women’s well-being in Malaysia. We begin by briefly positioning education as a prerequisite to women’s labor force participation and highlighting this development over the last few decades. We then discuss studies in the work-family literature from two fronts: one focusing on work and family life in relation to women’s well-being, and another examining work-life balance policies and practice. On the basis of these studies, we highlight the gap between reality and available policies and practice. We conclude with some suggestions taking into account the changing realities of the family and the workforce. These include addressing work-family (work-life) issues as societal issues rather than individual problems, providing better support for the implementation of work-life policies, and reframing the work-life framework by going beyond the family to include other aspects of life as well as other strands of diversity besides gender.