جیزہ
مسافر کی اگلی منزل جیزہ تھی جو زیریں قاہرہ سے کوئی اٹھارہ بیس کلومیٹر کے فاصلے پر واقع ہے یہاں لے جانے کا انتظام دکتورہ بسنت کے ذمے تھا ۔ان کے ہمراہ ان کے دو بچے اور خوش پوش و خوش شکل شوہر احمد بھی تھا ۔احمد سے معانقے کے بعد ہم ان کی گاڑی میں بیٹھے اور جیزہ کی طرف روانہ ہوئے ۔دریائے نیل ایسے ہم رکاب تھا جیسے کسی نے اہرام تک سیاحوں کو پہچانے کی ذمہ داری لگائی ہو ۔آپ قاہرہ کے جس بھی حصے میں ہوں نیل اپنی موجودگی اور ہم رکابی کا احساس دلاتا ہے ۔مصری جیزہ کو گیزہ بولتے ہیں ۔یہاں دنیا کے سات عجوبو ں میں سے ایک عجوبہ آباد ہے جو اصل میں فراعین مدفن ہیں ۔قاہرہ سے جیزہ تک سڑک کشادہ ہے مگر پشاور کے قصہ خوانی بازار اور لاہور کی پرانی انار کلی کی طرح سڑک ریڑھی بانوں ،چائے اور شیشہ کے کھوکھوں ،غیر قانونی بس اڈوں اور سڑک پر چونچ نکالی ویگنوں ،بساط بچھائے سنیا سیوں اور میوہ و سبزی فروشوں نے تل دھرنے کو جگہ نہیں چھوڑی تھی ۔یہ تو دکتورہ بسنت کے شوہر احمد کا کمال تھا کہ اس اژدھام میں بھی پر سکون اعصاب کے ساتھ گاڑی کو اہرام تک بہ حفاظت پہنچایا ۔احمد صاحب نے سیاحوں کی بھیڑ میں جا کر ہمارے لیے ٹکٹ خریدے ۔ہم پیدل ایک ڈھلوان پر روانہ ہوئے ہمارے سامنے تین مخروطی اہرام اپنے مکمل قد کاٹھ کے ساتھ ایستادہ تھے۔دکتورہ بسنت نے کہا یہ مصر کے عظیم اہرام ہیں ۔یہ خوفو کا اہرام ہے دوسرا خافراع کا اور تیسرا میکادر کا ہے ۔میں نے پوچھا اور ابولہول کہاں ہے انھوں نے ہاتھ کے اشارے سے کہا وہ بیٹھا ہے مگر ہم اس کی پشت پر ہیں اس کا چہرہ دیکھنے نیچے جا نا...
Islamic cardinal precepts include seeking benefaction and patronage of other Muslims. Generally, Islamic history is replete with such munificent and generous personages as were ever geared up to serving humanity, yet the golden era of Islamic history excelled in profusion of such noble persons. When we review the aspect of serving mankind in the life history of the reverend Sahaba (the holy prophet’s disciples), we come to know that they had highly remarkable passions for helping, beneficing, supporting and sustaining their relatives, friends as well as the common run. The level of their charity was so great that they felt felicity and prostrated to Allah in gratitude even after giving away their all possessions and belongings for Allah’s sake only. In fact, the motivation behind this generosity was the attainment of pleasing Allah and the obedience and submission to the holy prophet. They had no iota of worldly voracity or avarice. Therefore, they were ever elated over giving away their assets.
Construction sector is criticized for sub-optimal performance all over the world. The situation is no different in case of Pakistan construction industry. Being regarded as an answer to challenges framed by globalized competitive environment, performance measurement discipline has received much attention among researchers and construction firms during last two decades. Uncertain economic conditions, social pressure and fierce competition have forced construction firms to concentrate more on measuring organizational performance to remain competitive in the market. Construction companies often find it difficult to identify and select relevant set of measures, considering their strategies, and critical processes. Many managers still make decisions mostly based on their intuition and common sense and on a few traditional financial measures while performance drivers like customer satisfaction, processes and innovation & learning are not paid adequate attention. This research has focused three areas related to performance measurement. First objective is to establish the purpose, characteristics and features of performance measurement systems currently practised by Pakistani contractors; second is to identify and validate key performance indicators (KPIs) based on balanced scorecard that are considered most relevant to measure company level operational and strategic performance and finally, effort is made to develop a performance measurement framework for Pakistan construction firms that can act as strategy map for successful running of construction business. Main contribution of the research is finding out relevance of certain organizational performance measures related to four perspectives of balanced scorecard. The main outcome of the research is expressed in terms of a typical strategy map that can be used by indigenous constructors to design their performance measurement systems. Besides the introduction part, this dissertation comprises five chapters. Chapter two covers the all important aspects linked to performance measurement like performance measurement systems, its life cycle, evolution and factors affecting its effectiveness. It is followed by the discussion on balanced scorecard, the important feature of performance measurement and this research. Chapter 3 presents the research aim, objectives and methodology. It discusses the various stages that have been followed for this research and justifies the decisions that are made to conduct this research. Chapter 4 briefly discusses the steps leading to data collection. Development of questionnaire has been explained at length. In addition to the survey instrument, sample strategy and mode of data collection is also elaborated. Next chapter comprises different tests done to check reliability, validity and hypothesis testing. Chapter 6 presents the discussion, conclusions, and limitation and future research areas ending with the contribution of this research in form of performance measurement framework tailored to suit the needs to domestic infrastructure construction firms.