MBA

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://rda.sliit.lk/handle/123456789/2465

Students enrolled in the Master's of Business Administration (MBA) programme are required to submit a thesis as a compulsory component of their degree requirements. This collection comprises merit-based theses submitted by MBA postgraduate candidates. Abstracts are available for public viewing, while the full texts can be accessed on-site within the library.

Theses and Dissertations of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 29

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The adoption of the Sri Lankan corporate sector towards digital banking during the COVID - 19 period
(2020) Deshappriya, S.K.
The pandemic of COVID- 19 can be cited as a serious challenge faced by the countries. Social mobility and physical restrictions imposed to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic have made it difficult for banking to function as usual. This applies to private banking as well as the corporate sector. Maintaining social distance is very important in terms of Health regulations. In such a background, it is very unfavourable to physically come to the bank branch and make transactions. Therefore, the need for working digital banking has always been acute. Banks for business and Business for banks are two indispensable sectors. Public and private banks are making strenuous efforts during this period to keep the banking business afloat. Many people think that digital banking is the best solution for this. The main objective of this study is to identify the factors influencing the Sri Lankan corporate sector to move towards digital banking. In the Sri Lankan context, there is also a research gap due to minimal publications on the subject. The quantitative research methodology has been used for this study. An online questionnaire for data collection was primarily distributed to the corporate sector. This research is based on five hypotheses. This research has been carried out by selecting a sample covering various areas of the corporate sector in the Colombo District.
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An investigation on factors affecting the adoption of technological advancements in garment industry of Sri Lanka
(2020) PERERA, D. D. K.
Sri Lanka's largest manufacturing industry, serving as the country's principal export earner and the largest employer in the industrial sector, is the garment manufacturing industry. Computerbased technology will be required to be competitive in the market. In recent years, there has been a technical shift in the design and manufacture of apparel to meet client demand for fastchanging fashion garments. Business must react fast to the fast-moving business environment and the firm performance increases only through quick adoption to technological advancement. The main objective of this study is to investigate the factors effecting technological advancement in the garment industry of Sri Lanka. A research gap exists as this aspect of the garment industry has not broadly been tested before in Sri Lankan context. The methodology is quantitative and an online questionnaire to collect data has been distributed among the employees of Sri Lankan garment industry. The results are based on two regression models. The results portray that technical training, employee commitment and management commitment has a significant positive impact on adoption to technological advancement. Also, the results depict that the impact of employee commitment on adoption of technological advancement is moderated by gender. Therefore, these results provide new insights to the employers as it illustrates the aspects that they should be focused on to adopt to technological advancement. Furthermore, these results are important to investors of the garment industry in making their decisions, government to implement relevant policies and procedures in developing the garment industry and especially to management of the organizations of the garment industry to establish and create the appropriate working environment to motivate the employees towards adoption to technological advancement.
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Antecedents of adopting Just Walk Out groceries concept to supermarkets in Sri Lanka
(2020) Wijesinghe, W.A.N.P.
The purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting queues in supermarkets and propose "Just Walk Out" new technology to the supermarkets in Sri Lanka and how the customer responds to this fully automated, convenient selling experience in the supermarket industry in Sri Lanka. The research was conducted fully qualitatively and with an inductive approach. Through this research, the researcher was able to identify the most important factors that contributed to the adoption of new technology by supermarkets in Sri Lanka through this research. With the responses taken, the study disclosed the background which affected the adoption of new technology in the supermarkets in Sri Lanka. A new technology is a newer concept to the Sri Lankan supermarket industry, which has not tested the factors very much yet. Therefore, the research was significant to the Sri Lankan supermarkets since the scope was required due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic requirements. For qualitative data analysis, the thematic data analysis technique was used. The researcher closely monitored the data to find out the common themes, topics, meanings, patterns, and ideas. The highly sensitive nature of the data was collected by the researcher, and trustworthiness was an essential component of the researcher-participant relationship. Through this research, the researcher was able to identify the most important factors that contributed to the adoption of new technology by supermarkets in Sri Lanka through this research. With the responses taken, the study reveals the background which affects the adoption of new technology in the supermarkets in Sri Lanka.
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Determinants of Exchange Rate: Evidence from Sri Lanka
(2020) Presant, .T
This present research investigated the modelling of exchange rate volatility of USD/LKR and analyses whether macroeconomic factors could influence the exchange rate. A combination of Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) and Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (ARCH) family models were used to model the exchange rate volatility. The most suitable model was determined based on the maximum likelihood criterion. To explore the presence of dynamic short-run and long-run relationships, and the impact of macroeconomic variables on the exchange rate was analyzed using the ARDL model. The empirical findings indicate that the most appropriate statistically significant model for volatility is ARIMA (1,0,0)- ARCH (1). The ARDL model suggested that a long-run relationship between the macroeconomic variables and the exchange rate does not exist. In contrast, a short-run relationship exists between exchange rate lag one, exchange rate lag two, inflation, Merchandising trade balance. Thereby, we suggest that improving the merchandising trade balance and minimizing inflation could minimize volatility in the exchange rate. The practical implications inferred from this study could influence all stakeholders exposed to foreign exchange volatility, including policymakers, importers, exporters, and financial institutions. The contribution of this research considered the most recent economic phenomena of Sri Lanka and used Gross official reserve as a variable that was not used earlier in Sri Lankan studies.
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Occupational stress and its impact on employee health and organization: with reference to hotels based in central province Sri Lanka
(2020) DASSANAYAKE, T.D.M.P.B.
Work – Related / Occupational stress has been a global concern in the hospitality industry and literature. Regardless of the massive growth in the Sri Lankan hospitality industry very little is known on the area of occupational stress among employees and how it can impact the overall organizational performance. From the study, it was discovered that mainly five cases where it proved to be the reason for employee stress and how it impacts their day-to-day routines. Hoteliers indicated that they experience problems with anger management in the workplace, headaches, and the inability to focus on the day-to-day operations because of poor management, work environment issues, personal problems, and training problems which are acting as the activation key to occupational stress among hoteliers. Top management of hotels / managers most definitely should start to address the issues which are related to occupational stress. Finally, hoteliers are encouraged to have a change in the way they work daily by adding activities like Exercise, rest, sleep, nutrition plans etc., which allows them to relax their mind and increase productivity in their daily routines.
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Sri lanka institute of information technology factors influencing the adoption of cloud computing for smes in Sri lanka
(2020) Sandamali, N.L.G.N.
Cloud computing is a computing paradigm provides many advance computing services for organizations via internet on pay- for- use based. This paper examined the multiple factors influence the adaption of cloud computing for SMEs in Sri Lanka. The research model developed by combination of diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory and technological, organizational and environmental (TOE) framework. Data were collected from 87 SMEs in Sri Lanka by online survey and analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression methods. Six main hypotheses were tested with three sub- hypotheses. Results were shown that relative advantage, complexity, top management support, and technology readiness were positively influenced and regularity support and competitive pressure were not positively influenced for the cloud adaption for SMEs in Sri Lanka.
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Adoption of e-business for the success of the fashion industry in Sri Lanka
(2020) Vijayanthi, H.G.S.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the adoption of e-business for the success of the fashion industry in Sri Lanka. It sets the light on why the public is reluctant in the adoption of e-business for the fashion industry even during the pandemic. The research was conducted from a deductive approach. Hypotheses were designed based on a rigorous review of the literature. The study adopted a deductive approach having the stratified convenience sample from several areas in Sri Lanka. The data obtained from the survey was analyzed through regression analysis to identify the impact of the variable on the adoption of e-business for the fashion industry. The study concludes that customer attitudes, customer abilities, ICT secure and awareness were the most influencing factors of adoption of e-business for the fashion industry according to the customer perspective. All previous studies referred to in this study have been carried out in the pre-COVID19 environment. The present study is also significant since the study also considers the effects of the pandemic. The study argues that the contradictory nature observed in perceived ease of use and perceived risk, security, and privacy concerns which were well established in previous studies is caused by the pandemic. The study was also significant since computer and internet literacy has not been tested in the Sri Lankan context in the near past and leads for recommendations that would enhance e-business to the successful fashion industry.
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Socio-economic factors Influence on farmers’ resilience in Mahaweli System B in Sri Lanka
(2020) Jayasinghe, M.G.M.G.C.
The purpose of this study was to identify the main social factors behind the withdrawal of young people from agriculture. For this, System B of the Mahaweli Development Program, which was inhabited about 40 years ago, was selected as a population. It was identified as a key area facing this problem. Also selected grounded theory as a base on the research. Currently, three well-populated cities in the region, namely Aralaganwila, Welikanda and Punani, were selected for sampling under the area sampling method. Fourteen permanent residents of the area were interviewed and data collected online under an in-depth interview system (due to restrictions on movement on the Covid-19 epidemic). The data obtained were recorded and analyzed using the excel spreadsheet under the thematic analysis method. Under this, the codes were identified through the color scheme and themes were created. Five main themes were created and thirteen sub themes were identified. Identified themes were Industry becomes unprofitable, Industry becomes unstable, Lack of enough land, Social attitudes towards farming and declining Government Assistance. They said that they did not believe in getting a fixed price for paddy and had to turn to other sources of income, which had led to higher production costs due to higher raw material and higher labor costs, which in turn reduced incomes. Other factors include deforestation by wildlife and pests, lack of manpower and reduced yields due to the use of compost manure. The social stigma attached to farmers, the treat that they are less educated people, and the greater preference of the younger generation for institutional employment are revealed at the community level. Lack of land was also cited as a reason for the youth to move away from farming. Finally, the government's lack of attention and lack of new technological know-how and training also led them to abandon farming. As a solution to this problem, it was recommended to direct the youth to farming in a new way, to improve the status of farmers in the society and to use new machinery and old methods instead of labor. It is also imperative that new lands be identified and given to the youth and that the government provide time and training for the use of compost. Technological methods need to be used to minimize crop damage. It is better to have control over the purchase of paddy by the government.
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Management Information System (MIS) based decision making and the impact on the overall performance of the Financial Institutions of Sri Lanka
(2020-01) Jayasuriya, Y. C.
Management Information systems (MIS) are an essential entity for the performance in the finance industry, there are loopholes in MIS which dilute the overall success of the organization. This negligence has led most of the Finance Institutions in Sri Lanka to a great trouble. As a reason, recently Central Bank of Sri Lanka has published 12 finance institutions which are in Non performing stage. So, this research will find consequences, route causes and recommendation by evaluating the present literature of recommended researchers on the subject for the last 3 decades. By evaluating many papers related on the subject area, this research will come out of the loopholes in the existing MIS using by the Sri Lankan finance institutions and find out the correlation between the MIS and company performance.
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The impact of working from home on employee performance among executive and above employees who work in private sector organizations in Sri Lanka
(2020-01) Gamage, U. K.
This study attempts to identify the impact of WFH on Employee performance among executive and above employees who work in private sector organizations in SL. The research questions of the study are to see the impact and whether to identify whether employee performance is negatively or positively impacted by WFH. Employee performance, job satisfaction, employee wellbeing, work-life balance, Skills & Competency of the employee and Technological Infrastructure are considered as the independent variables while WFH is considered as the dependent variable. Due to the COVID 19 Pandemic most of the private sector organizations in SL have moved to practice the WFH concept. The researcher was considering the population as the executive and above grade employees in private sector organizations in SL where the sample was calculated as 369 by using Krejcie and Morgan formula. Also the data was collected through an online voluntary questionnaire where the researcher didn’t have any biasness on the responses as it was impossible to meet the respondents face to face. To analyze data, the researcher used the Likert scale and used the IBM SPSS software. The study conducted was cross sectional. The secondary data was also collected through online resources that were published and available. Also for data analyzing was based on univariate and bivariate methods. Where the personal and employment details of the respondents were assessed through univariate method while the variable analysis and hypothesis testing were done according to the bivariate method. The researcher was unable to collect responses from the whole sample as it was hard to get the sample respondents to fill the questionnaire as it was voluntary as well as there is no physical presence to make the respondent motivated to fill the questionnaire, but the researcher was able to collect a significant amount of data and do the analysis. According to the results of the data analysis, it was identified that each and every independent variable have a strong positive relationship with the dependent variable which also states that there is an impact to each and every factor from WFH. Also, according to the results all the hypothesis were accepted at the significant level of 0.005. Accordingly it is concluded that WFH has an impact to employee performance.
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An investigation on factors affecting the adoption of e-commerce for small businesses in Sri Lanka
(2020-01) Ramawickrama, R. G. R
This research focuses on investigating the factors affecting the E-Commerce adoption for small businesses in Sri Lanka which is very important during the current COVID 19 pandemic. Main objectives of the research are to identify the factors and to identify the level of impact from each identified factor for the E-Commerce adoption for small businesses in Sri Lanka. Data gathering of the research done through a questionnaire distributed online among the participants and using phone calls due to the pandemic situation. The Observed data was analyzed to obtain results using Multiple Linear Regression model. As per the results, Computer/internet skills, Willingness of the owner and Customer Readiness identified as major factors affecting the Ecommerce adoption for small businesses in Sri Lanka. All three factors showed positive relationship with the dependent variable. Adoption Cost and Security risks of online transactions didn’t identify as major factors for E-Commerce adoption and the significance levels of those factors were not satisfactory. The findings obtained through the research shall be used by the government or relevant authorities to promote E-Commerce for small businesses in Sri Lanka and the factors identified shall be addressed by formulating strategies, national level policies and Ecommerce adoption roadmaps. As the Ecommerce has become the best way of doing business in many countries throughout the globe, Sri Lanka shall strengthen their economy by moving the small businesses sector to adopt E-Commerce since their contribution to the economy is high and the survival of the small businesses during a pandemic situation like this shall be ensured .
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The impact of lean manufacturing practices acceptance level on employee productivity in ABC Company
(2020-01) Gamlath, K.G.O.A.
Lean manufacturing is rapidly getting to the top of many production companies' improvement strategies in a global manufacturing environment where businesses must know how to manufacture high-quality goods at the lowest cost. ABC company has tried many times to turn into a lean culture and used lean tools and techniques. These lean implementations failed because of less acceptance level of the employees. Therefore, this paper is aimed to investigate the impact of lean manufacturing practices acceptance level on employee productivity in ABC company in Sri Lanka. The findings of this study will have a real contribution for the managers in manufacturing firms, especially in the apparel field in Sri Lanka. The literature review highlighted four independent variables to measure lean manufacturing practices acceptance. The dependent variable of the study is declared as employee productivity and there is a moderating variable as lean culture, which effect the relationship between independent and dependent variables. The study used a mixed approach by including both quantitative and qualitative approaches. In this study, primary data for the quantitative part has been collected from a survey questionnaire with close-ended five-point Likert scale questions. The reliability of the questionnaire has been assessed by using Cronbach’s Alpha. The sample size in this study was 112 and a 100% responsive rate has been achieved. This study performed multiple regression analysis to test the hypothesis by using SPSS software. The moderating effect from the lean culture has been measured by installing PROCESS macro to the SPSS software. The regression model implied that the main four independent variables have a statistically significant relationship with the dependent variable. There is a significant moderating effect from the lean culture for the relationship between lean manufacturing practices acceptance level and employee productivity. The primary data for the qualitative part of the study has been collected through eight managers in the ABC company through structured interviews. Then thematic analysis has been used to develop the themes from the transcribed interviews. In summary, the study found main eight themes which are the barriers to implementing lean manufacturing practices in ABC company. These findings have been used in making possible solutions and recommendations for the study
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The Impact of Existing Microfinance Practices to the Development of Entrepreneurship in University Students in Sri Lanka
(2020-01) RUPASINGHE, R.M.S.P
The major focus of this research is to see how present microfinance practices affect the growth of entrepreneurship among university students in Sri Lanka. The majority of the researchers have worked in the fields of microfinance and microbusiness development, as well as rural women's development and entrepreneurship. Microfinance methods have played a vital role in the development of the economy and the reduction of poverty in rural parts of nations such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Kenya, and Africa, among others. Even if microfinance is a broad notion, it is built on a foundation of major components and models. Microcredit, Advisory Services, and Training programs were used in this research. The research outcomes are derived from quantitative data in this study. The population consisted of university students, and the sample consisted of 384 respondents chosen at random by the researcher. Structured questionnaires consisting of likert scaled questions and questions for abstracting the general data of the participants were employed as data collection methods, and the instruments' reliability was satisfactory. Since this study is based on quantitative data, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression analysis were used to examine the data. The findings revealed that microfinance methods had an impact on university students' entrepreneurship growth. According to the research findings, the four hypothesis assertions were accepted. After all, this study concludes that existing microfinance practices can be effectively applied to the entrepreneurship development of university students in Sri Lanka as a solution to non-performing loan ratios, bad microfinance debts of microfinance institutes as well as financial institutes engaged in the microfinance industry, and the barrier that exists for university students in financing their startup businesses.
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Impact on training and development for employee productivity of blue-collar workers in Crystal Ceramics Lanka PLC
(2020-01) NILUPA, B. S.
Human Resources is the key asset that can be used to gain a competitive advantage in many organizations. Especially in a large-scale manufacturing organization, Human Resources plays a major role. Therefore, it is vital to protect the employees and take necessary actions to improve employee productivity concerning their work and what they do. However, employee performance or employee productivity can be significantly hampered when employees lack in knowledge, skills, and motivation towards performing duties or not doing their best to the ability. Large scale manufacturing organizations require skillful manpower who could handle the new technological equipment or who could understand the new processors and is willing to dedicate their knowledge and strength to achieve the targeted output. Training and Developing is one method to improve employee’s skills, knowledge, and attitudes towards the company and the work allocated. Having proper training leads the employees to perform their duties effectively and efficiently and will increase the productivity levels as well. Therefore, this study is used to analyze the impact on Training and Development on Employee Productivity of Blue Collar Workers and selected Crystal Ceramics Lanka PLC as the sources to collect data. The main objective of the study is to identify the impact of Training and Development on Employee Productivity. Also, the research uses Employee Work Experience within the industry to find out how effectively moderate the relationship between Training, Development and Employee Productivity. Through the Random Sample technique study use the Cluster Sampling method to select the sample population. The total sample population is selected as 300 samples out of 1020 workers in all three factories. A structured questionnaire was designed, pre-tested, and used to collect data from the selected sample whilst secondary data was collected through company reports and HRIS (Attendance) system. The research findings revealed that all the components tested as per the developed hypothesis showed that there is an significant impact on Training and Development to Employee Productivity as well as there is an effect on industry work experience to the relationship between Training and Development and Employee Productivity.
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The impact of digital marketing on financial performance of fashion industry during the covid-19 pandemic in Sri lanka
(2020-01) Harasgama, N.M.
The fashion industry can be identified as one of the most important contributors for the economy of Sri Lanka which is contributing over 6% of the country’s Gross Domestic Production (GDP). COVID 19 pandemic has resulted higher drawbacks in the management of the applications in the organizations as the human mobility has limited. Online transactions and the purchasing have evolved in different industries as the pandemic has caused many loses in the income compared with the pre COVID era. Along with this fact, digital marketing has identified as one of the best and timely need in improving the performances of the organizations. Accordingly, it is very important to identify the corrective measures and practise in implementing the digital marketing in financial performance increasing in the fashion industry organizations. The study has undertaken with the employees who are included in the fashion industry and as the number of employees are 1000+, the sample has selected as 278 with the reference to Anderson table of sample selection. Questionnaire has been distributed among the respondents to gather the needed information and collected data are used to analyse the impact of digital marketing strategies on the financial performances of the organizations. With the 100% response rate, it has recorded that respondents in the age of 36 to 45 years represents 47.84 %. The unmarried sector has been recorded with 36 % which is nearly 100 respondents of the sample. There are 37 % of the male in the sample recording 104 respondents. It has showed that many are in the diploma qualification of the certificate qualification and it is 57 % of the sample. It has recorded that many respondents are from the organisations which is operating for 4 to 10 years and this is 32 % of the sample. 37 % are using the digital media marketing in partially effective manner and rest are using the digital marketing in rarely. With the application of the regression analysis, hypotheses testing has recorded and it is showing that digital marketing is having direct relationship and impact on financial performance of the organizations. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Video Marketing, and Content Marketing has identified as the needed applications in management of the digital marketing in the fashion industry companies where the positive relationships in 90 % and 95 % confidence intervals are representing with the higher R squared value of 0.867. Thus, 86.7 % variation is showing here. Thus, the organizations are in a timely need to consider the digital marketing strategies to increase the financial performance to gain the maximum advantages in the developments in future.
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The study of the impact between employer branding and employee retention: Evidence from the private education sector.
(2020-01) Jagoda, H.J.B.U
Despite the fact, employer branding is an important concept in best recruitment practices it’s correspondingly delivering the enormous contribution to the retention of employees. Inside the current economic practice, the employers are more concerned about retaining talent within the organization instead of bringing new people. The major goal of this research is to investigate the relationship between employer branding and employee retention in the context of a specific company. Also, to exploring the relationship, the research is also focused on how the dimensions of employee branding influence on employee retention. The study's conclusion will contribute to a better understanding of employer branding as well as practical implications for the future. The study has addressed and achieved research questions and objectives by employing a structured questionnaire and gathered data were analyzed using the methods of Pearson correlation and multiple regression as per the analysis and findings, all the research objectives were accomplished, and research questions were addressed. The completion of this study would not have been possible without the help and support of a large number of people. I'd like to express my gratitude to everyone who has helped me overcome the various challenges. By answering the second research question, Work-life balance, training, and growth are the variables that have a substantial impact on employee retention, while corporate social responsibility had no significant impact on the dependent variable, according to this study. Contribution to the academic and managerial implications are also discussed and additionally, researcher provide suggestions for upcoming research purposes.
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An investigation on factors affecting the adoption of online school education in rural areas in Sri Lanka
(2020-01) Weerasena, D. W. A. S.
This research investigates rural area students’ online adoption during the fourth wave of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The main objective of this study was to identify the factors affecting the adoption of online education in rural areas in Sri Lanka. This case study was carried out based on data gathered from the online survey during the pandemic covering sixteen districts in Sri Lanka. Using the ordered probit regression model through the stepwise technique, the study investigates the factors affecting the adoption of online education in rural areas in Sri Lanka. According to the results generated, attitude, perceived use, awareness, and new technology adoption have a positive impact on student adoption of online education in Sri Lanka. Online education so far is one of the effective and feasible solutions for providing education in a pandemic situation in any country. These findings are helpful for responsible educational institutions to address and contribute to key issues such as low perceived use, poor attitude, low awareness, and poor technology adoption. The study will also assist policymakers in preparing a roadmap, at the policy level with the perceived benefits of online education during similar future crises in Sri Lanka. Finally, students in the rural areas will be benefitted.
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To explore how the covid-19 pandemic situation effects on school students’ education of rural areas in North Central Province Sri Lanka
(2020-01) Kularathne, T.U.
Covid-19 outbreak and the pandemic situation has been a huge global crisis in every aspect in all over the world. The world has been suffering from this critical situation since December 2019 and still couldn’t find a proper solution for the situation. The countries all over the world has to face this pandemic situation individually with their own economic strength. The developed country could barely survived and in the other hand the developing countries has to fail in almost every aspect. Since the Sri Lanka is a developing country and haven’t had a strong economic situation, Sri Lanka has to face lot of difficulties and troubles with its population. And the education sector is most highlighted sector in the global pandemic in all over the world, as well as in the Sri Lanka too, since it’s related to children and considerable amount of employees are working in education sector. The future of a country fully depend on the school education and the higher education, everyone payed a huge attention to the education of students in the pandemic situation and tried to keep it in the track. But with all other limited facilities and lack of preparation for a lockdown and pandemic situation, Sri Lanka had to face various kind of trouble and the government almost failed in implementing an online education in Sri Lanka so far. When it comes to the rural areas in Sri Lanka, the situation getting worst and this research, it’s has explored how the Covid-19 pandemic situation affected on school education in rural areas in North Central Province Sri Lanka and at the conclusion the researcher found out that establishing online education in rural areas in North central Province hasn’t been a successful project in Sri Lanka.
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Impact on Work Life Balance on Employee Performance During the COVID 19 Outbreak: A Case of IT Sector, Sri Lanka.
(2020-01) Paranagama, G.S.
In the corporate world today, every organization are facing many challenges where organizations are forces to develop strategies and goals to survive in their place as a stable organization. It is with the support of the work delivered from employees and the success of these strategies which support and strengthen the organization to sustain in the business world. As we evaluate the business context today, human resource can be considered as the most vital resource to any sort of businesses. Specially, the Information Technology (IT) Industry of Sri Lanka is considered to be one of the main streams of businesses that rely on their employees in order to be successful and productive. Organizations and establishments are currently experiencing a large number of changes in demand for the products and services that they supply as a result of the current economic environment, and they are under pressure to enhance performance in order to meet organizational goals and objectives. This has increased the need for organizations to assess their processes, organizational mission and goals, performance targets, and performance measurements, in addition to improving the way they deliver services. Presently, Work-life Balance has become fair concepts in many organizations where the management focuses more on the employee’s work and life balance aspects. It is quite evident that when employees have a balance between work and life, it can gain a healthy, happy and successful life in long term. And also, the individuals who concern about an upright quality of work balance will ultimately lead an upright quality of life. Balance of work and life activities characterized as the degree to which people are similarly occupied and happy with their both work and family and it is also proposed that work-life can be taken as a worldwide evaluation. Consequently, family requests come through work assets just as work requests come through family assets and the cooperation is viable in the two fields. Individuals who ought to have a capacity to adjust among work and family responsibilities is to look for harmony between work and life activities, just as other non-work obligations and exercises. Thus, balance of work and life activities alludes to the adaptable working plans that permit the two guardians and non-guardians to profit of working courses of action that give a harmony between work obligations and individual duties. Organizations who support in the work environment, advances to expand the degree of harmony between work-life activities through offering adaptable plan for getting work done which empowers representatives to achieve work. Therefore, work environment support has been demonstrated to be pivotal logical assets that can assist representatives with getting the things done that they esteem, including more prominent harmony between work and life activities. The current pandemic situation, the Coronavirus has massively impacted the business and organization all across the world shifting work from office to work from home (WFH). Therefore, the normal routine of workers has changed entirely, rephrasing it as the “new normal” where the office setup has changed and people are forced to WFH. Simply the Work Life Balance (WLB) can be defined as finding the right amount of taste between the life and work, and also feeling happy, healthy and comfortable with both work and family obligations. In this set up employees try to find the balance in paid and unpaid work plus personal time. But off course the technology has made it easier for the people to WFH without lacking absence.
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An investigation of factors affecting to the retirement of private sector employees in the western province of Sri Lanka
(2020-01) HAPURUGALA, H. G. S. M.
Many governments and organizations in the world are attempting to enhance the engagement of older employees in the workforce while discouraging early retirement due to skill shortage and socio-economic impact on the country and the organizations. But most of the private sector organizations still stick to the retirement age according to the Employees’ Provident Fund act as it mentions retirement in the stipulated age is mandatory to withdraw statutory funds. However, it is crucial to revamp the retirement policies of private sectors as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement without considering only the age factor for retirement. This study mainly focuses on investigating factors affecting the retirement of private-sector employees in the Western province of Sri Lanka. The participants of 323 have delivered their perspective about this subject matter through the survey distributed among 351 private-sector employees in the Western province. The findings were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods. The word cloud generator was employed to analyze the qualitative findings while the reliability and ordered probit model was employed in analyzing the quantitative findings. The sample has predominantly consisted of executive, non-executive, and manager above categories without gender bias. The findings revealed that only mental health and physical health factors are affecting retirement by eliminating age and competencies in the further analysis. Further, the findings suggest that the probability of affecting physical and mental health factors to retirement increase positively when the mental and physical status of employees are stable and, vice versa. Since the older generation increases, it is better to revamp policies on retirement and develop new policies and procedures to determine retirement based on the mental health and physical health factors in organizations and governments. Looking at the factors and decisions made by various countries and organizations in relation to the retirement age which went beyond from 55 years to 65+ years as per the contemporary status in some countries, the researcher thinks administrative decision regarding this matter is necessary since the life expectancy is high in Sri Lanka.