Role of Islam in Practical Life amongst Some Young Swiss Muslim Adults: A Focused Ethnographic Analysis

Contemporary secular Switzerland has been polarised by more than two decades of anti-Muslim sentiments, conveyed through misrepresentative narratives by some politicians and media, ‘otherising’ Islam and Muslim-related issues. This polarised environment may have triggered ambivalent impacts on the personal development of Swiss-born Muslims Consequently, I suggest that they live in an ambivalent position, where their status as Muslim is not fully acknowledged and their belonging to Switzerland still questioned. Indeed, this article will explore the following research question: How do some young Swiss-born Muslim adults construct their subjectivities and experiences linked to Islam in their daily lives in contemporary Switzerland? The research methodology of this focused ethnography draws on various semi-structured interviews and informal conversations with several young Swiss Muslim men and women. The paper focuses on (a) Switzerland’s socio-cultural and political context and (b) the various ways this study’s research partners construct their ambivalent subjectivities through the analysis of their individual trajectories and narratives. It concludes that young Swiss Muslim adults formulate and produce alternative narratives, in order to make sense of their lives and accommodate various layers of identification in contemporary Switzerland. Eventually some recommendations for further research are formulated.  

Influence of Leadership Behavior and Participatory Decision Making on the Employees Organizational Commitment

A large number of studies have examined the antecedents of organizational commitment in the western countries. Research in the area of leadership behavior, organizational commitment and employees’ job satisfaction is noticeably absent in Pakistan. The objective of this thesis is to examine the effect of leadership behavior, participation of employees in the organizational decision making, and their effect on organizational commitment. Job satisfaction and morale is also observed as an outcome. The subject used in this study is faculty members of different private and public universities of Pakistan. A survey was conducted and then complemented by some semi structured interviews. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed to faculty in eighteen public and private sector universities, from which 237 usable completed questionnaires were returned (79% response rate). Correlation and regression were performed to investigate the relationship between faculty’s commitment to their universities and the other variables measured in the study. A model of commitment was developed using a multiple regression analysis in which a link of the role of leadership behavior and employees’ participation in decision making with organizational commitment was explored. It is observed that organizational leadership and participatory decision-making exert a significant impact on commitment. The two leadership behaviors – task oriented behavior and participative style of management – have a positive effect on commitment while the laissez-faire style had a negative effect on commitment. The results of this study are in agreement with the model proposed by Bass & Avolio (1995) in which relation-oriented behavior is more significant. As compared to Steers model, the continuance commitment shows higher significance than affective commitment in this study. The results of this study also reveal that job satisfaction has a strong association with faculty’s organizational commitment and also that the faculty’s morale is affected by university leadership’s behavior. Keywords: Leadership, Participatory Decision Making, Commitment, Faculty, Job Satisfaction, Morale, Pakistan