Reconciliation Process in Afghanistan and Pakistan as Cardinal Player

Afghanistan is in state of war for almost 40 long years but the political dynamics got changed after 9/11. Since the war on terror started facets of peace talks launched without meaningful end. The reconciliation process in Afghanistan had immediately started after establishment of Afghan interim government in 2001. Till 2016 mid, four different reconciliation /reintegration processes were launched by the USA and Hamid Karzai government with Afghan Taliban. The new elected president Ashraf Ghani ended all such processes in 2016 but showed willingness again in 2018 for direct peace talks between USA and Taliban clerics. In the current political scenario, Afghan reconciliation process is back on track with direct peace talks between USA, Taliban and Afghan Government along other international actors. However, Taliban were not ready to sit with the Afghan Government and this is where the Pakistan played as key to Afghan peace process. The focus of this research article is to find the challenges and opportunities of this peace process; Pakistan’s role as cardinal player can consolidate the peace process in Afghanistan. Furthermore, this research will give future recommendations for the peace process in Afghanistan.

Work Related Outcomes of Perceived Authentic Leadership in the Context of Organization Structures

The study undertaken was designed to determine the direct and indirect effects of perceived authentic leadership on creative work behavior through work related flow and psychological capital of employees working in tall (banks) and flat (software houses) organizations. Measures of Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (Avolio, Gardner, & Walumbwa, 2007), Psychological Capital Questionnaire (Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007), Work Related Flow Scale (Bakker, 2008), Creativity Scale (Zhou & George, 2001), and Social Desirability Scale-17 (Stober, 2001) were used to assess the constructs of the study. The overall research design comprised of three studies. Study I constituted indigenous exploration of the study constructs which was executed in two separate phases. In phase I, a series of four focus group discussions were conducted to capture the indigenous understanding of the major constructs of the study. Phase II of study I was further comprised of three parts. In part I, appropriate instruments were selected on the basis of the themes emerged in focus group discussions. In part II, instruments were tried on an independent sample (N = 25) of employees (software houses and banks) to identify the realistic concerns of the respondents while attempting the instruments. In part III, measures were evaluated by subject experts (N = 6) and feedback received by them was incorporated through committee approach. Study II consisted of empirical estimation of psychometric indices of all the measures and confirmation of measurement models on an independent sample (N = 277) of employees. Results showed that all the measures were reliable instruments for the related constructs of the study. Confirmatory Factor Analysis 17 yielded factor structures of psychological capital, work related flow, creative work behavior, and social desirability in accordance to the theoretical models. However, model of authentic leadership exhibited variations in few items which resulted in modification in the final model of the said construct. Work related outcomes of perceived authentic leadership in the context of organizational structures were determined in study III through hypotheses and model testing on a convenient purposive sample (N =1180) of employees. Results showed that perceived authentic leadership, psychological capital, and work-related flow positively predicted creative work behavior. Work-related flow and psychological capital has shown parallel mediation between perceived authentic leadership and creative work behavior for employees working in software houses and banks. Findings also revealed that organizational structures significantly moderated the relationship of perceived authentic leadership, psychological capital, and work related flow with creative work behavior. Results showed significant group differences in terms of gender, education, job experience, job period in the current organization, and type of organization across both organizational structures. Additional findings indicated moderating role of gender in predicting creative work behavior from perceived authentic leadership and psychological capital among employees of software houses and banks. Moreover, combined effect of gender and organizational structure was also determined on all the study variables. In the end, path models were generated which distinctively highlighted the similarities as well as differences in the interactions of major constructs which function jointly in the context of tall (banks) and flat (software houses) organizations. Theoretical and practical implications of the present study for employees and future recommendations were also discussed.