published_or_final_version / SPACE / Master / Master of Arts

As a significant social democratic force in Malaysia in particular and in the Asian region in general, the DAP's political theory and practice deserve to be examined and further compared with the European social democracy in order to participate in the so-called "global third way debate" advocated by Anthony Giddens. Hence, this study aims to scrutinize from a historical perspective the different interpretations of "the third way" of the DAP, which had undergone certain revisions from European democratic socialism throughout its actual political struggle in Malaysia. / Malaysia is a multi-racial country made up of four great civilizations and it has adopted a constitutional monarchy after its independence. The ruling government of this country, dominated by the Malay race, stresses on the so-called authoritative developmentalism by which repressive measures have been imposed upon all forms of opposition forces. The Democratic Action Party (DAP), a social democratic type of opposition party mainly supported by the non-Malays, arose in the mid sixties and has since remained loyal to the parliamentary system. Hence, what is the difference between the social democracy embedded in the DAP in terms of its theory and practice and that of Europe? What are the challenges faced by the DAP in a Malaysian multi-racial political environment? And what has it contributed to the country in terms of nation building in Malaysia? / The late 1990s saw a new trend in "the magic turn of the European social democracy". The British sociologist Anthony Giddens, in transcending the traditional "left" and "right" politics of Europe, has advocated "the third way" for "the renewal of social democracy." The scope of such studies, however, has been confined to the theory and practice of the European socialist/social democratic/labour parties and greatly neglected the social democratic parties in the Asian region. / This study will give a full range of analysis on the historical background of the founding of DAP, the origin and formation of DAP's political ideology, its political line and party policy, the operation of party organization structure, power struggle within different factions, party control under the leadership of its Secretary General, Lim Kit Siang, and the electoral strategies, tactics and performance of the DAP in the past four decades. In short, the historical setting, political structure, economic system, racial relations and cultural factors of the country had altered, or the other way round, reinforced the "human agency" of the party leaders while trying to challenge and reshape the nation-building policy of Malaysia in a non-violent manner, which followed a path similar to that of the centre-leftists in Europe although in actual practice, the DAP's political journey is in itself unique. This study on the DAP is to find out how far the national struggle for social democracy has revealed differences in policies and divergences on legislative provisions. / 丘光耀. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2005. / 參考文獻(p. 376-398). / Adviser: Yuen-sang Leung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-01, Section: A, page: 0297. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts also in English. / School code: 1307. / Lun wen (Zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2005. / Can kao wen xian (p. 376-398). / Qiu Guangyao.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning; and, (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1979. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-224). / Lim Chow-Weng. / M.Arch. / M.C.P.

The present study examined the relationship between entrepreneurial competencies and business success in the context of SMEs in Australia and Malaysia. A “mixed-method” approach was adopted whereby two studies were conducted in a sequential fashion (Study 1 and Study 2). In Study 1, a qualitative method was adopted in which individual interviews were conducted with 20 entrepreneurs – 10 from Australia and 10 from Malaysia – who operated SMEs in the manufacturing and service sectors. The aim was to elicit behaviours that delineate competencies, and thus enable the identification of entrepreneurial competencies that are context-specific and of relevance in the current business environment. A content analysis of the interview data identified 12 competency domains: Strategic; Commitment; Conceptual; Opportunity; Organising and Leading; Relationship; Learning; Personal; Technical; Ethical; Social Responsibility; and Familism. Importantly, nine of these categories were well represented in existing models of entrepreneurial competencies, thereby providing evidence that these models offer a reasonable degree of cross-cultural generalisability. However, three new categories emerged, namely, Ethical, Social Responsibility, and Familism (broadly concerned with the role of “family” in building business success). There was evidence for Ethical and Social Responsibility competencies in both the Australian and Malaysian data, whereas Familism was specific to the Malaysian data and may well reflect the collectivist orientation of Malaysian culture. The identification of these additional categories of entrepreneurial competencies suggests that the existing models may need to be revised to further enhance their applicability to the measurement of entrepreneurial competencies in different cultural contexts. Study 2 Part 1 proceeded with validating the model of entrepreneurial competencies. This involved determining the psychometric rigour of the model and establishing the psychometric properties of all dependent variables (measures of business success) and covariates (i.e., business environment and entrepreneurs’ cultural orientations) using a sample of 391 SME entrepreneurs (179 Australians and 212 Malaysians). The two best fit models of entrepreneurial competencies – the “Comprehensive” model and the “Parsimonious” model – are fully described. The Comprehensive model revealed that all twelve competency areas were perceived as relevant to SME outcomes by entrepreneurs in Australia and Malaysia, even though the behaviours that defined the Organising and Leading competency domain, as well as the Familism competency domain (later renamed “Supporting and Cooperating” for Australia due to the omission of items related to “family”) were somewhat different. The other 10 competency areas identified in the Comprehensive model appeared to be invariant across countries. On the other hand, the Parsimonious model of entrepreneurial competencies showed that, although some competency areas were universal in nature (i.e., Conceptual, Opportunity, Learning, and Ethical), others were country specific (i.e., Relationship, Social Responsibility, and Familism). It was argued that the differences could be traced to cultural variations between the countries, in particular the extent of Individualism versus Collectivism. Study 2 Part 2 tested the causal pathway between entrepreneurial competencies and business success and the possible influence of covariates using a structural equation modeling (SEM) procedure. The results showed that entrepreneurial competencies were strong predictors of business success in SMEs for both Australia and Malaysia. It was also found that both Benign and Stable business environments were significantly related to business success in Australia whereas only a Stable environment was significantly linked with success in Malaysia. Moreover, environmental variables showed a less strong path to success than competencies. When the Parsimonious model of entrepreneurial competencies was used in the model estimation, the association between entrepreneurial competencies and business success was more strongly evident in Hostile and Dynamic environments than in more Benign and Stable environments (for both Australia and Malaysia). The results also showed that cultural orientations (both Collectivism and Tolerance for Ambiguity) have positive effects on entrepreneurial competencies in Malaysia but not in Australia (i.e., Individualism and Tolerance for Ambiguity). The effect of education on entrepreneurial competencies was mixed; significant for only the Comprehensive model for Australia but significant for both Comprehensive and Parsimonious models for Malaysia. The effects of training before and after start up, as well as previous work experience on entrepreneurial competencies appeared to be nonsignificant in both contexts. On the basis of the results of the thesis, it was concluded that self-reported entrepreneurial competencies are predictive of self-reports of success in both Malaysian and Australian SMEs. The models that describe success in both countries are consistent with existing models of entrepreneurial competency although differences in the behaviours that define a domain are evidenced between countries as are the domains that successfully define a parsimonious model in each country. These results are interpreted as supporting a training agenda that identifies entrepreneurial skills as a critical pre-requisite to business success for SMEs. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1297548 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Adelaide Graduate School of Business, 2007

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of frequent versus conventional testing on Chemistry achievement test anxiety, and attitudes toward science of students enrolled in general chemistry classes at the University Technology of Malaysia. The subjects consisted of 278 students taking first year Chemistry at the University Technology of Malaysia. The students were given a pretest and posttest in achievement, test anxiety, and attitudes toward science. The instruments included an achievement test in chemistry made up of selected items from previous American Chemical Society Cooperative Examinations and translated versions of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory and Science Attitude Questionnaire. Pretest scores were used to assign students randomly into experimental and control groups. The experimental group was subjected to frequent testing, while the control group was subjected to conventional testing. The data were analyzed using one-way and three-way analysis of covariance. The analysis revealed significant difference between the experimental and control groups in student (a) achievement in chemistry with the experimental group achieving at higher levels and (b) test anxiety with the experimental group having lower test anxiety than the control group. No significant difference was found in students attitudes toward science between the experimental and control groups. It was concluded that first year Chemistry students at the University Technology of Malaysia achieve significantly higher in chemistry when they are subjected to frequent rather than conventional testing. It was further concluded that frequent testing was significantly more effective than conventional testing in lowering student test anxiety. / Graduation date: 1989

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

No description available.

No description available.

Knowledge management is a response to the growing realization of knowledge as the deliverer of organizational success. Because much attention has been given to the private sector, knowledge management initiatives in educational settings seem to be lacking. Considering that knowledge activities – capturing, creating, sharing, applying and storing – are important activities in education, particularly schools, the failure to fully appreciate the potential of managing knowledge within education is surprising. A review of the literature suggests that factors such as management, technology and culture contribute differently to managing knowledge in many organizations. The management factor, for example, was a catalyst in providing a conducive work environment, whereas technology provides the mechanism as an enabler for knowledge management initiatives. Culture was important for the knowledge context and could play a significant role in the uptake of managing knowledge. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between these contextual factors – management, technology and culture – and the knowledge activities. The study took place in Malaysian secondary schools and highlighted the Smart School Project as one of the seven flagships of Malaysia Multimedia Super Corridor. A mixed method approach was used as a strategy of inquiry in order to explore the knowledge management contextual factors in relation to knowledge activities. The quantitative method focused on collecting data based on a survey instrument. There were 1313 respondents and Smart Schools and non Smart Schools participated in responding to the questionnaire. As for the interview method, the study focused on 21 individuals who were purposely selected based on their special implementation roles in the schools – school principals, information technology coordinators and teachers. The survey data were analysed by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. There were three types of statistical application used, namely the descriptive statistics, the t-test and regression, whereas the interview data were analysed manually by looking and searching for noticeable patterns to be connected to the research framework. The findings suggest that although there is no explicit knowledge management system used in managing knowledge in the educational sector, there are a lot of elements and positive practices of knowledge management already in place that could help schools to develop and encourage activities such as knowledge sharing. As far as the contribution of the contextual factors to knowledge activities, technology was an important instrument in all of the knowledge activities, but it was certainly not the only or the most prominent one. The culture factor played a more significant role in all knowledge activities particularly when knowledge sharing was considered as a social and spiritual obligation in the communities of practice. Despite this, there were also barriers in the uptake of knowledge management initiatives in schools which seemed to limit knowledge activities due to time constraints and teacher workload.

The role of publishing in the development of societies has been crucial, but many still tend to overlook the wider societal impact of publishing and concentrate purely on its direct economic contribution. The aim of this thesis is to draw attention to the wider impact of publishing as an instrument for the betterment of society. In particular the thesis examines the role of marketing in all its aspects in the publishing process at the international, national and industrial level (from inception to completion of publications). The study hopes to shed light on some of the environmental factors which affect publishing in general, publishing in the Malaysian context, and particularly scholarly publishing, which has its own peculiar traits. In order to have a clearer idea of the publishing scenario it is essential first to identify the symptoms; therefore it is important to examine the macro-marketing environment which constitutes the socio-political and commercial envelope in which the publishing industry resides, and then the micro-marketing environment and marketing systems which constitute the local industry level influences and internal company marketing force respectively. Having looked at these aspects of the marketing environment, the research concentrates on the most crucial factor in the success of any business, the buyer. The importance of measuring consumer satisfaction also dictated why the researcher made use of questionnaires for lecturers and students as sources of primary data for this study. Lecturers' roles in marketing books indirectly should not be overlooked by publishers; their unique offering is the special ability to identify and satisfy students' needs, analogous to the role played by doctors in the marketing of pharmaceutical drugs. An investigation is made of consumers' profile (lecturers and students) in order to deduce their reading and buying behaviour, and further in the case of lecturers, writing proficiency. These findings may provide better understanding of the marketing ramifications emanating from the publishing process in general and scholarly publishing in particular. Although libraries are one of the primary customers for scholarly publications, the survey conducted with them was far smaller in scope than those conducted on lecturers and students since they merely act as intermediaries while the latter are the ultimate users of scholarly publications. Scholars and publishers may co-operate happily in the writing and creating of scholarly books, but the publisher faces serious limitations upon his freedom to act purely for the betterment of scholarship. Thus, the focus of this study is how to bridge the gap between dissemination of knowledge through published means and the economics of publishing as a commercial concern. The notion of "social profit" is introduced to help deal with some of the conflicting concerns of scholarly publishers, as well as to argue against the normal argument of "social obligations" put forward by many government publishing agencies and university presses in Malaysia. The study concludes that main factors which determine the present situation of scholarly publishing include the relative infancy of the publishing industry in Malaysia; the small market for publications, in particular scholarly publications; the emphasis on textbook production which has resulted in a dearth of books in other areas; frequent changes of language policy which have damaged publishing programmes in both English and bahasa Melayu; the poor reading habit of the population in general (notwithstanding the high literacy rate); and more distressingly for scholarly publishers, the poor reading habit of students and lecturers; the lack of understanding of the publishing process by people involved in the industry; insufficient numbers of good authors especially those who can write in bahasa Melayu; poor planning and distribution, and above all the absence of reliable and up to date information on the industry. It is hoped that this research will generate interest in this neglected, yet nevertheless important, area which is essential to the development and national well being. An analysis of the marketing environment within the publishing business reveals the problems facing the industry, and suggests that a more appropriate system will be possible only when effective steps are taken to meet the needs of this industry and provide the needed support. This can only be realised by a detailed study to determine the long-term and short-term needs for books and other materials, and the various methods of meeting these needs. It is also important in determining how the industry can be strengthened and expanded to meet future needs. Although government efforts have reflected the awareness of the importance of textbooks in developing and upgrading the standard of education in Malaysia, they have also resulted in some measure in discouraging scholarly publications within the publishing industry. The publishing business in Malaysia deserves greater attention because of the significant position of Malaysia in Asia and ASEAN sub-continent in particular, and the contribution of education to its economic and social development.