Browsing by Author "Ediriweera, A.N."

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An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Organizational Performance in Small and Medium Scale Manufacturing Firms in the Western Province in Sri Lanka
(University of Kelaniya, 2012) Weerakkody, W.A.S.; Ediriweera, A.N.
Employee Reactions to Human Resource Management in SMEs; Evidence from Gampaha District in Sri Lanka
(University of Kelaniya, 2008) Weerakkody, W.A.S.; Ediriweera, A.N.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in the economy of Sri Lanka. Despite the ethnic unrest prevailed in the country, SMEs have shown a striking progress over the past two decades. The practice of effective human resource management (HRM) is one that has shown to be an integral part ofsmall business success. Therefore, the goal of this paper was to examine employee reactions to human resource management (HRM) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Gampaha District. The study adds to the literature that helps the understanding ofHRM policies and practices in SMEs in Sri Lanka. This emphasizes the importance of exploring employee reactions towards HRM policies, procedures, practices, and other aspects of HRM. For this purpose, a survey of 100 employees drawn from ten small organizations in Gampaha District was conducted. The survey investigated HR practices in six major areas of recruitment, selection, training and development, rewards, promotion, performance evaluation and health and safety. Data was collected through a questionnaire developed by researchers. Furthermore, on-site interviews were carried out with managers, CEOs, and owner managers in SMEs. The findings from the study indicated a positive attitude of employees towards HRM practices such as promotion from inside, staffing, equal employment opportunity, quality of training, reasonable compensation and paid vacation and sick days. Moreover, under this phenomenon the evidence also showed that productivity has been increasing while employee turnover, absenteeism, and grievances are low. However, the evidence also revealed that training in many SMEs was not integrated in a planned way to employee career development in SMEs.
Impact of family friendly policies on work life balance of bank mangers in Gampaha district
(Research Symposium 2009 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2009) Ediriweera, A.N.; Weerakkody, W.A.S.
Work-life balance has always been a concern of those interested in the quality of working life and its relation to broader quality of life. Discussions of work and family policies, work-life balance and family-friendly workplaces or similar terms are now a commonplace in both the academic and popular press. Even though work-life balance is an intuitively appealing concept, it is one that has not been clearly explored. Therefore there is a need to identify the factors which have an impact on work life balance. As a small contribution to that need, this study examined the impact of family friendly policies on work life balance of Bank managers in Gampaha District. The independent variable was family friendly policies and dependent variable was work life balance. Sample size was 100 managers who are managers of banks located at Gampaha district. The primary data were collected by using simple random sampling. The validity and the reliability of the instruments were tested by using appropriate methods. The type of this study is hypothesis testing (predictive) and it was conducted in the natural setting with less interference of the researcher (non-contrived). The study is a cross-sectional in time. The unit of analysis was at individual level. A questionnaire developed by the researchers was used to collect the data for the study. To test the hypotheses, Correlation Analysis and Regression Analysis were used. Findings of the study revealed that family friendly policies positively and significantly affect on Work Life Balance of bank managers in Gampaha district. Therefore it can be concluded that family friendly policies can be used to enhance the work-life balance of Bank managers in Gampaha District.
Impact of Rewards on Firms Performance with Reference to SMEs in Western Province - A Mediation Model
(Research Symposium 2010 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2010) Weerakkody, W.A.S.; Ediriweera, A.N.
To be competitive and for survival of Small and Medium Businesses (SME) it is suggested to offer sufficient rewards in order to gain higher and broader skills and competencies of employees. So as to achieve this purpose, it is necessary to use a remarkable rewards management system as a function of Human Resource management. On the other hand one major objective of Human Resource Management is, enhancing employee satisfaction and organizational commitment. In Sri Lankan context, there is a need to investigate that how does rewards affect on firm performance through employee satisfaction and organizational commitment of SMEs. Therefore the objective of this study is to identify the impact of rewards on firm Performance through employee satisfaction and organizational commitment. The independent variable was rewards and dependent variable was firm Performance. Intervening variables were employee satisfaction and organizational commitment. The validity and the reliability of the instruments were tested against the survey data. The type of this study is hypothesis testing and it was conducted in the natural setting with less interference of the researchers (non-contrived). The study is a cross-sectional in time and the primary data were collected by using convenient sampling method and sample size was 20managers working in SMEs located at Western Province. The unit of analysis was at organizational level. A questionnaire developed by the researchers was used to collect the data for the study. To test the hypotheses, correlation analysis and regression analysis were performed.. It is concluded that positive and strong relationship exists between Rewards and employee satisfaction and organizational commitment, positive and little bit strong relationship exists between employee satisfaction and organizational commitment and firm performance, and positive and relatively strong relationship between Rewards and firm performance in small and medium enterprises in Western province in Sri Lanka.
Influence of Gender on Academic Performance: A Comparative Study between Management and Commerce Undergraduates in the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
(University of Kelaniya, 2008) Weerakkody, W.A.S.; Ediriweera, A.N.
Many studies have been carried out on the factors affecting the students' academic performance in university examinations. Some of these factors have been identified as attendance of lectures, knowledge of English, income of the parents, perceptions of learning, attitudes of students and lecturers towards education, teaching aids and method and environmental factors. In countries such as United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and USA, it has been recorded that, gender has a significant relationship with the examination performance. Further, these studies have been done for individual subjects. According to this, it can be identified that there are theoretical explanations in respect of influence of gender on university students' academic performance. But there is a lack of comparative studies. Most of them have examined the difference of relationship between gender and academic performance of several categories of university students in Western countries. Therefore, it is important to conduct research in non-Western context. As such, this research tries to indicate the difference of influence of gender on academic performance of various student groups in the Sri Lankan university system by selecting Management & Commerce students who study in the Diversity of Kelaniya. The objective of the research is to investigate whether there is a significant difference of the performance of Bachelor of Business Management (Human Resource, Accountancy, and Marketing) Special Degree Examinations and performance of the Bachelor of Commerce Special Degree Examinations among the university students with respect to their gender. Variables are neither manipulated nor controlled for the study. Hence, the study was conducted in a non contrived setting. The data for this study was collected at a several point in time. Sample for this study was selected from the students of the above mentioned study programmes. The survey was carried out using 5 years data related to the period, from 2002/2003 academic year to 2006/2007 academic year. The sample was consisted of 1200 students ( 600 females and 600 males). Stratified random sampling was used to select the sample. The unit of analysis was at the individual level. For this study, independent sample t-test was used to compare the academic performance of two ��ender categories. Results indicated that there is no significant difference between Commerce and Management students but significant differences could be seen between the academic performance of the male and female students in this study. Exploratory data analysis indicated that in all the course units of Management degrees and Commerce degree, female students tend to perform better at the university examinations than their male counterparts. Hence, the study found that irrespective of the fact that students are Management or Commerce; female students have higher academic performance than the male students.
Influence of internet on recruitment function: with reference to commercial banks in Sri Lanka
(Research Symposium 2009 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2009) Nagahawatta, R.T.S.; Ediriweera, A.N.
Internet has transformed our lives and the way we communicate, how we learn, how we work and spend free time, in essence – it has more or less changed every aspect of human society one can think of. This paper analyses the use of the Internet in recruitment processes and the impact of the changes due to the Internet. Therefore the purpose of this study is to empirically examine the influence of the internet to recruitment function and needs of the internet to support recruitment function. The independent variable was Internet and dependent variable was Recruitment Function. The study is a cross-sectional in time. A structured questionnaire developed by the researchers was used to collect data from all commercial banks in Sri Lanka. The validity and the reliability of the instruments were tested against the survey data. The type of this study is hypothesis testing and it was conducted in the natural setting with less interference of the researcher (non-contrived). The unit of analysis was at organizational level. To test the hypotheses, correlation analysis and regression analysis tests were performed. Findings of the study reveal that internet positively and significantly affect on Recruitment Function of commercial banks in Sri Lanka. Specially, the most important reason for adopting the internet for recruitment function is the help given to organization to stay informed the interested candidates.
The link between roles of human resource manager and firm performance; with reference to financial firms in Sri Lanka
(Research Symposium 2009 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2009) Weerakkody, W.A.S.; Ediriweera, A.N.
Human Resource Managers (HR Managers) play a vital role to increase the performance of organizations. Therefore this paper examined the relationship between roles of HR Manager (in terms of the categorization, done by Dave Ulrich) and firm performance in financial firms in Sri Lanka. In order to acquire a better view of this issue, financial performance, effectiveness, efficiency and development have been used as measures for various aspects of firm performance. Variables are neither manipulated nor controlled for the study. Hence, the study was conducted in a non contrived setting. As the data for this study was collected at a single point in time, the study was cross sectional in time horizon. As the Sample for this study, financial companies in Sri Lanka were selected. The unit of analysis was at the individual level. A questionnaire developed by the researchers was used to collect the data for the study. Correlation coefficient was used to identify the relationship between roles of HR manager and the firm performance. The research findings showed that roles of HR manager have a more significant influence on efficiency, effectiveness and development aspects, as opposed to financial performance. There is a high impact of Administrative expert as one role of HR Manager on efficiency. Being a strategic partner was influenced highly on effectiveness and development aspects of firm performance Also, high orientation in all four roles did not lead to improved firm performance.
The Relationship between Personality and Work Life Balance; An Empirical Study of Bank Executives in Western Province
(Research Symposium 2010 - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2010) Ediriweera, A.N.; Weerakkody, W.A.S.
Personality of an individual is a set of qualities that make the person distinct from another and assumed role or manner of behavior. Within the ones personality the complex of all the attributes such as behavioral, temperamental, emotional and mental are considered. Guest (2002) defined the personality as the extent to which family or work is a central life interest influences the perceptions of balance of every individual. Aspects of personality including the need for achievement and propensity for work involvement belong among important individual factors. The approach of psychology of individual differences may be also fruitful for research of Work Life Balance due to the fact that studying aspects of different personality types can enhance our understanding of perceptions of balance. Therefore it can be realized the Personality of an individual can have effects on an individuals balance between work and life. Consequently, purpose of this study is to identify the impact of personality on Work Life Balance. Based on this, the objective of this research paper was to investigate whether the personality of executives in banks related to work life balance. Four hypotheses were formulated using deductive approach. The study was conducted relating to bank branches in Western Province. Type of investigation was correlational. It was cross sectional in time horizon. The unit of analysis of this study was at individual level. The structured survey was administered to cover the sample of 35banking executives. To test the hypotheses, correlation analysis and regression analysis were performed. The data analysis included bivariate and multivariate analysis. The study revealed that positive and significant relationship between the variables of Type A personality and Internal locus of control with work life balance.
A Study of Relationship between Individual Personality Types and Leadership Styles based on A Selected Number of Companies in the Colombo District
(University of Kelaniya, 2008) Jayasinghe, J.A.C.B.; Ediriweera, A.N.
Managers perform many roles in their organizations and how they handle various situations will depend on their styles of management. Leadership styles differ from one leader to another, and they depend on the individual personality types. Therefore, the objective of this research is to investigate whether there is a relationship between individual personality types and leadership styles of selected companies and to identify that managers behave differently because of their different personality types within the organizational context. For this survey, a group of companies engaging in different trades, such as logistics, freight forwarding, shipping, warehousing, air line agencies were selected. The sample consisted of the executive grade employees such as Directors, General Managers, Deputy General Managers, Managers, Assistant Managers, Executives and Junior Executives of these companies. The sample size is 100 out of a population of 400 executive grade employees. Personality Types were studied using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instrument. Leadership focus was explored by administrating Leadership Focus Questionnaires. As such, two questionnaires were used for collecting data; one questionnaire for extracting data to identify the type of personality of each manager and the other questionnaire to identify the management style of each manager. Data were analyzed based on the correlation coefficient analysis. Accordingly, the study did not find enough evidence to prove the fact that there was a closed positive relationship between personality of managers and leadership styles. Thus, this study is consistent with the most of the findings of other researches in the same topic, and in this scenario it can be concluded that personality does not affect considerably to the leadership styles and there are number of other factors which affect the leadership styles. Accordingly, this study highlights that leadership style is a combination of attributes such as personality, situational factors, nature of the job, attitude of subordinates and superiors, competitiveness, labour turnover and the risk involvement.
The Impact of Demographic Factors of Entrepreneurs on Development of SMEs in Tourism Industry in Sri Lanka
(2011) Welmilla, I.; Weerakkody, W.A.S.; Ediriweera, A.N.
The government of Sri Lanka has identified tourism as a main source of foreign income and supporting the industry in a major scale. The prolonged civil war hampered the arrival of tourists the Northern Province and some parts of the Eastern Province while island's northern coastal belt put totally unreachable. But now any individual can start a new business in this area as war is ended. Further, it is required less initial capital to start a small business in tourism industry. On the other hand these small and medium businesses can be operated from owners? home. Many owners operate their business on a part time basis as this affords them the flexibility often needed to meet their family responsibilities. Because of this easiness, not only men but also women are entering to tourism industry to earn income for their families. Therefore the purpose of this study is to identify the impact of demographic factors of owners on small and medium business development in tourism in Sri Lanka. Four hypotheses were formulated using deductive approach. The study was conducted relating to small and medium business owners of tourism industry in Sri Lanka. Type of investigation was co relational. It was cross sectional in time horizon. The unit of analysis of this study was at individual level. The structured survey was administered to cover the sample. Based on simple random sampling, 100 small and medium business owners were selected. The sample frame was Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Tourism Sri Lanka. The data analyses included univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses. To test the hypotheses, correlation, regression analysis and Independent Sample T Test were performed. The study revealed that differences in SME development between male and female owners. Male owned SMEs show greater development than female owned SMEs. Consequently, the most SMEs are owned by individuals who are in between 31 and 40 years of age. The results proved that when educational level goes up development of SMEs goes up too. Finally, it was found that, SME owners who have many experiences have the possibility to survive in the industry. It is better to lessen the obstacles which face by women owners and to share and implement best practices and experiences and to develop professional skills and respond appropriately to the needs of the industry it is recommended to provide many facilities and opportunities to SMEs owners.