PEARL Multidisciplinary Journal

A Study on the Use of Social Networking Sites among the Youth and Their Family

The use of networking sites among the people of India is evidently increasing, particularly among the   college students. It has invariably left a   big impact on society in general and college students in particular. Now social media is an integral part of adolescents and it is the major form of electronic communication. However, this article describes about how the social networking sites influence the youth and their - family relationships.

Objectives of the study are to explore the impact of social networking sites among youth and how these sites affect the family relationship of the youth       as well as to check the negative and positive impact of SNS usage. Methodology includes both qualitative and quantitative research design with descriptive and case study method. A total number, of 30 samples were collected for screening and 10 samples were taken for case study. Here 2 cases were discussed.

Results and discussion shows that the usage of SNS has pretentious interpersonal relationships between these students and their family members. Large number  of respondents (63.3%) agreed that SNS has affected their personal and interpersonal relationships. This study clearly pointed out that the personal life and social life of the youth is affected by the use of SNS.

Kerala Deluge 2018: Ecological, Economic and Psychosocial Impacts and Management

 The great deluge in Kerala occurred in August 2018 with death toll of 483 and 10 lakh people in rescue camps affected the entire state of Kerala in Indian subcontinent had devastating impact and was the most severe disaster of the century. Although floods are generally considered as natural disasters the deluge in Kerala had significant causative factors that it could be defined as both natural and manmade. This paper is an attempt to analyse quantitatively and qualitatively the economic, psychological and social impacts of the tragic event so as to identify the criterion and indicators of precautionary measures to be adapted for future mitigation. Methodologically narrative and phenomenological approaches were adopted screening the secondary data sources from online and offline materials. The article depicted the causative factors and physical hazards that took place leading to indicators of the very nature of the mishap that club both natural and nurturing features contributed to the deluge. The analysis focused on the ecological and economic aftermath of the deadly flood leaving heavy economic burden on the affected individuals, families, properties, business activities, agriculture, environment and service sectors of government and nongovernment as well. The Psychological impact defined innovative avenues of resilience in individual, familial and social realms. It weaved a social effect through the network of dedication, hard work and coordination in rescue and relief operations spread over in the entire state of Kerala. The involvement of the 3000 fishermen with their boats in rescue operations and the coordination of the military, paramilitary, police and other forces with disaster management operations of the government and the commitment of numerous NGOs created a new saga in the history of disaster management and mitigation. The article also highlighted the role of social work professionals in the entire rescue, relief and rehabilitation activities in disaster management

A Study on the Effectiveness of Incentive Programmes at Aditya Birla Retail Pvt. Ltd Mangaluru

 Workforce today articulates more about their needs. Employees desire the best of everything – competitive salaries, comfortable and inspirational lifestyles, job security, career enhancement options, work-life balance, and so on. Competition for talent is ever increasing and organizations need to have well-defined philosophies and strategies to help them develop innovative ways of tapping intrinsic motivation of employees by engaging their hearts and minds. While many organisations are struggling to make sufficient progress in this direction, there are organizations that have institutionalized robust practices and effective processes in different people practice areas that go a long way in positively impacting employee perception. In this regard, two types of rewards are identified, and they are intrinsic reward and extrinsic reward. Extant research showed that reward can affect job satisfaction and thereby employee performance, so this study proposes a new framework based on mediating role of job satisfaction. India’s Best Companies for Rewards and Recognition was conceptualized to recognize companies who are leading the way in the area of Rewards and Recognition for us learns from. Human resources are the most important among all the resources an organization owns. To retain efficient and experienced workforce in an organization is very crucial in overall performance of an organization. Motivated employees can help make an organization competitively more value added and profitable. The present study would be an attempt to find out the major factors that motivate employees and to show relationship among reward, recognition and motivation while working within an organization. The data were collected from employees of diverse type of organizations to gain wide representation of sectoral composition. The participation in survey was voluntary and confidentiality of responses was ensured. The statistical analysis showed that different dimensions of work motivation and satisfaction are significantly correlated and reward and recognition have great impact on motivation of the employees. Implications of the study for managers and policy makers in the context of human resource practices have been discussed. Limitations and guidelines for future research are also provided. A meta-analytic review of all adequately designed field and laboratory research on the use of incentives to motivate performance is reported. Team-directed incentives had a markedly superior effect on performance compared to individually- directed incentives.

Water Literacy among Rural Households in Kerala: A Study from Kannur District

Water as a basic human need is a limited natural resource and is very precious in nature. It is estimated that among 1360 million cubic kilometres available, only 0.2 million cubic kilometres is fresh water. In Kerala, 85 percent of drinking water needs are met from ground water. In recent decades human demand and misuse of water continuously increased and shortage of water is a global issue. The careless usage and less availability of water indicate the need for water literacy among people. The study revealed that rural households in Kerala are highly water literate and they ensured environmental sustainability as their responsibility.

Competitive Status of Africa’s Cocoa Products in the World Market

 To formulate efficient and articulated future cocoa policy prescriptions, and ensure the continuous contribution of the subsector to poverty reduction, income generation and growth of Africa’s agricultural sector, the present research empirically examined the global competitiveness of Africa’s cocoa export during the spanning period of 2000-2013. The used dated data were sourced from FAO and UNCTAD databases. Export trends and indices of the revealed comparative advantage, as well as Trade Mapping (TM), were examined for cocoa beans, cocoa butter, cocoa paste and cocoa powder/cake. Empirical findings showed that Africa has only revealed comparative and competitive advantages in the exportation of cocoa primary product and disadvantage in the comparative and competitive status in the exportation of its secondary cocoa products. Furthermore, Africa is among the winner group with it controlling a large chunk of the market despite the decline in the export market of cocoa during the studied period. Hence, in order to enhance Africa’s relative comparative and competitive advantages in the exportation of cocoa products and its continuing presence in the world markets, Africa should improve on the quality of its cocoa products keeping in-view the best marketing grade and standardization for cocoa products in the global market. Also, Africa should invest more in post-harvest technologies to have a breakthrough in the secondary sub-sectors of cocoa via value addition, thus increasing its global share in the market which in turn would enhance its foreign exchange earnings from the exportation of cocoa.